Review - The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Published by Walker Books
Published 7 June 2010

Summary from Goodreads -  Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding. 

It takes a lot for a book to render me speechless. To make me wonder how Nelson managed to hold all this emotion inside herself, it's almost like she has kept this grief safe in a bottle somewhere, then spilt it onto the pages of the book, where it dried into words. Even thinking about this book makes me want to dissolve into a puddle of heartbreaking sadness and heart soaring love. I want to find the woman who wrote this book and envelope her in a giant hug. I can't adequately describe how Nelson has managed to put such overwhelming and life shattering grief into words.

Lennie is stugging to deal with the sudden death of her sister Bailey, who burned brighter than the sun.  She feels alienated by her grief, her family and friends are as lost to her as her sister.  She has to learn to stumble through this new world, where she is no longer a pair, no longer one of the Walker girls, she's just a girl who's sister is dead.  It seems like her sisters boyfriend, Toby, is the only one who understands that the hole in their lives is not something that can be put back together.  But then there's Joe, he doesn't know anything about before, he doesn't know Lennie as Bailey's sister, he knows her as Lennie, a kooky girl with a damaged heart.

Every character in this book was unique, from the overpowering, to the wonderfully weird, to the quietly understated.  I've read a few books about grief to recognise when it's done so beautifully.  Lennie for me was a character that I couldn't help but empathise with, I felt every blow, I wished along with her that her sister would miraculously appear, bursting into her kitchen the sun streaming in behind her.  I wanted so badly for her sister to come back and build a damn to stop the river of tears and hold back the ocean of grief.  But she didn't, because she couldn't.  And for this reason, my heart broke time and time again.  Yes, she could be selfish at times, but I never resented her or considered this a bad character trait.  It was something I expected from a teenage girl who's whole life has shattered and has been left behind in the mess.

The Sky is Everywhere was utterly absorbing, so richly developed and full of emotion.  It shows you the strength behind sibling bonds, how much people can have profound affects on your life, and how grief is followed closely by love.  Finally, I want to just say, the little poems that are scattered throught the book, are one of the reasons why I loved this book so much.  I expcted good things from Jandy Nelson, and instead I got greatness.  

Extract from page 61.  Uncorrected UK proof copy.

In photographs of us together,
She is always looking at the camera
And I am always looking at her