The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Summary:

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Review:

So, it’s decided: Nicola Yoon is amazing. I loved this book. I’ve had a remarkably difficult couple of weeks. And it’s been hard getting into a book. Normally, books are my ultimate escape, but lately, I don’t have the attention span for escape. And this is the one book in the last couple of weeks that really grabbed me.

I loved the diverse cast. I’ve never read about a main character who’s about to be deported. And I loved everything about Natasha’s story. I loved her family’s struggles, her father’s dreams, and her tenacity for problem solving. I also loved Daniel. I love boy poets. And he was the ultimate dreamer. I loved that Natasha was the scientist/realist and Daniel was the creative dreamer.

I love that so much happened for them in such a short period of time. It’s the ultimate love story. Yet, it was also believable. There was no sugar coating put on to Natasha’s tragedy or Daniel’s awful brother. And because of that I loved them so much more. I also loved the random side characters, particularly the security guard who almost committed suicide.

The book zooms in and out. It zooms in on people who might not ordinarily have been considered characters and it zooms out on major concepts like love at first sight. The book is both simple and complicated. It’s about the good in people and it’s about how one little thing can affect a whole series of other bigger things. It read kind of like an old, excellent Woody Allen movie.

This is not a book for people who don’t like character-driven stories. It’s all about character. There’s also a nice NYC backdrop to it all. There’s subway rides, record shops, lawyer offices, college interviews, family dramas, Korean food, and so much more. This is urban fiction at its finest, and I really felt like I was in NYC while I was reading it.

All in all, this is just what I needed. I hope the world loves this book as much as I did. I give it a 10/10.