The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson

 

The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

 

 

Grief is a house

where the chairs

have forgotten how to hold us

the mirrors how to reflect us

the walls how to contain us

Grief is a house that disappears

each time someone knocks at the door

or rings the bell

a house that blows into the air

at the slightest gust

that buries itself deep in the ground

while everyone is sleeping

Grief is a house where no one can protect you

where the younger sister

will grow older than the older one

where the doors

no longer let you in

or out

 

p.73

The Sky is Everywhere is a book about grief, about growing up, and about love and heartbreak. Love for a sister who is no longer there, love for the boy who knows her grief, and love for the other boy who makes her feel alive.

Lennie (John Lennon) is a girl who has drawn inward since her sister died, turning from introvert to a kind of hermit, refusing to change anything about the room she and her sister shared, which she has aptly named The Sanctum. She writes little notes about her thoughts and feelings towards and to her sister, keeping her alive that way. Toby, her sisters boyfriend is the only one who understands her grief, or so she thinks. They are drawn together in a messed up kind of way, trying to fill the emptiness inside their hearts. Then Joe comes along. Lovely, spirited, beautiful and exciting Joe. He crashes into Lennie's life and everything is turned upside down, inside out. 

All the characters, main and sides, are well described, both in appearance as in mindset. None of them are without flaw and all have a deeper layer to them. I loved them all to be honest. 

All in all, I liked reading about Lennie's journey and the description how grief can influence someones life and how the workings of the heart and the love it holds not only define a person, but can help them change and move on.