Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Hicklebee’s: Lennie plays second clarinet in the school orchestra and has always happily been second fiddle to her charismatic older sister, Bailey. Then Bailey dies suddenly, and Lennie is left at sea without her anchor. Overcome by emotion, Lennie soon finds herself torn between two boys: Bailey’s boyfriend, Toby, and Joe, the charming and musically gifted new boy in town. While Toby can’t see her without seeing Bailey and Joe sees her only for herself, each offers Lennie something she desperately needs. But ultimately, it’s up to Lennie to find her own way toward what she really needs-without Bailey. A remarkable debut novel perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block.
A year or so ago, maybe even more I went to an event with Heidi R. Kling, Nina Lacour and Jandy Nelson. I bought three books that night and had them all signed, but I never read Jandy’s. I worked very hard in July and August to be caught up with all review copies through the beginning of October so that I could have a read my own books month in September. Books I bought for me and just never had gotten to. The first book I picked up is The Sky is Everywhere and I am so incredibly happy that I did.
Nelson paints a sorrowful picture of a sister left behind. Lennie always felt she was in her sister’s shadow until she died, and Lennie was okay with that. She loved Bailey so incredibly much that it didn’t matter if Bailey was the sun that warmed everyone’s world, because she warmed Lennie’s too.
When Bailey dies suddenly at college, Lennie can’t deal. She shuts herself off from friends and family and begins to write notes on different objects and leaves them scattered around the town they live in. Their mother has wonderlust and has been gone since before Lennie can remember.
An example of one of the notes:
“Len, you awake?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s do Mom.”
“Okay, I’ll start. She’s in Rome-”
“She’s always in Rome Lately-”
“Well, now she’s a famous Roman pizza chef and it’s late at night, the restaurant just closed and she’s drinking a glass of wine with-”
“With Luigi, the drop-dead gorgeous waiter, they just grabbed the bottle of wine and are walking through the moonlit streets, it’s hot, and when they come to a fountain she takes of her shoes and jumps in…”
“Luigi doesn’t even take off his shoes, just jumps in and splashes her, they’re laughing…”
“But standing in the fountain under the big, bright moon makes her think of Flying Man’s, how she used to swim at night with Big…”
“You really think so, Bails? You really think she’s in a fountain in Rome on a hot summer night with gorgeous Luigi and thinking about us? About Big?”
“Sure.”
“No way.”
“We’re thinking about her.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re not in a fountain in Rome on a hot summer night with gorgeous Luigi.”
“True.”
“Night, Bails.”
(Found on a piece of notebook paper balled up in a shoe in Lennie’s closet)
I think this element of the story, finding these notes throughout the book in a graphic way enhances the heart of an already moving and poignant story. While reading The Sky is Everywhere the reader becomes deeply vested in Lennie and if she will break out of this funk Bailey’s death has left her in.
The plot moves along beautifully, we find that Bailey wasn’t the perfect sister Lennie imagined her, not that she was bad or did horrid things either just that perfection is kind of hard to meet and like all of us Bailey failed at it. Bailey hid things and kept secrets and Lennie is so angry that she left before telling her these life changing tales.
Watching Lennie fall in love and handle her grief while doing so is one of the most intimate things I have ever read. By the end of the book I was crying huge, sorrowful tears filled with extra salt. The Sky is Everywhere is out in paperback now with an even more gorgeous cover than the first. If you want to be moved by what you are reading this book is for you.
Review: The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta performed by Michael Finney
From Goodreads: Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca – but five years have passed, and now it’s Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school and turned his back on his music and everyone that mattered, including the girl he can’t forget. Shooting for oblivion, he’s hit rock bottom, forced to live with his single, pregnant aunt, work at the Union pub with his former friends, and reckon with his grieving, alcoholic father. Tom’s in no shape to mend what’s broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper’s Son redefines what it means to go home again.
I received an audio copy of The Piper’s Son from both Brilliance Audio and Candlewick. Everyone had been going on about what a fabulous book this was and although I am new to reading Marchetta I know that I am a huge fan. The Piper’s Son was an amazing book to start listening to audio with.
Marchetta paints a family that has been devastated by several catastrophes. First Tom Mackee (the older one that our protagonist is named after) is lost at war and leaves behind a wife and two children who are awaiting the news for their whole lives that he was coming home so they can bury him. Secondly the third child born to Mackee’s wife and his best friend dies in the London Tube bombings. There was no body to collect and this is the pivotal point when the Mackee/Finch clan truly breaks apart.
Young Tom begins living in a shared apartment, he breaks up with his girlfriend, quits school and starts doing drugs. Uncle Joe was the glue that held the family together.
I have a friend who lives in London a very close friend. He was in the tube that morning, and it was super crowded. His life was saved when he decided to take the next train so that he wouldn’t be squashed and standing all the way to Charing Cross.
The story is performed by Michael Finney who I think gave the heart wrenching words of this story their true soul. I was enraptured and entranced by his reading and I cried and laughed and the Mackee family became so real to me in these hours listening to The Piper’s Son.
You do not have to read Saving Francesca to read The Piper’s Son. It is more of a companion really a completely new story focusing on Tom. I will however go back and read it, it holds some clues to Tom that I may have missed and I am wholly interested in this tiny soapish drama that Marchetta has created.
I received this book in audio from Brilliance and Candlewick for review.
Review: The 8th Confession, The Women’s Murder Club book 8 by James Patterson
The 8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is the first of the Women’s Murder Club for me, and the 8th in the series. The book is up for sale on the 27th of April, so no spoilers here for you.
I have to admit I always wanted to read some of Patterson’s books and just never got around to it, my official excuse was “I am in the middle of so many trilogies and series now how can I possibly keep up with another one.” I still do not know the answer to that but I know this, I am adding several more series to my list of things to watch out for while I back read some of James’ work. I am especially interested in The Women’s Murder Club and the Maximum Ride books.
This book follows the women through several cases at once and some personal drama. Rich socialites keep turning up dead with no clue on cause of death. Even the toxicology reports are clean. Lindsay and Rich are having a hard time finding which way to go on this case and they had been pulled off a case they wanted to work. A local homeless messiah called Bagman Jesus turns up dead violently on the street, happens all the time for the homeless right? This story is just a bit different, everyone loved Bagman Jesus, he saved so many people on that block, and no one saw or heard a thing of course. Cindy the reporter and Rich start seeing each other and both decide not to tell Lindsay, of course Cindy has no clue how Lindsay and Rich feel about each other. These are the kind of secrets that rip friends apart.
I had to give this book five stars, I was reading it thinking, okay there are lots of characters here but I can keep up this is great, and all the characters are so well defined. There are 4 separate plots but they are all very interesting, but how is this going to tie in to the last couple of chapters. Well let me just say it all tied in, I stayed up late last night to finish this book and the ending was so mind blowing and sublime I immediately wished I had another Patterson novel to pick up and start with, but alas I will have to order them today and wait for the mail.
Big thanks to Miriam at Grand Central Pub and Little Brown for giving me the unique opportunity to discover and review Patterson.
