The Sun Is Also a Star

by Nicola Yoon

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: $12.99

Hardcover: $18.99

Kindle: $10.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $19.60 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Before Reading Facts:

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon was published in 2016 by Ember.

Page Count: 384 pages (paperback)  384 (hardcover) 352 (Kindle)

Audiobook length: 08 hrs 04 mins

Chapters: N/A (Not separated by chapter number)

Languages: English (also available in the following translations: German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese)

Summary of Book:

“Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not 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 something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store–for both of us.” – Ember

Author Biography:

“Nicola Yoon is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Sun Is Also a Star and Everything, Everything, both of which were turned into major motion pictures. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.” -Ember

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

My initial reaction: Eh. It’s okay. Just not for me. 

I had a similar reaction to this book as I did to the one I read before it, My Favorite Half Night Stand. In a way, I can see how someone could fall in love with these characters, their stories, their struggles, and the romance of the whole novel. However, I was not one of those people. I am not one for romances or any love stories. I read this, per a friend’s request. It was not originally my intention to pick this novel up, and after reading it, it confirmed my thoughts that this book would be a good read for its audience but not for me.

For me, the struggles that I cared about (the struggles within the families) got glossed over. There were some really good moments of tension that gave me the understanding that there were issues within both characters’ lives; however, I would have loved more of it. The main struggles that guided the characters throughout the novel kind of took over the story for me, and I times I felt the need to know more about both Natasha and Daniel to really understand them and empathize with them. Again, their families, their backgrounds, and their current struggles were mentioned, but I don’t know why they weren’t enough for me. I had conflicting emotions about how to feel toward both characters.

Another aspect of the novel that did not work for me was the structure. The way the chapters were set up made sense so the reader knows the point of view of the narrator, but for me, the setup annoyed me more than other multiple narration novels. After a while, the “Observable Fact,” that kept popping up in the novel just got on my nerves. If it would have persisted throughout the entire novel, I would have just put it down and gave up, because it did get to the point that it just completely annoyed me. However it did stop after a while, which I was grateful for. Also, the small chapter interjections of other characters that the main narrators (Natasha and Daniel) run into simply confused me. I didn’t know if I was supposed to care about those characters, if their parts were supposed to be important later on in the story, or if it was added simply to give a summary of those characters.

I do believe that, for the appropriate audience, the novel hit the mark. The novel was a very quick read for me, and I was able to get through it without much difficulty (reading-wise). I do think that for someone like me who is not accustomed to reading this genre, the book may go as far as seeming bland or lacking action or other elements. I am accustomed to reading books full of action and tension scenes. I got the tension from this novel but not enough action. I got one of the elements I enjoy when reading and therefore was able to get through it; however, I also see how someone reading outside their genre may not enjoy this book.

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee, and Dominic Hoffman

Turpin, Lee, and Hoffman’s narration was done well, and I did not have an issue with either narrator. Their narration at 1.0 speed was too slow for me. For a lot of audiobooks that I listen to, 1.0 speed is way to slow for me and seems like its in slow motion. This is one of those audiobooks that I have to speed it up to at least 1.25 speed, which I would consider normal, conversation speed. The favorite listening speed for me was at 1.75 speed. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at a 1.5 speed, so one does not miss anything. For those who are listening while reading the book and want to listen at a faster pace, I found 2.0 speed to be the best speeds. 2.5 speed was good too. 3.0 was too fast for me; however, it is manageable. If you’re used to speed listening, 3.0 speed should be manageable. 3.5 speed was definitely too fast for me.

Other works by this Author:

Novels

• Everything, Everything