The Sky is Everywhere

The first word that comes to mind after I finished listening to this book is: WOW.

This book was recommended to me last year by a friend. She did warn me beforehand that it was sad, so I did have a bit of an idea of what I was getting myself into???

So being the person I am, I purchased a copy of the book when it was on sale, and put it on my shelf to read at a later date. Time passed and I had to use up some of my credits on Audible.com so I bought a audio copy of it as well.

Fast forward another year or so after that and I find myself sitting at work sick of the music I have on my iPod so I switch over to books. This is the one I chose to listen to.

From the first ten minutes of listening I was hooked. In tears, but hooked. I understand Lennie more now, being on the other end of loss then I think I would have before. Her heart break at losing her sister, the anger and the pain she feels.

I understand Lennie's feelings of need. Of the desire for human contact. For her endless feelings of betrayal towards her sister.

It's very real to me.

In a lot of ways she is me.

I heard the words from this book and they echoed with what I was feeling, and how I felt for those months after I was left behind too. How I desperately needed an outlet and sometimes the written word was all I had because the spoken words wouldn't come out of my mouth. Some parts of the book took that hole in my heart and seemed to rip it open again and it's like the last 3 years vanish and the sad is all new again. But while it opened a lot of heartache, it also helped heal over some too. The climax and resolution of the story were so beautifully crafted, then in some ways there were those "ah ha" moments reminding me to think of others because my grief is no more or less then theirs and everyone has lost out. Don't forget the others.

I truly loved this book. I would recommend it to others who would enjoy a good teen romance with a lot of sad mixed in??? or perhaps it???s more of a walk through grief with a little teen romance mixed in. Either way you look at it The Sky Is Everywhere was just a good book.

Just a warning, there is quite a bit of language (meaning the BIG F word) throughout the book, but honestly its probably a lot less then what some of us hear on a daily basis.

???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 on can protect you
where the younger sister
will grow older than the older one
where the doors
no longer let you in
or out???
??? Jandy Nelson

Bailey died and sister, Lennie (John Lennon) is left to navigate a lonely existence without her. She finds herself in a unique position grieving with Bailey's boyfriend and is struck by a new boy at school. Coming of age, she learns secrets about her sister, absentee mother, grandmother, and of course about her own wishes and desires.

Jandy Nelson is a wonderful author. This book is well written with thoughtfully crafted characters you will care about. It's a good precursor to her huge hit, "I'll Give You the Sun".