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The Sun Is Also a Star
The Sun Is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other.
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?
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"Beautifully crafted."—People Magazine
"A book that is very much about the many factors that affect falling in love, as much as it is about the very act itself . . . fans of Yoon’s first novel, Everything Everything, will find much to love—if not, more—in what is easily an even stronger follow up." —Entertainment Weekly
"Transcends the limits of YA as a human story about falling in love and seeking out our futures." —POPSUGAR.com
The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other.
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?
***
"Beautifully crafted."—People Magazine
"A book that is very much about the many factors that affect falling in love, as much as it is about the very act itself . . . fans of Yoon’s first novel, Everything Everything, will find much to love—if not, more—in what is easily an even stronger follow up." —Entertainment Weekly
"Transcends the limits of YA as a human story about falling in love and seeking out our futures." —POPSUGAR.com
Reviews-
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Starred review from September 12, 2016
Is it fate or chance that brings people together? This is the question posed in this impressively multilayered tale of a one-day romance featuring practical Natasha, whose family is facing deportation to Jamaica, and Daniel, a first-generation Korean American with a poet’s sensibility. The teens’ eventful day begins at a New York City record store, where they see someone shoplifting. It’s the first of many significant moments that occur as Natasha desperately seeks aid to stay in America and Daniel prepares for a college interview with a Yale alum. Drawn together, separated, and converging again, both teens recognize with startling clarity that they are falling in love. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of every character she introduces, Yoon (Everything, Everything) weaves an intricate web of threads connecting strangers as she delves into the personal histories of her protagonists, as well as the emotions and conflicts of others who cross their paths. A moving and suspenseful portrayal of a fleeting relationship. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika, Alloy Entertainment. -
aurora19 - This book was unbelievably incredible! I laughed and cried and I haven't stopped thinking about it. The characters were delightful, unique, flawed and oh so real. The book discussed race, poverty, immigration, grief, lost dreams, infidelity, fate and the incredible powers of love. I think Nicola Yoon is one of my new favorite authors.
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Natasha and Daniel meet, get existential, and fall in love during 12 intense hours in New York City.Natasha believes in science and facts, things she can quantify. Fact: undocumented immigrants in the U.S., her family is being deported to Jamaica in a matter of hours. Daniel's a poet who believes in love, something that can't be explained. Fact: his parents, Korean immigrants, expect him to attend an Ivy League school and become an M.D. When Natasha and Daniel meet, Natasha's understandably distracted--and doesn't want to be distracted by Daniel. Daniel feels what in Japanese is called koi no yokan, "the feeling when you meet someone that you're going to fall in love with them." The narrative alternates between the pair, their first-person accounts punctuated by musings that include compelling character histories. Daniel--sure they're meant to be--is determined to get Natasha to fall in love with him (using a scientific list). Meanwhile, Natasha desperately attempts to forestall her family's deportation and, despite herself, begins to fall for sweet, disarmingly earnest Daniel. This could be a sappy, saccharine story of love conquering all, but Yoon's lush prose chronicles an authentic romance that's also a meditation on family, immigration, and fate. With appeal to cynics and romantics alike, this profound exploration of life and love tempers harsh realities with the beauty of hope in a way that is both deeply moving and satisfying. (Fiction. 14 & up) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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August 1, 2016
Gr 8 Up-It is Natasha's last day in New York City, where she has lived for 10 years. Her family, living as undocumented immigrants in a small Brooklyn apartment, are being deported to Jamaica after her father's arrest for drunk driving. Natasha is scouring the city for a chance to stay in the United States legally. She wants the normal teen existence of her peers. Meanwhile, poetic Daniel is on his way to an interview as part of his application process to Yale. He is under great pressure to get in because his parents (who emigrated from South Korea) are adamant that he become a doctor. Events slowly conspire to bring the two leads together. When Daniel and Natasha finally meet, he falls in love immediately and convinces her to join him for the day. They tell their stories in alternating chapters. Additional voices are integrated into the book as characters interact with them. Both relatable and profound, the bittersweet ending conveys a sense of hopefulness that will resonate with teens. VERDICT This wistful love story will be adored by fans of Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and by those who enjoyed the unique narrative structure of A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz.-Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Starred review from August 1, 2016
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* On a summer morning in New York City, Daniel and Natasha wake up as strangers. This is a day that could catapult their lives into entirely new directions that neither of them wants to take. Natasha has only hours left to prevent her family's deportation to Jamaica, after a minor legal infraction jeopardizes their stay in the U.S. Daniel dreads sealing his fate with an alumni interview that will pave his way to a career in medicine, as his Korean family expects. Despite a day packed with Natasha's desperate race against time and a tangled system, and Daniel's difficult tug-of-war between familial pressures and autonomy, love finds a way in, takes hold, and changes them both forever. Yoon's sophomore effort (Everything, Everything, 2015) is carefully plotted and distinctly narrated in Natasha's and Daniel's voices; yet it also allows space for the lives that are swirling around them, from security guards to waitresses to close relatives. It's lyrical and sweeping, full of hope, heartbreak, fate, and free will. It encompasses the cultural specifics of diverse New York City communities and the universal beating of the human heart. Every daylike every bookbegins full of possibility, but this one holds more than others. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Yoon's debut became a best-seller, so the publisher is giving this a strong push that includes a national author tour.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.) - Booklist, starred review ★ "Lyrical and sweeping, full of hope, heartbreak, fate. . . and the universal beating of the human heart."
- The Horn Book, starred review ★ "Fresh and compelling."
- Kirkus, starred review ★ "With appeal to cynics and romantics alike, this profound exploration of life and love tempers harsh realities with the beauty of hope in a way that is both deeply moving and satisfying."
- Entertainment Weekly "[A] fresh, moving debut."
- The New York Times Book Review "Gorgeous and lyrical."
- Seventeen "Will give you butterflies."
- Justine "A do-not-miss for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell (aka everyone)."
