A Review of 'The Sky is Everywhere' by Jandy Nelson (Audio Book)

"Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, book worm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister Bailey.  But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life-- and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.  Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own.  Joe is the new musical talent.  For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.  But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole world exploding.


Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable."

I was so excited to find this as an audio book at the library!  It must have been out longer than I thought it was...

The woman reading the book, Julia Whelan, was definitely a good choice.  I love a reader who a) reads out loud so they can b) add voices and accents for the various characters.  I also like it when readers (at least the ones that record themselves reading) don't botch up the French language.  It's my soft spot.

Let's move more towards the book now.  My favorite description was that of Lennie's town.  She described it as a place for hippies (or it once was).  It made me feel more like the hippie that I never believed I was when morning meditation in the gym was mentioned.  Hey, I thought that that sounded fun!  I liked the idea of a hotel room outside as well.  It was super cool!  At least the picture in my head was.  It was an interesting concept.

One thing that I didn't like was I still don't know what caused Bailey to die.  Maybe it was mentioned in the book and I just missed it, but I've gone through all six CDs and I still have this question.  Maybe it just wasn't crucial to the story-telling... either way, I'm curious.  If you know, perhaps you could enlighten me.

The fact that Lennie was getting involved with her sister's boyfriend (would he be her ex-boyfriend now that Bailey is dead?  Wow... way to be classy, Jude...) was kind of weird for me.  Maybe I'm too sensitive, but my brain immediately put my sister and me into Lennie and Bailey's place.  If I was gone, I'm 100% certain that my sister would not try to be with my boyfriend and her own at the same time.  It would be a huge form of disrespect... sisterly disrespect... it would also be a little weird for both boyfriends involved, I'm sure.  Why should Bailey and Lennie's situation be terribly different?

On top of that, Lennie is shifting between two guys.  What a horrible thing to do, toying with their emotions like that.  Of course both boys were hurt when they found out what was happening (honestly, I don't understand how they didn't figure out what was going on earlier).

The good thing that came out of those two things is they provoked strong reactions and one of them I was able to place myself into the situation (not through experience though, mind you).

I loved Gram very much!  She was such an interesting grandmother.  The characters were all very interesting in their own ways and they were well developed.

The sub plots were also interesting.  I was very interested in hearing about Lennie's mother and the Lennie plant (the plant reminded me of 'E.T.').  Overall, a very nice read.  I give 'The Sky is Everywhere':

Thanks for reading!

--Jude