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? 

***

"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

• ISBN10: 0553496689
• ISBN13: 9780553496680
• Publish Date: 1 November 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553496680

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

The Sun is Also a Star The Sun is Also a Star is the second novel by Nicola Yoon and I loved it every bit as much as the first. There was just something about this book that got to me. And, in retrospect, this is surprising, because a big part of it centers around something I usually hate. Instalove. Instalove that takes place in a span of 24 hours. But somehow, in this story and with these characters, it worked.
 
Natasha and Daniel are two very different people. Natasha is wise beyond her years and highly intelligent. She's a practical soul that believes in science and facts, not love and fate. She's also an illegal immigrant that feels more at home in the US than in Jamaica, the country of her birth. And she is just hours from being deported when she meets Daniel. Daniel is the polar opposite to Natasha. He is just as wise for his years, but he believes in fate and destiny. He's a poet and has a dreamer's soul. But he is first generation American in a Korean family. And his family has very strict expectations for his future. It's a future he doesn't want, but until Natasha, it is the only one he thought he had. Yet the differences between them fall away over the course of a single day.
 
But The Sun is Also a Star is more than a book about love, even first love. It's a book about family and choices and fate. It's about finding your own way in the world, your own place. Natasha is fighting to stay in the US, unhappy that she losing everything she loves and a future that is bright because of someone else's mistake. Her journey is about family and forgiveness, even acceptance. But Daniel's journey is different. His is about living his own life in his own way, despite his family. And meeting each other is a chance moment that changes both of them forever.
 
On the surface, this book is a sweet romantic story. But it is also a book that makes you think. It makes you think about your own life and your own choices. The choices that led you to where you are right now and the choices still ahead of you. It makes you think about those random moments that can totally change the course of your life. It's about all the ways family can make a difference in your life, good or bad.
 
Overall: This is a book that deserves to be taken at more than the surface. It is a book that deserves to be thought about, to be considered. I definitely recommend it!

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.75★ Audiobook⎮ I’ve been putting off writing this review for over a week. Not because I was unsure of how I felt, but because I was (and still am) unsure of my ability to properly convey those feelings. The Sun is Also A Star had such a profound effect on me that I am honestly unable to put it into words. I know I will be unable to do it justice in this review, but here goes.

Let me start by saying that the hype for The Sun is Also A Star is 100% justified. This is the type of story I have been craving for so long. It addresses the incredibly sensitive, but also important topics of culture, diversity, and immigration. As someone whose ancestors immigrated to the US in the 1600s, I wasn’t able to relate with Natasha’s story in the same way that some others are, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t appreciate it.

To say that hearing The Sun is Also A Star was an eye-opening experience for me would definitely be an understatement. Immigration and deportation are something that I’ve always thought of on a macro scale and I appreciate Nicola Yoon giving me (and other readers) the opportunity to consider these topics on a more micro/personal level.

The Sun is Also A Star features two main characters, Natasha and Daniel. The basic plot of the story centers around the fact that Natasha’s family is being deported to Jamaica after immigrating to the US illegally when Natasha was a child. Daniel is also the son of immigrant parents, although his story offers a different perspective on cultural background and family. Daniel and Natasha meet and form a surreal bond within 24 hours. Those 24 hours also happen to be Natasha’s last day in the United States.

The Sun is Also A Star is incredibly layered. Even if most high school seniors can’t specifically relate to Natasha’s deportation situation, they could probably relate to her as a high school senior. That was the level on which I connected with Natasha. Because, at the most basic level of the story, there is a teenager who’s facing being uprooted right before her senior year of high school. Anyone who has ever been in that situation, for whatever reason, will sympathize with Natasha.

And then there’s the more complicated issue of deportation. Being deported means Natasha can never come back to the United States. So the fact that she meets her potential soulmate on her last day in the country is all the more upsetting. Daniel’s story of struggling with cultural assimilation/preservation is a little more commonly told (but only a little). Daniel’s parents try very hard to instill a sense of Korean heritage in their sons, whom they feel are being lured away by mainstream American society. That, by itself, would make for an excellent story. I empathized with both Daniel and his parents to a certain degree (and maybe a little with his brother by the end).

Yoon wove Natasha’s and Daniel’s stories together using a string of events which had a domino effect on the characters’ lives. Natasha would have called them coincidences. Daniel would have seen them as fate. Ultimately, it is left to the reader’s discretion.

What really made the story standout to me, other than the memorable characters, were the brief “asides” sprinkled throughout the story. Yoon included occasional segments filled with background information about characters (major or minor) and cultural history. I found these segments incredibly informative and enlightening. They took this story to the next level and gave it additional depth and dimensionality.

Overall, I enjoyed The Sun is Also A Star a million times is more than Everything, Everything. Nicola Yoon has proven herself to be a more than capable storyteller. The Sun is Also A Star is such an important story with a beautifully abstract message. I’m sure that it speaks to each reader in a different way. The world needs more stories like this.

Narration review: Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee, and Dominic Hoffman did right by this story. Turpin voiced Natasha, Lee voiced Daniel, and Hoffman read the alternative chapters (the “asides” and secondary characters). Having multiple narrators was a bold and appropriate choice for this story. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of Hoffman for the alternative segments. His narration of them was attention grabbing and alerted the listener to the upcoming change in pace. All three narrators provided excellent character distinction, especially accent-related distinction. There weren’t many accents to perform, but those that were performed were done so appropriately and respectfully (not stereotypically or garishly). This is especially important due to the sensitive nature of the topics being discussed. It wouldn’t be appropriate for an accent to come off as comical or offensive. ♣︎

[e_rodz_leb]

Quite the Novel Idea http://quitethenovelidea.com http://quitethenovelidea.com/liza-reviews-the-sun-is-also-a-star-by-nicola-yoon/Since Leah already did an excellent job of reviewing this book (see it here), my review will be short.

I really loved Everything, Everything and I was eager to read Yoon’s new book, The Sun is Also a Star.  I have to confess that I didn't love it as much as her previous book.

Natasha cynical, pragmatic, realistic, and a science nerd.  She’s from Jamaica, from parents that are illegal immigrants and the family is being deported that day.  She’s out on a quest to find a way to stay in the US when she meets Daniel.

Daniel was my favorite part of the story.  He is the son of Korean immigrants that want his son to be a doctor and never have to be “poor”. He’s on his way to an interview to get into Yale when he meets Natasha and everything goes haywire form there. He’s a poet, a dreamer, an optimist.

Now, the story takes place in a day (less than 24 hours, really).  AND Daniel and Natasha fall in love in that period of time.  Now, being the romantic that I am, I do believe in love-at-first-sight. BUT I think that while somewhat believable, things went to fast for me.

I have to give Yoon kudos for the diversity that lives within the pages of the book and for her portrait of NYC.  It probably hits close to her own situation and it feels like a more personal book from her.  I really like the writing, however this book is not for everyone.  I felt that the “insight” chapters (that’s what I’m calling them, but they are kind of  intermissions within the story form others POVs) like an interruption to the natural flow of Natasha and Daniel’s story.  Are they relevant?  Sometimes. But I felt I could have done without.

After the last chapter, I was about to have a conniption, but the epilogue was this book’s saving grace. That’s all I’m saying about it.

I hope I could say that I loved The Sun is Also a Star as much as I did Yoon’s debut, but I didn’t.



The audiobook for The Sun is Also a Star has three narrators.  Bahni Turpin for Natasha, Raymond Lee for Daniel and Dominic Hoffman for the multitude of other POVs and “insight” chapters in the book.  I really like when books from multiple POVs have more than one narrator, however I just didn’t like Natasha’s voice.  I think the acting was really good, but the not the voice.  Lee as Daniel was excellent and Hoffman was more of a monotone since it was mostly narrating/informing as an objective party.This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea

[lizarodz]

Quite the Novel Idea http://quitethenovelidea.com http://quitethenovelidea.com/liza-reviews-the-sun-is-also-a-star-by-nicola-yoon/Since Leah already did an excellent job of reviewing this book (see it here), my review will be short.

I really loved Everything, Everything and I was eager to read Yoon’s new book, The Sun is Also a Star.  I have to confess that I didn't love it as much as her previous book.

Natasha cynical, pragmatic, realistic, and a science nerd.  She’s from Jamaica, from parents that are illegal immigrants and the family is being deported that day.  She’s out on a quest to find a way to stay in the US when she meets Daniel.

Daniel was my favorite part of the story.  He is the son of Korean immigrants that want his son to be a doctor and never have to be “poor”. He’s on his way to an interview to get into Yale when he meets Natasha and everything goes haywire form there. He’s a poet, a dreamer, an optimist.

Now, the story takes place in a day (less than 24 hours, really).  AND Daniel and Natasha fall in love in that period of time.  Now, being the romantic that I am, I do believe in love-at-first-sight. BUT I think that while somewhat believable, things went to fast for me.

I have to give Yoon kudos for the diversity that lives within the pages of the book and for her portrait of NYC.  It probably hits close to her own situation and it feels like a more personal book from her.  I really like the writing, however this book is not for everyone.  I felt that the “insight” chapters (that’s what I’m calling them, but they are kind of  intermissions within the story form others POVs) like an interruption to the natural flow of Natasha and Daniel’s story.  Are they relevant?  Sometimes. But I felt I could have done without.

After the last chapter, I was about to have a conniption, but the epilogue was this book’s saving grace. That’s all I’m saying about it.

I hope I could say that I loved The Sun is Also a Star as much as I did Yoon’s debut, but I didn’t.



The audiobook for The Sun is Also a Star has three narrators.  Bahni Turpin for Natasha, Raymond Lee for Daniel and Dominic Hoffman for the multitude of other POVs and “insight” chapters in the book.  I really like when books from multiple POVs have more than one narrator, however I just didn’t like Natasha’s voice.  I think the acting was really good, but the not the voice.  Lee as Daniel was excellent and Hoffman was more of a monotone since it was mostly narrating/informing as an objective party.This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea

[Sam@WLABB]

Once again, Yoon has crafted an interesting look at young love, fate, and well, immigration. This story focuses on Daniel, son of Korean immigrants, who is on his way to a Yale interview, and Natasha, an undocumented Jamaican immigrant, who is being deported. Their paths cross, and they share one day together, as Natasha races against the clock to find a way to stay in the US.

I loved the format of this book. Most of the chapters are Natasha's or Daniel's, but are interspersed with these vignettes focusing on different topics and minor characters in the story. At first, I did not understand, but all these small parts contributed to the whole. The story carries this basic thread of how a series of events can lead to some outcome. How one event can trigger another, and these small decisions can shape our lives.

I really loved both Natasha and Daniel. Daniel, the dreamer, who challenged the logical, scientific Natasha. Yoon did such beautiful job building these characters, and allowing us to get to know them. The author has a knack for taking fairly heavy topics, and being able to keep the overall feel light. This book deals with deportation and the immigrant experience, cultural expectations, stereotyping, racism, poverty/socioeconomic status, infidelity -- some really heavy topics, but the book never felt heavy, which I think is quite an accomplishment. I appreciate the way Yoon addressed these issues head on. She did not tiptoe around any of them, and it came across as honest to me.

On a personal note, I love a girl who can science. I loved all the geeky talk! As it is with every book set in NYC, I loved visiting my hometown. It was super special, since Natasha lived in the neighborhood I grew up in (Flatbush), and volunteered at the hospital I was born in.

I am a fan of this author, and highly recommend her work, if you like thoughtful contemporary YA romances. Oh, Nicola Yoon, you just know how to tug at my heartstrings and bring happy/sad tears to my eyes.

[girlinthepages]

Nicola Yoon's writing contains a grace that I haven't ever seen another author capture in quite the same way. She takes difficult, heavy, and at times overwhelming topics and manages to have her prose dance through them, keeping her characters challenged by not bogged down by them. Everything, Everything was a beautiful story of trust, deceit, illness, and physical and mental strength, and Yoon's sophomore novel build upon its the expectations set by its predecessor with an even stronger delivery.

First and foremost, the thing I adored above all else in The Sun is Also a Star was the narrative style. Told in short chapters that bounce between different characters' points of view, it helped capture the tone of the plot, which centered around the ideas of chance and fate. Daniel and Natasha keep meeting randomly around New York City on one of the most important days that will determine their futures, yet the chapters sometimes deviate from their point of views, focusing on seemingly irrelevant details or characters (such as a chapter on the backstory of a supposedly minor side character, but it's later on revealed that a small action made by them has a huge impact on the course of Natasha and Daniel's futures). There are also chapters that almost break away from the main story and explain the origins of concepts such as love or fate. I loved seeing butterfly effect in these seemingly inconsequential chapters, and it helped to make me feel consumed by the insular world of the story, which takes place across the span of one very, very long and important day.

Like in Everything, Everything, Yoon manages to integrate racial diversity into her novel in a way that is meaningful without overwhelming the overall story. Natasha is a Jamaican immigrant who came to America as a young girl, and Daniel is Korean-American who was born in New York and has lived in America his whole life. The novel explores the very real tensions that these diverse cultural backgrounds bring to their relationship, especially due to the biases and ideals held by their families, as well as the differing opinions they have of their identities as Americans. As someone who is biracial (white/Latina) and who is dating someone biracial (white/Asian) I can definitely appreciate the way that differing cultures bleed into relationships and how family values and expectations can still be very, very influenced by one's culture.

I also have to applaud Yoon for featuring the concept of instalove in a way that didn't make me want to tear my hair out. The narrative does a great job laying a foundation of how instalove can be possible through it's exploration of concepts such as science and fate, and the faith and reservations both Daniel (a total idealistic, dreamer, and romantic) and Natasha (practical, cynical, and aspiring scientist). While instalove still isn't a preferred trope of mine, I appreciated how it worked with the themes in this novel (and I loved the list of questions they asked each other all day that was supposedly meant to bring them closer).

Overall: The Sun is Also a Star is a book with beautiful prose, a compelling story telling method, and just a hint of magic through its focus on fate, love, and the wider workings of the universe. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


Natasha's family only has less than a day to finish packing because they will be deported to Jamaica after her father got charged with DUI and he blurted the truth: his family were illegal immigrants. Tasha wants to find a way to stay in the US so she goes to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in hopes of finding a way to stay. She only believes in facts and science, but she's willing to believe in anything that will help her stay. I could feel Tasha's sorrow through Yoon's writing. She obviously didn't want to move and it was very painful for her to even think of packing.

To be clear: I don’t believe in fate. But I’m desperate.

Daniel comes from a family of Asians who migrated to the US to have a better life. He's an aspiring poet, but his father wants him to go to an Ivy League school so Daniel can have a great future. Daniel has an interview with Yale and on this day, he encounters a girl with a gorgeous afro and pink headphones who's lost in her music. He's completely drawn to her so he follows her.

There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.

When I started reading this novel, I realized it had aspects of an insta-love happening. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me at all! If you know me, you know that I can't stand insta-love, but Yoon captivated me with the cute and swoony romance! I think the reason I was loving it was because the story's main focus wasn't the romance, even though it did have a strong presence throughout. Despite this being a very cute story, it has its dark undertones, touching subjects such as racism, family, expectations, immigration, loyalty, loneliness, suicide, just to mention a few.

But here is a true thing: Almost everything in the night sky gives off light. Even if we can't see it, the light is still there.

One of my reasons for loving this novel so much is that it has various point of views. Don't stop reading here, keep going on and you'll understand why. When I skimmed the book the first time and saw different POV's I was taken aback and thought I wouldn't love it since I'd probably get lost with the narratives. NOT AT ALL! You see, Daniel and Natasha's POV's are the main ones in the story. As they have encounters with different people, those people make a minor appearance. These POV's are highly important to the story even if at the beginning you don't think so. As I kept reading, I realized Yoon seamlessly intertwined so many stories that played a major role in Tasha's and Daniel's lives.

Overall, The Sun Is Also A Star is a wonderfully written diverse novel that's very thought-provoking with all its crucial subjects and an adorable and fluffy romance to keep things light.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

3.5 stars

[Angie]

I loved the description and title of The Sun is Also a Star, but I was not expecting to love the book as much as I did. Holy crap! It basically shoved a bunch of my favorite tropes together then made me cry like a baby. Natasha and her family are about to get deported. They moved to America from Jamaica nine years ago, but her father got a DUI and the government caught up with them. Natasha doesn’t want to leave, and she’s not going to stop looking for some way to stay. Meanwhile, Daniel has an interview with a Yale alum. That’s not so bad, but he wants to be a poet not a doctor, and his traditional Korean parents will hear nothing of it. Natasha and Daniel meet and their whole lives are thrown off balance (or set back to balance).

The Sun is Also a Star had me hooked from the moment that I realized the entire thing was going to be set during one day. Well, it’s more like 12 hours. This is one of my favorite story-telling devices! The story starts with Natasha heading to USCIS to plead her family’s case one last time and Daniel having breakfast. It ends with them…well, it ends that night which is when Natasha’s flight leaves. Is she on it? I won’t tell. But I loved seeing the ins and outs of their day together. There’s fun stuff and serious stuff, but everything adds up to their lives being changed. Then that epilogue happened and I just burst into tears at the sight of one name. Yes, I did. It was quite an intense emotional reaction.

One fun thing about The Sun is Also a Star is that it’s not just Natasha and Daniel’s POVs. There are chapters from other people’s POVs too. They’re not major characters, but their presence does play a role and has an effect on our main characters’ lives. We don’t live in a vacuum. Outside forces can change the course of our day even if we don’t notice them at the time. Similarly, small actions by us that we don’t notice can have a huge impact on someone else. I absolutely loved getting all of these little details and then seeing them in action during the main chapters. Fate or coincidence? Both?

I really loved The Sun is Also a Star. Immigration and deportation is not a subject that I’ve read much about, and I think the author did an amazing job of laying out exactly what was going on with Natasha’s family (and many, many real families). I also loved how there was a lot of focus on family. Natasha and Daniel are both having trouble with theirs, and most of it has to do with them finding their own way rather than staying on the path that their parents set them on. Of course, the romance was absolutely adorable. It was a bit odd at first how convinced Daniel was that they’d fall in love, but I believed that he believed that and just rolled with it. Then, like I said, that epilogue which brings everything together and made me weep. Beautiful.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.