The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.
http://www.theskyiseverywhere.com/

I admit, after my mother died, I avoided all books that presented a realistic death. Bring on the urban fantasy (I'll get around to reviewing those books later), where someone is killed by a vampire or something unnatural and certainly not by any disease or tragedy that could affect you.

The Sky is Everywhere focuses on seventeen year old Lennie, and the way she deals with suddenly losing her sister to a unknown heart condition. Her focus then turns to other areas of her life, her sister's boyfriend, her family, and finally her own recovery.

Jandy Nelson, has an amazing way with words. She explains how it really feels to lose someone. There were so many parts that I could relate to, like how she said food tasted like ashes, and how she got upset when she saw the book her sister was reading before she passed and would now never know how it ends.

I can even overlook all of the purple prose and I suggest you do too. It will be worth it in the end. You'll close the book and then immediately want to open it and reread it again. This is the type of book that will stay with you, you'll think of it often and you'll wonder about the characters, how they are doing now. Yes, I know they aren't real, but the story is just that good.

Woven between the grief and hard times is a love story that made me smile through my tears. Trust me, you need those smiles.

My favorite quote from the book:

Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy.

Yes. Exactly. Every.single.word.