Just Contemporary: Tough Stuff

November is Just Contemporary month, hosted by Basically Amazing Books and Chick Loves Lit.  If you follow my blog, then you know my true love for YA falls with the contemps.  So when I found out about this month long feature I knew I had to participate.

Each week different topics will be discussed among the blogs in regards to contemporary YA.  The beauty of this genre is it reaches many different outlets.  While one book might leave you breathless from laughing so hard, another may have you clutching it in tears.  My reasons for reading YA contemps are based on that reaction alone.

This week's topic: Tough Stuff

Some people read to escape the hard edges of reality, so they may steer clear of the grittier and more challenging topics in books.  For me though, I welcome it with open arms.  I'm more apt to pick up a book that deals with the "tough stuff" than I am to read a light & fluffy book.  When it comes to contemps, I think some of the most well written books in YA are the ones who dig deep and portray the not so pretty side of life.  The most rewarding feeling you can get from a book is when a character has walked in your shoes, and you're able to identify with them.  It's almost as though that author took bits of your story, and put them on paper.

Death is always a hard pill to swallow in any story.  It's so final.  I know a few readers stay away from books that involve such a heavy topic and I completely understand why.  Death and dying is never an easy thing to read about.  The first 22 years of my life, I was one of those people.  Why would I want to read about someone else's pain?  But then something happened, and my views on death drastically changed.  It was no longer this part of the world that I had heard of; it was now something sitting in my home, obvious in everything I looked at, spoke about, and thought of.  Due to my experience with losing my mother at a fairly young age (I was 22), I have a different approach to death in stories.  When a character explains the ugly process of what one feels like after losing someone, I get it.  I'm right there, in that moment with them.  It's an even more beautiful thing when a character goes through the motions of grieving, breaks down a few hundred times, but eventually knows how to pick themselves back up.  I get that, too.

A few YA contemps I've read dealing with death that stick out in my mind are: Moonglass by Jessi Kirby, The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle, Saving June by Hannah Harrington, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

Each of these stories approach death from a different angle, yet I found something common with them all: the capacity to accept, deal, and move forward.  Its a hard lesson to learn in life.  A lesson I wish I never knew.  But that's the irony of life, we never know what cards we'll be dealt.  You just have to play them, good or bad.  If you're on the fence about reading a YA contemp that deals with death, I encourage you to read any of these that I mentioned.  Sometimes the "tough stuff" are the most rewarding stuff ;-)

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Published: March 9, 2010 by Dial
Received: Bought from B&N online

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm 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 boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his 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 wide world exploding.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. 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. {taken from goodreads.com}

Excuse me while I grab the last of my tissues & wipe this blubbery mess of tears off my face.  Yes, I am crying.  This book had me in complete sobs!  Now you're probably thinking.. oh no! I don't want to read it then!  Oh but you DO.  And you will be thanking me for it.  The Sky is Everywhere is one of the most well written YA novels I've read, ever.  Jandy Nelson's words flow so rhythmically, that they literally dance off the page and create the sweetest song your ears will ever hear.  I am almost at a loss for words when it comes to this book, so please bare with me as I find those words so that I can write this review...

The Sky is Everywhere is about a seventeen year old girl named Lennon (or Lennie, or John Lennon - as some people call her) that has just lost the most sacred person to her heart, her older sister Bailey.  Bailey's death was sudden & has left not just Lennie devastated, but their entire family as well.  However, this family is not your standard nuclear family either.  Lennie & Bailey's mother took off when they were just babies & left them with their grandmother & uncle to raise.  The girls were always told that their mother would be back some day.  That it was in her nature to always be moving, traveling, experiencing the world.  But really, it was Gran who was protecting these girls, from the abandonment left by their mother.

Lennie is lost with out her sister.  She is unable to even process the realization that Bailey is now gone.  How can there be life, when so much death surrounds her?  Not being able to mourn her sister & move on in the healthy way, she keeps every thing as is.  Their bedroom that they once shared has become her sanctum.  It is here that Lennie begins to write poems about her sister & to her sister.  Memories that they once shared.  Thoughts that have crept inside Lennie's mind, forcing her to realize that Bailey is no longer there.  In the midst of this grief stricken world that Lennie must live in now, she finds comfort & peace with Bailey's boyfriend Toby.  He, too, is in pain & seems to be the only person who gets Lennie & understands her sadness & emptiness.  Their closeness begins to evolve in to something more though.  Lennie not only finds comfort & peace in his presence, but she also finds it in his kisses.  It's these kisses that leave her feeling ashamed & sick with herself.  How could she be doing this with her dead sister's boyfriend??

Though the world may feel like it's stopped for Lennie, it hasn't outside her sanctum's walls.  There is a new boy in town, a gorgeous new boy who happens to be in Lennie's music class at school.  Joe encompasses so much beauty & happiness that Lennie does not understand how this is possible.  She can't be feeling these feelings when she is supposed to be sad & grieving.  Joe takes it upon himself to get to know Lennie, and Gran & her uncle Big too.  He positions himself as a constant fixture in their dark, sorrow home.  He begins to shed light, piece by piece.  Hope filters in through the windows, & somehow they are all smiling again.  Lennie feels blessed to be given a gift such as Joe during this depressing time, but something else is lurking in the back of her mind.  Toby.  She still feels herself gravitating towards him.  Is it because of Bailey?  Does she miss Bailey so much, that she thinks the closest she can be to her is through Toby?  Lennie makes careless, heartless, & grief-stricken choices.  Her mind is else where & her heart is all over the place these days.

The story that Jandy Nelson has created is so beautifully written.  I found myself constantly re-reading sentences & in awe of the exquisite writing that laid before me, page after page.  My heart literally broke for Lennie.  The love she carried with her for her sister was constantly brought forward, even when Lennie was making the worst possible choices.  A young girl, who always saw herself as the shadow behind her sister's beauty, is having to find her own way through the pain & devastation.   The idea of having to comprehend a world with out her sister in it spoke volumes to me.  I understood this pain on so many levels.  That may have been why I found myself so compelled to the story.  When you lose someone that close to you, your world is shattered to a million pieces.  You think - how on earth will I get out of bed & go on with my life? with this day? with the very next minute?  There are no answers.  You just do it.  Because somewhere, deep inside, you realize they (Bailey) would have wanted you (Lennie) to do it.

Lennie finds love, friendship, acceptance, & motivation out of the darkest moments of her life.  When a person is able to do that, they are able to do anything.  I admired her for the strength she found in herself as the story progressed.  And I adored the relationship she developed with Joe.  I recommend this book to anyone & everyone!  If I'm going to persuade you to read anything, I really hope it's this book.  The Sky is Everywhere needs to be read.  This story is beyond beautiful, in so many ways.