The Sky Is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere

The cover of The Sky is Everywhere.
Author	Jandy Nelson
Illustrator	Jennifer Kelly
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Contemporary
Publisher	Penguin Group
Publication date	2010
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	275 pp (first edition)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-8037-3495-1
LC Class	PZ7.N433835Sk 2010
Text	The Sky is Everywhere at Wikisource

Plot

Lennon Walker, referred to as Lennie or Len, is a high school student whose love for nature and band comforts her throughout the day. Her mother left when she and Bailey was young, something Lennie never minded because she had Gram, Bailey and her Uncle Big. The loss of her sister, Bailey, by arrhythmia while she is rehearsing the lead in the play Romeo and Juliet, leads Lennie to question what she is to do without her best friend. Following Bailey's death, Lennie, Gram, and Uncle Big are stuck in a state depression that takes a while to overcome.

Lennie attempts to cope with her loss by leaving notes and poems throughout the town. Written on the notes and poems are often conversations Lennie had with Bailey before she died. In the midst of all this, Lennie begins an unplanned relationship with Toby, Bailey's boyfriend and fiance. Their relationship forms from a shared grief for the loved one they both lost. While their relationship is forming, a new boy in the town appears, Joe Fountaine, a half French, musically-talented, goregous, and positive friend who helps Lennie almost forget about her sister's death. Joe visits Lennie every morning and brings the same thing, chocolate croissants. He starts to become friends with Gram and Uncle Big during his constant visits and slowly, Lennie and Joe fall in love over their love for music.

Toby visits Lennie often, in between Joe's visits and their lustful and secretive relationship creates an awkward situation for Lennie as she resents him but at the same time welcomes his lust for her. As Lennie falls in love with Joe, she hates herself even more with what is going on with her and Toby because she believes that their relationship is unhealthy and wrong, something Toby is also aware of.

The novel progresses with Lennie and Joe in love and together. Lennie also discovers more about her mother and how Bailey was desperate to find her before her death, leaving Lennie confused because this was something she never discussed with her.

One day, Toby visits Lennie because he is feeling bad and wants to someone to talk to. To comfort him, Lennie kisses Toby on the lips. She feels Toby stiffen up and when she looks up, she sees Joe is watching her. Hearbroken, Joe leaves, ending their relationship as Lennie discovers that Bailey was pregnant with Toby's baby. Lennie brings Joe some of Gram's luscious roses to get him back, but doesn't succeed. Gram finds out that Lennie cut her roses and becomes furious, telling her she has become selfish. This makes Lennie realize she has to change because very often her grandmother praises instead of criticizing. Now that she's criticizing, Lennie's realized she had made a horrible mistake to anger her grandmother and put aside her feelings. To make it even, Lennie apologizes to her grandmother and gives her a copy of Wuthering Heights, Lennie's favorite book. Lennie tells Gram to chop it up with a pair of gardening shears so they'll be emotionally even. After, Lennie tells Gram, "He [Joe] hates me," Gram reassures that Joe doesn't hate her, in fact, Joe is in love. Finally, Lennie is determined to write a letter expressing her feelings for Joe and she decides to leave the letter where she know Joe will look. Joe goes back to where he found the letter while Lennie is there crying and thinking she'll never get Joe back. Joe tells her that he forgives her and they kiss, with Lennie promising to never put anyone else's feelings aside.

The book ends with Joe and Lennie happily together. Toby and Lennie decide to become good friends and go to visit Bailey's grave to say sorry. Bailey's grave was near the river so she could hear and smell the water. It also had a cabinet, so they could give Bailey things. Once, on her own, she visits Bailey's grave with the letters Gram had written to their mother and throws away the "Lennie plant" into the river. The "Lennie plant" is a plant that Gram had believed depicted how Lennie was feeling. Lennie walks away from the grave and river with a smile, knowing that her sister would have forgiven her and that the only way to deal with grief was to accept that it is a part of you and to look ahead to the future for your loved ones.

Major Themes

Some major themes in The Sky is Everywhere are music, nature, death, and love. Music appears by Lennie's love for her clarinet & band class and Joe Fountaine's love for his trumpet & guitar. Nature is exemplified by the "Lennie plant," the forest, and Gram's flower garden.^[1] Death being used by the death of Bailey and the death of Gram's many flowers which are all very important to the story. Love shared by Gram, Uncle Big & Lennie, Lennie & Toby, and Lennie & Joe. Love keeps the story going on, although the love might be between different people each time, it still keeps the story going on.

Style

The style of The Sky is Everywhere interesting and unique. It's receives its uniqueness because the character Bailey dies while rehearsing Juliet in the play Romeo and Juliet, much like Juliet dies in the play.^[2] Although it has some sort of foreshadowing there, it's also interesting how the author portrays the character Lennie's emotions. As member believeinmexoxo of TeenInk says, "she doesn't just write it [a poem/note] on a piece of paper and tuck it away for her own sake, she writes it on the bark of trees and on the inside of Bailey's closet."^[3] Lennie's character isn't just like the "normal" teenage girl and write in a diary, she writes on whatever she can get her hands on. Whether that be a lollipop wrapper, a paper cup, a napkin, a tree, or on her recently deceased sister's closet, she'll write on it and leave it there. The tone of The Sky is Everywhere is described as "at times, skittish and witty" and that "there is an often poignant dissection of grief, of guilt, and their effect on the maturing young as they struggle to accommodate themselves. . ." as stated by Robert Dunbar.^[4]

Background

Author Jandy Nelson's writing routine from day to day was that she'd, "write in the mornings, early, usually from 5 am to 9 am and then whenever I could throughout the day (sometimes on napkins in restaurants, scraps of paper in the car, like Lennie actually, except I keep all scribbles) and I'd write again at night, and all day weekends."^[5] Nelson also says that sometimes she'd be writing so much, her writing would last for sixteen hours or more. She said she had a feeling of "urgency, of needing to get the story out."

Nelson's reasoning for writing this novel is because like the main character Lennie lost her older sister Bailey, which was a very important person to her. Nelson also lost someone very close to her, her mother. She wants the reader to be able to relate with those who had lost a very close loved one. Nelson also wanted to write a story where happiness and sorrow were quick to follow each other.^[5]

All of the characters Nelson created, however, are not real. She said none of the characters she used were real people, the characters were just a "mish-mash of many people you know, including yourself." ^[5]

Publication History

The Sky is Everywhere is Jandy Nelson's first novel and it has been translated into thirteen languages including English, Spanish, and many others.^[6]

Reception

The Sky is Everywhere received an extensive amount of positive reviews. Shauna Yusko of Booklist praised the book saying, "Readers will identify with her and root for her to finally make the first steps toward healing."^[2] Likewise, News designer Judy Smith said that The Sky is Everywhere was, "written for a young adult audience, [but] will be enjoyed by anyone fascinated with the randomness of life."^[7] Believeinmexoxo, member of TeenInk said, "this book is a dramatic masterpiece."^[3] Vanessa Lewis, co-founder of a children's bookshop, said that The Sky is Everywhere had a gorgeous cover, was an "exploration of grief, love, and life," and was hard to put down.^[8] Robert Johnson of VOYA readers said that, "The feelings associated with a sibling's death are expressed accurately, changing from sadness to incredulity to laughing and crying at the same time."^[1] Karen Cruze said that The Sky is Everywhere will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Calleti.^[9]

References