Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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We begin The Sun Is Also A Star, learning about our leads and their families, alongside random people who’ll likely be cut from the movie.
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| Author | |
| Nicola Yoon | |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
| Book’s Publish Date | 11/1/2016 |
| Genre | Romance, Drama, Young Adult |
| Good If You Like | Teen Angst
The Perspective Of Those Who Are 1st Generation Americans (Natasha More So In DREAMer Form) |
| This Isn’t For You If | Like Books Getting To The Action Quickly |
| Characters Introduced | |
| Irene | |
| The Conductor | |
| Natasha | |
| Daniel | |
| Charlie | |
| Samuel | |
| Patricia | |
| Min | |
| Peter | |
| Dae | |
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The Random People: Irene, The Conductor
Like how medical and legal dramas have random people who majorly change our leads, The Sun Is Also A Star has that. Well, at least in terms of The Conductor. Irene is a security guard at immigration who is lonely and after listening to Nirvana, thanks to Natasha, seems like she’ll commit suicide.
But, The Conductor is on a completely different side of the spectrum. For while he is divorced, due to his ex-wife suddenly not loving him, he became an Evangelical Christian and seemingly is filled with the love of God. Which, as a conductor on a train, leads him to use his platform to speak and push Daniel towards Natasha.
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The Bae & Kingsley Family: Natasha, Daniel, Charlie, Samuel, Patricia, Min, Peter, Dae
The Bae family originate from South Kora and currently own a Black Hair Care store. They are comprised of mother Min Soo and dad Dae Hyun. It was Dae’s idea to immigrate to America, and he is the one who mostly runs their store. All in the hope that their two sons, Charlie, the oldest, and Daniel, will become doctors through Harvard. Unfortunately, though, the former golden child, Charlie, gets suspended from Harvard. Thus leading to Daniel holding the hopes and joys of the family – even if it has to be at Yale.
As for the Kingsley family, the Jamaican origin family, sans youngest Peter, are not so much into status. Samuel is a struggling actor who has been in New York for nearly 10 years and whose accent held him back. His wife, Patricia, isn’t spoken of much but Natasha is. She is our female lead and has been in the US since she was 8. Yet, with no mention of the DREAM Act, it seems she is likely to be deported with the rest of her family – thanks to her dad getting a DUI.
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Two Strangers On A Collision Course: Natasha, Daniel
Natasha’s day is trying to figure out a way to not get deported at 10PM that day and while not a religious girl, there is some form of hope. How else would you explain her not packing much and still fighting to stay? However, with little help from the Immigration reps, besides some tissue and the name of a lawyer, things aren’t necessarily looking bright.
As for Daniel? Well, with pressure to not be like his brother, yet pseudo following in his footsteps, the sole thing we learn about Daniel that day is his interest in poetry. As well as this girl with a huge curly fro, pink headphones, who seems like she is in bliss. Which seems a bit foreign to him.
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Other Noteworthy Facts & Moments
- Charlie has intentionally whitewashed himself and has mostly dated blonde, white, and blue-eyed girls – except one which was green-eyed. Also, he changed his last name from Bae to Bay, according to Daniel, in what could be seen as a flashforward or Daniel’s imagination of his brother’s future.
- Natasha is really into rock music. Nirvana being one of the top choices but 90s grunge rock in general.
- Min is an artist in her spare time.
Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
I don’t believe in fate, but I’m desperate.
— Natasha (Page 5 – Hardcover)
Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass.
—Family (Page 16 – Hardcover)
Words, […] should behave more like units of measure, A meter is a meter is a meter. Words shouldn’t be allowed to change meanings. Who decides that the meaning has changed, and when? Is there an in-between time when the word means both things? Or a time when the word doesn’t mean anything at all?
—Irie (Page 25-26 – Hardcover)
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On The Fence
It’s A Slow Beginning
Perhaps one of the things I’m not fond of with Yoon is how she structures her books. Similar to her first book, Everything, Everything, and Blake Nelson’s Recovery Road, chapters are short, and they more so are about diving into an emotion than representing a statement. With Irene’s two it is about isolation and loneliness, to the point of suicidal thoughts. Daniel’s are all about how he lives in his brother’s shadow, as shown by us learning more about his brother than him. Then, with Natasha, we get creeping fear.
Which is fine, it is clueing us into perhaps the bigger picture before getting specific, but the jumping can kind of take you out a bit. Especially if you are in the mindset I am of prepping for the movie, and you are reading through the lens of what you can see being taken out more so than what needs to be kept in. Since the details given push you to that kind of thought process.
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