Fhina Basbair
“MEETING YOUR SOUL MATE IS LIKE WALKING INTO A HOUSE YOU'VE BEEN IN BEFORE - YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THE FURNITURE, THE PICTURES ON THE WALL, THE BOOKS ON THE SHELVES, THE CONTENTS OF DRAWERS: YOU COULD FIND YOUR WAY AROUND IN THE DARK IF YOU HAD TO.” This books has been on my TBR-pile ever since it was first published last September. It was impossible not to notice this beauty. It is/was everywhere; on Youtube, on Goodreads, and on blogs, and with its catchy covers is also impossible not to notice. So finally I got around to read this book and what can I say, it pulled me out of a very horrible reading slump. I started this book in June and kept putting it aside because of the reading slump I was in but then I picked it up this week again and just couldn't stop reading. This book is heart-wrenchinly beautiful, the story telling amazingly imaginary and there's just no way you cannot not like Noah or Jude. They are wonderful characters and Jandy Nelson really managed to bring them alive. After a tragedy rips not only the twins hearts out of their chests but them also them as siblings apart, they more or less start to live their own lives, barely talking to each other. Noah is shy and rather introverted. He loves art and paints in his head, he enjoys museum visits with his mom and is preparing to apply for an art school, working hard on his portfolio. And he likes boys. I love the relationship between Noah and Brian. It's not easy. It's insecure and awkward and both seem lost to know whether what is wrong or right. My back is to his front and if I move an inch backward I'd fall into him and then if it were a movie, not one I've ever seen, mind you, he'd put his hands all over me, I know he would, and then I'd twist around and we'd melt together like hot wax. We learn from Noah how Jude is at 13. She is wild and rebellious, she's into boys, short dresses and red lipstick. She fights with her Mom about her outfits and enjoys a carefree life at The Spot where she hangs out with her friends. At 16 Jude hides her body in wide clothes and faces the fear to have to leave her school when he teacher sends her off to a man named Guillermo who might be the only person in the world to help her and make her realize what she needs to do. On her way to Guillermo, she meets this handsome guy with an English accent. The smile and accompanying crookedness hijack his whole face. It's an impatient, devil-may-care, chip-thoothed smile on an off kilter, asymmetrical face. He's totally wild-looking, hot in a let's-break-the-law kind of way. This guy is a real bad boy with leather Jacket, rides motorcycle and has his own little package to carry. "He's too young, too dumb, too careless. I was the same once. I have no idea about women, about love, until much later. Understand?" Throughout the book we get to know Jude and Noah very well. We get insight into their hearts and thoughts, their fears and wishes. More and more secrets are reviled, pieces fall into place and start to make sense. This book is life. It's so alive that you really think you actually do know Jude and Noah, like they are a part of you. The story and relationships are so realistic that you know that something like that actually can happen to you and you would just be as broken and lost. As much as my heart broke throughout the book, it was puzzled back together again. I really loved the ending of the book. It wasn't at all apart and simply beautiful.
