By Catherine Coles
Coles Notes
Caitlyn Baker, a student page at the County of Lennox and Addington Libraries’ Napanee Branch, recently enjoyed The Sun is also a Star by Nicole Yoon, a lyrical YA love story that hinges on a deportation.
“Natasha and her family are about to be deported,” explains Caitlyn. “In a last-ditch effort to stay in the United States, Natasha spends her last day on U.S. soil searching and hoping that someone will be able to help her. Early, at the immigration office, she meets a man named Lester, who gives her the name of an immigration attorney. Suddenly, there is hope. And then there is Daniel. Daniel’s life is about to end. He’s being forced into being the ‘perfect son’ and to attend the ‘second-best’school, Yale. But while en route to get his hair cut and to his interview, fate intercedes, and sends Daniel on a trip, following signs from the heavens, until he runs into Natasha. Their personalities are opposites: Natasha believes in science, not fate, and she doesn’t believe in love. Daniel, on the other hand, is a poet. A dreamer. He follows signs and believes in fate and destiny. He believes in love. When Daniel bets that he can make Natasha fall in love with him before the end of the day, the two begin a game that ensnares them. As they travel all over New York City, they must come to terms with who they are, and who they could be—as individuals, and together. Told in alternating viewpoints, this story is a powerful rendering of what happens when fate, people, science, and love collide.
“I loved this book,” Caitlyn says. “It wasn’t just all about Natasha and Daniel: it was about the immigration security guard, it was about the immigration attorney and his secretary, it was about Natasha’s father, the waitress, Daniel’s father, their mothers. It was about all the people that wove into Natasha’s and Daniel’s story, no matter how inconsequential they may seem. It was about how maybe fate has a plan, and maybe it’s all chance. It’s about how much had to go right, how much had to go wrong, and how much may have been preplanned, to get us to where we are.
“This book makes you question the universe. It makes you question the existential and the unreal. Is the future planned? Does it exist? Is it all based on choice? Is it out of your hands? Nicola Yoon weaves a wonderfully interpretive story that reads differently for every single person on the planet. It will make you laugh, the ending will make you cry, and this novel will make you believe in love. It might even make you believe in fate.”
She concludes, “For those of you who want an answer to life’s greatest mysteries, a new couple to root for, and a story that will stay with you forever, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.”
You can reserve The Sun is Also a Star in regular print, e-book or e-audiobook formats from CountyLibrary.ca.
Catherine Coles is the Manager of Library Services for L&A County.