Book Review - The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Hey guys! This past weekend I read The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. I had a lot of problems with this book and would not recommend it.

Overall: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Age Range: 16 and up

Synopsis: The Sun Is Also a Star is the story of Natasha as her family is about to be deported to Jamaica. We also follow Daniel, a boy who doesn't want to follow the path his parents have set for him. Fate brings them together as they both try and figure out where the future will lead them.


Characters: I didn't care much for Natasha or Daniel (or really any character in this book for that matter). Natasha and Daniel fall in love with each other in the span of a couple of hours and I didn't like their romance at all. I found both of them to be kind of annoying, actually.

Plot: The plot was okay, but nothing great. Natasha is trying to do all she can so her family won't get deported. Daniel has an interview with Yale (the university). Daniel doesn't really want to go to Yale. Their paths cross and they fall in love.

Other Thoughts: The only reason I ended up finishing this book is because I wanted to see if Natasha would end up being deported. It was also really short, which helped. Other than that I really didn't like this book. My main issue with it (besides the fact I didn't like the romance) was that they used a man cheating on his wife and two children as a plot device. CHEATING IS WRONG and this book made it seem okay! They even go so far as to describe it as a kind of fairy tale. SO WRONG! I also thought a lot of the problems in this book could have been solved if Natasha and Daniel just talked things over with their parents.

Spoiler Section: In the end Natasha and her family are deported back to Jamaica. We find out, however, that they might have been able to stay. They had to leave because the lawyer who was supposed to be helping them missed his appointment with the judge to stop the deportation. He missed it because he was in a hotel with the paralegal he was having an affair with. That just seemed so wrong to me.

Now that I have kind of bashed this book, I wanted to mention one quote I really liked from it. It says, "If people who were actually born here had to prove they were worthy enough to live in America, this would be a much less populated country." Reading that quote just made me feel like I should be a better citizen.

Thanks for reading! If you have read this book let me know your thoughts in the comments! Have a great day!