Disclaimer – This post may contain a few spoilers for the book, but I am trying to make sure that there aren’t too many!
Nicola Yoon is known for her book Everything, Everything, which is also now a film starring Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson. I love Everything, Everything, and I spoke about it in another blog post about my favourite books (Book Recommendations). But, the other book of hers that I don’t hear people talking about as much is The Sun Is Also A Star, and I think I love this book even more than Everything, Everything. (I also spoke about The Sun Is Also A Star in my book recommendations post too.)

The Sun Is Also A Star is a novel about a teenage romance (because who doesn’t like a YA romance novel?), that follows the characters Natasha and Daniel – a girl from Jamaica, and a boy from a Korean family. Natasha’s family are illegal immigrants from Jamaica, and Daniel’s family are also immigrants, from Korea. It alternates each chapters in between Natasha and Daniel’s perspectives, and sometimes there are little notes, or small chapters in between, which talk about relevant things to the story, such as the backstories of seemingly minor characters.
Firstly, I love the fact that both of the main characters are non-white; they are both from ethnic groups that don’t get as much representation in books, or the media, etc. I think it’s great that Nicola Yoon has done this – she has not just put in one or two characters on the sides who are non-white and thought that she has made the book diverse; the book revolves around them, they are important. I think this is so great because people from those ethnic groups will be able to find something of themselves in Natasha and Daniel, even if it is just that they are being represented.
So, the book deals with immigration, and also deportation. In the first chapter in Natasha’s perspective, she mentions that her mother is upset with her, because she is not packing properly for their trip back to Jamaica – they are being deported. The reasons why are explained later on, but it is shown that Natasha does not want to be deported, whereas her younger brother, Peter, is quite happy that he’s going to Jamaica, proving that families can be split on their opinions on the subject. One thing that the book makes clear is that deportation is messy, difficult, and very upsetting – Natasha tries her best to stop her family from getting deported (I won’t tell you whether they do get deported or not because that would be too many spoilers) and it is clear that she finds the whole process extremely hard.
Another thing that the book deals with is the struggles of not wanting to fulfill the life that your parents want you to have. Daniel’s parents are extremely strict, and want him to get good grades, and go to a good university, to get a good job; hopefully as a doctor. They are already disappointed in their elder son, Charlie, who has been forced to withdraw from Harvard University, and so now their hope is resting on their younger son, Daniel. His parents check on his grades, get him interviews with good universities, and make sure he is “on the right track”. Daniel explicitly says “we’re not allowed to change in this household. We’re on track to be doctors, and there’s no getting off.” But Daniel doesn’t want the life that his parents have laid out for him. He wants to create himself and create his own life, but he struggles, as he’s living in a world that is telling him what to do. I feel like a lot of people can relate to this, especially now, with the media, and social media, telling people who they should be and how they should live their lives.
There are other things that the book deals with, such as the fact that Natasha’s dad followed his dreams, and was lead to America, but his dreams didn’t quite work out for him. There’s a character who is called Irene, who may seem unimportant at first, but is actually a key character in the end – making you realise that sometimes, the small things are the most important. Culture and racial issues are of course part of the story too, which I think is very important.
And of course, there is the love story. The meeting of Natasha and Daniel is not romantic, it’s not something you would read and think “wow, I want that”, but it leads to something a lot lot more. Their romance is strange, and rushed, and definitely the type of love that a lot of teenagers have. Nicola Yoon’s writing makes it all even better; she has such a beautiful way of writing, and even the most simple sentences seem so marvelous in the way that she phrases them. A lot of the sentences made me sit back and think for a while.
All in all, I think The Sun Is Also A Star is an important book – after finishing it (which did not take long, because I just wanted to know what happened, and to soak up more of Yoon’s gorgeous writing) I felt different. I felt like I appreciated certain things more, and that my eyes were more open to possibilities I could have, as well as the diversity of this incredible world we’re in.
I hope that if you do read this book, you find it as incredible as I did!