2.5 stars

I wasn’t a fan of Everything, Everything, but decided to give The Sun Is Also a Star a try because of the movie. I’ve heard generally positive things, and many reviews say this is better than Yoon’s debut. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this one, either.

Let me start by saying that I did love Natasha. She’s a fierce protagonist that loves and believes in science, and I admired her confidence and intelligence. She’s a contemporary icon, and I would’ve loved if the entire novel was from her perspective. Lowkey might see the movie just for her.

And then there’s Daniel, hopeless romantic, wannabe poet, and possibly five blocks of cheese in a trench coat. Give me a freaking break. He was a cheesy, truly cringeworthy love interest, and more often than not, he grated on my nerves. Natasha would be cheddar off without him. Characters like him are generally hit or Swiss, and in my opinion, he definitely wasn’t a hit.

Cheese puns aside, the romance also wasn’t for me. It’s basically the embodiment of insta-love. Some reviews I read say that it’s not insta-love, but the idea of meeting someone that you know you’ll fall in love with, or something along that line. Maybe you agree with that, and that’s fine, but I don’t. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to kiss a person I just met less than six hours ago that follows me around. I’m certainly not going to consider sex in a karaoke room, asexual or not. I certainly don’t know everything, but I think feelings that early on are either a crush or lust, not love. Love takes time. Love is the little things, the ups and the downs. [Says the girl who’s never been in a relationship.]

Natasha: *holding a frying pan* I don’t know what brought you here. Fate, destiny...
Daniel: *under his breath* A horse...

I’m not sure what the point of the random chapters sprinkled throughout the story were, the ones that gave us a few paragraphs or maybe a couple of pages regarding an insignificant side character or the history of a thing or concept that doesn’t really matter. Why should I care about the religious train conductor or the cheating lawyer? Why should I care about the history of eyes or the three sisters of fate? Maybe there’s a purpose that went over my head, but either way, I wasn’t interested.

On a deeper level, this novel explores immigration and deportation. Natasha is Jamaican-American; she came to the US with her parents when she was eight years old and has been there ever since. Now, because of her father’s mistake, she and her family are scheduled for deportation that very evening. I think this is the first novel I’ve read with such themes, and although I’m not Jamaican or an immigrant and thus can’t comment on representation, I’ve not seen any complaints.

SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH.

One detail that frustrated me was that Daniel found out Natasha would ultimately be deported before she did, because his Yale interviewer happened to be her lawyer. They were chatting, he was nosy, and the lawyer just...told him? I’m by no means a legal expert, and I don’t know much of anything regarding these sorts of situations, but is that legal? Can a lawyer tell a person details of a case if said person isn’t involved or family to those involved? And the fact that the lawyer couldn’t help Natasha because he was too busy cheating on his wife with his secretary...I’m bitter.

END SPOILERS.

Ultimately, although I wanted to enjoy it, The Sun Is Also a Star is not a novel for me. I liked Natasha’s character, but not much else. I might see the movie at some point; however, I don’t plan to keep my copy of this book or to pick up any of Yoon’s future work.

Representation:
• Natasha is an undocumented Jamaican immigrant.
• Daniel is South Korean-American.

CW: racism, mention of cheating, mention of suicide