Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

If you asked me how I felt about this book I’d probably just stare at you because my brain has been incapable of stating its opinion about The Sun is Also a Star. I felt a lot of thing s after finishing this book, but couldn’t actually point a finger at any of them – neither good or bad, just a ton of bundled thoughts. So, it’s fair to say this review is going to be an organizes mess and you may proceed on your own risk.

Writing

This book had slightly different writing than I was used to reading. It was entertaining to read and I ended up liking t, which is funny because, when I started reading the book, I was extremely annoyed with constant switches between characters’ POVs.

The plot takes place in a single day, so it is fair to say it feels stretched. But despite that, this book was really easy to read. I felt myself pulled towards it at all times when I wasn’t reading it, and when I was, I was practically devouring it. Yoon did a pretty damn good job with it’s pacing. I think it takes a lot of work to entertain a reader with a day’s worth event, especially when forming a plot around romance. It isn’t like there’s a ton of action within those 300 pages, but it was cute and fun to read, with just the right amount of tension and drama in every moment.

A Sun is Also a Star is full of intersections where the course of events between Natasha and Daniel is interrupted by some interesting scientific/historical fact or pov or some other random character that plays a role in the story. The facts were closely related to the plot and were really interesting and fun to read – I found myself interested in things I didn’t think I’d ever care for.


Insta love

I’m sorry, but I’m allergic to insta love. I simply cannot stand the entire concept of two people falling in love in a minimal amount of time without truly getting to know each other or even worse love at first sight. It’s not that I’m not romantic, but if it’s too cheesy, I’m out. Good thing this wasn’t insta love in its true form. The thing is, Daniel and Natasha do fall in love in a day, but a lot of things happen in that day and they get to know each other on a specific and intimate level. Author slowly closes the gap of differences between them and develops feelings as the day goes by and, although it was really cute, it just wasn’t enough. It felt a lot like this book was desperately trying to find a way to legitimate insta love, even on the scientific level. And also, I was pretty annoyed with all that talk of fate and Daniel’s persistent/creepy following Natasha because it “felt right”.



Representing immigration

What I liked the most about this book is the message it sends. I’m not thinking of love-that-never-tires something, but a beautiful and heartbreaking story of two immigrant families with different fates. Reading this book really helped me raise awareness and greatly sympathize with immigrants, no matter where from. Natasha and Daniel’s families have both left their countries for a better life. While Daniel’s Korean parents managed to secure life leading a local store, Natasha’s family has gotten deportation order after ten years of struggling to make the ends meet. It is a hard decision to call and can end up in any possible scenario and it’s mostly just a matter of luck for one to find a better life. In this sweet, but painful story, author captures people’s fight for something that they should already have.

Characters

There were only two characters in this book worth any notice (not that others weren’t, they just had like 2 lines each), but they’re both complex and thoroughly developed. Their feelings, and later, relationship was built around their differences and ever-growing chemistry.

Daniel was born in America, by his Korean parents who went there in search of a better life. He has a complicated relationship with his parents and despises his brother who has been nothing but an asshole for the past ten years. He is a romantic soul who wants to be a poet, but his parents make him go to Yale so he can assure his future.

Natasha was born in Jamaica and moved to America when she was seven and she, on the other hand, is completely opposed to almost every of Daniel’s characteristic. She doesn’t believe in love or God loves science and logic and hates to be proved wrong. I definitely loved her character and even relate to her - I can understand her character way better than Daniel’s.

That was also kind of a killer to me because I don’t really believe in “opposites attract” because two such different people can hardly have that kind of chemistry and fall in love within a day.

Their complex relationships with their families and their past have an important role in the plot itself and their relationship. There was a lot of disagreement and resentment between family members, although everyone tries and nobody’s perfect. I was savoring those scenes where characters tried to figure out how to deal with their families and make it work besides their differences.




That’s all for me. I think this is the easiest 3-star rating I’ve given in a long time since this book is exactly in the middle. This is the kind of book you can’t predict whether you’re going to like it or not and it depends on your reading mood, but it’s short fun and easy to read, so, why not xd.