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When the World Tips Over
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fiction (2024)An explosive new novel brimming with love, secrets, and enchantment
The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head.
Years ago, the Fall kids’ father mysteriously disappeared, cracking the family into pieces. Now Dizzy Fall, age twelve, bakes cakes, sees spirits, and wishes she were a heroine of a romance novel. Miles Fall, seventeen, brainiac, athlete, and dog-whisperer, is a raving beauty, but also lost, and desperate to meet the kind of guy he dreams of. And Wynton Fall, nineteen, who raises the temperature of a room just by entering it, is a virtuoso violinist set on a crash course for fame . . . or self-destruction.
Then an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls’ world over. She might be an angel. Or a saint. Or an ordinary girl. Somehow, she is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. And more desperate to be whole.
With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.
The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head.
Years ago, the Fall kids’ father mysteriously disappeared, cracking the family into pieces. Now Dizzy Fall, age twelve, bakes cakes, sees spirits, and wishes she were a heroine of a romance novel. Miles Fall, seventeen, brainiac, athlete, and dog-whisperer, is a raving beauty, but also lost, and desperate to meet the kind of guy he dreams of. And Wynton Fall, nineteen, who raises the temperature of a room just by entering it, is a virtuoso violinist set on a crash course for fame . . . or self-destruction.
Then an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls’ world over. She might be an angel. Or a saint. Or an ordinary girl. Somehow, she is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. And more desperate to be whole.
With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2024
1,389 people are currently reading
60k people want to read
About the author
Jandy Nelson
7 books11.2k followersJandy Nelson is the New York Times bestselling author of I’ll Give You the Sun, which received the Printz Award, was a Stonewall Honor Book, and was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Young Adult Books of
all Time. Her critically acclaimed debut, The Sky Is Everywhere, is now an AppleTV+ and A24 original film starring Jason Segel and Cherry Jones, for which Jandy wrote the screenplay. Together, Sun and Sky have sold well over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-eight languages. Both have been YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks and on multiple best of the year lists, have earned many starred reviews, and continue to enjoy great international success. Currently a full-time writer, Jandy lives and writes in San Francisco, California, not far from the settings of her novels. Author photo credit: Sonya Sones.
all Time. Her critically acclaimed debut, The Sky Is Everywhere, is now an AppleTV+ and A24 original film starring Jason Segel and Cherry Jones, for which Jandy wrote the screenplay. Together, Sun and Sky have sold well over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-eight languages. Both have been YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks and on multiple best of the year lists, have earned many starred reviews, and continue to enjoy great international success. Currently a full-time writer, Jandy lives and writes in San Francisco, California, not far from the settings of her novels. Author photo credit: Sonya Sones.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 2,081 reviews
September 24, 2024
nobody writes about hating everything and loving everything and doing art and living life and family and romance and identity and everything in the world that's good like jandy nelson!
and this one does all of that and adds family drama and road trips and colorful rvs and mythology and souffles and immortal dogs and wine into the mix. so. even better.
this took a long time to win me over, and i really didn't care for this "dave" character or the multitudinous outs given to a variety of characters who abandoned their various children or some certain genetic plot twists or some characters' endings or lack thereof, and i've come to accept that nothing on god's great green earth will capture the magic that i'll give you the sun did, but the long and short of it is that this was worth the wait.
which is saying a lot, because the wait was without exaggeration 10 years.
spoilery section: for a 500 page long book that took 10 years to write, i expected a little more polish and a few less loose ends.
so, not perfect. but good.
bottom line: generally, i'm just so grateful to live in a world in which jandy nelson is writing.
(3.5 / thank you to the publisher for the arc)
--------------------
multitudinous tbr updates
OH MY GOD
ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
------
this is your semiregular reminder that it's been 6 years since jandy nelson published a book
------
it's that time again...the time when i desperately ask if ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT WHEN THIS IS COMING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
------
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THIS. the anticipation is too much
------
Update 3/30/17: Jandy Nelson says on Twitter, "Been asked a lot recently when my next novel will be out. So! Working hard on it! Sorry so slow and thank you for waiting/asking/caring!"
STILL CAN'T WAIT BUT WILL BE PATIENTLY UNABLE TO WAIT.
and this one does all of that and adds family drama and road trips and colorful rvs and mythology and souffles and immortal dogs and wine into the mix. so. even better.
this took a long time to win me over, and i really didn't care for this "dave" character or the multitudinous outs given to a variety of characters who abandoned their various children or some certain genetic plot twists or some characters' endings or lack thereof, and i've come to accept that nothing on god's great green earth will capture the magic that i'll give you the sun did, but the long and short of it is that this was worth the wait.
which is saying a lot, because the wait was without exaggeration 10 years.
spoilery section: for a 500 page long book that took 10 years to write, i expected a little more polish and a few less loose ends.
so, not perfect. but good.
bottom line: generally, i'm just so grateful to live in a world in which jandy nelson is writing.
(3.5 / thank you to the publisher for the arc)
--------------------
multitudinous tbr updates
OH MY GOD
Working on it this minute! <3
— Jandy Nelson (@jandynelson) September 19, 2021
ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
------
this is your semiregular reminder that it's been 6 years since jandy nelson published a book
------
it's that time again...the time when i desperately ask if ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT WHEN THIS IS COMING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
------
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THIS. the anticipation is too much
------
Update 3/30/17: Jandy Nelson says on Twitter, "Been asked a lot recently when my next novel will be out. So! Working hard on it! Sorry so slow and thank you for waiting/asking/caring!"
STILL CAN'T WAIT BUT WILL BE PATIENTLY UNABLE TO WAIT.
September 9, 2024
Jandy Nelson lo volvió a hacer (son 4.5 estrellas porque tuvo algunas cosas que de plano no me gustaron, pero lo amé mucho, ya quiero platicarles del libro en el canal).
Gracias BookUp por la copia avanzada.
Gracias BookUp por la copia avanzada.
April 22, 2025
Oh boy! This was one of my longest reading adventures because I went back and reread some chapters that were like music to my ears, a healing touch to my soul. I absolutely devoured each chapter, each heartfelt moment, including resentments, unexpected revelations, pure magical realism, nonstop sobbing, shedding tears, heart-bursting angst, and true happiness appearing like a sunrise after the dark. The dreamy notes of jazz music, the aphrodisiac taste of chocolate soufflés, the innocence of young hearts, and the four betrayals that may rip the heart but lead people to their destiny!
This book is a lyrical symphony! The most delicious meal! The most heartbreaking family saga where the curse of Abel and Cain may incarnate in two brothers, and the curse can only be broken by facing the truth and seeing things with your heart!
This is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It has already taken its honorary place in my library, and I plan to give it as a gift to anyone who is still soul-searching, tarnished by family history, lost in the dark, and needs something inspirational to find their path again!
The story starts with a rainbow-haired young girl’s appearance in Paradise Springs, a dreamy town in Northern California. This mysterious teenage girl touches the lives of three siblings. Is it a coincidence, a divine intervention? Who is this girl? Is she a guardian angel, a young student searching for the Fall family roots? A vagabond, running away from home?
Firstly, she saves the life of Dizzy Fall, a 12-year-old quirky girl who sees voices in color and also sees spirits. Dizzy is learning to bake cakes like her chef mother, Bernadette, and misses her drowned father, Theo. The rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, pushes her away from a high-speed truck and disappears, making Dizzy think she’s an angel. But neither her family members nor her estranged best friend, Lizard (aka Tristan), whom she only talks to via voicemail, pay her any attention.
Then the rainbow-haired girl meets Perfect Miles: the brainiac, golden boy of the family who never does anything wrong. He’s a great athlete, an A-student, the most popular boy at school, but he has secrets. He’s gay but hasn’t come out, he’s depressed, and he only shares his feelings with his also depressed queer dog, Sandro, who has a sarcastic sense of humor and suicidal tendencies.
His meeting with the girl and talking about his troubled relationship with his brother Wynton, who has bullied him for years, and his secrets from the family create a special bond with her.
Then there’s Wynton, the 18-year-old older brother who cannot deal with the loss of their father. He sleeps with his father’s trombone next to him, is a violin virtuoso, and the black sheep of the family who never stays out of trouble. He was kicked out of the house for selling his mother’s ring to buy a special bow to play at a jazz club. He and the rainbow-haired girl met before, at the lowest time of the girl’s life, and already shared a special bond, more profound than the other siblings’ bond with her.
But a tragedy strikes, and the entire family falls to pieces, with their secrets, betrayals, lies, regrets, and fears. As the cursed family story starts unraveling, the Fall siblings slowly realize nothing is as it seems, and maybe the rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, is the key to unlocking the case that carries their hidden family history! Could the truth hurt, tear you apart, but also save you as well?
Overall, the characters in this book were amazing. The gold-hearted Dizzy, who only wants her brother to see her as she is: quirky, goofy, and eccentric; Miles, who wants to shed the perfect boy skin to be himself; Wynton, who burdens the family secrets that ruin his life, and pours his hatred, resentments, sadness, and grief into playing his viola; and Cassidy, who wants to have a family besides her free-spirited, also troubled nomad mother, Marigold. Bernadette, the talented chef who can compose lyrical feasts with her culinary skills, still leaves food outside in case her drowned husband, Theo, decides to come back.
There are also Felix, a young, humongous, bi, culinary chef who embraces life with full enjoyment; Sandro, the quirkiest, darkly humorous dog; grandfather Alonso, who brings light everywhere he goes; and his lover Sebastian, who puts rocks in his pockets to avoid floating away. Maria, the brave, free-spirited soul who has wings to fly over the vineyards, is an ancestor of the family, and these are remarkable characters you may never forget.
This is a long book, and the pacing at the beginning is a little slow, but you won’t want to put it down. On the contrary, you’ll keep devouring each chapter and find yourself in a magical wonderland that enchants your mind and soul! The writing is amazing! The conclusion is satisfying and heartwarming! Don’t skip this heart-wrenching but also inspirational and promising dysfunctional family saga! This is one of the best books you can read in your lifetime.
Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/Dial Books for sharing this year’s greatest reading digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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This book is a lyrical symphony! The most delicious meal! The most heartbreaking family saga where the curse of Abel and Cain may incarnate in two brothers, and the curse can only be broken by facing the truth and seeing things with your heart!
This is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It has already taken its honorary place in my library, and I plan to give it as a gift to anyone who is still soul-searching, tarnished by family history, lost in the dark, and needs something inspirational to find their path again!
The story starts with a rainbow-haired young girl’s appearance in Paradise Springs, a dreamy town in Northern California. This mysterious teenage girl touches the lives of three siblings. Is it a coincidence, a divine intervention? Who is this girl? Is she a guardian angel, a young student searching for the Fall family roots? A vagabond, running away from home?
Firstly, she saves the life of Dizzy Fall, a 12-year-old quirky girl who sees voices in color and also sees spirits. Dizzy is learning to bake cakes like her chef mother, Bernadette, and misses her drowned father, Theo. The rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, pushes her away from a high-speed truck and disappears, making Dizzy think she’s an angel. But neither her family members nor her estranged best friend, Lizard (aka Tristan), whom she only talks to via voicemail, pay her any attention.
Then the rainbow-haired girl meets Perfect Miles: the brainiac, golden boy of the family who never does anything wrong. He’s a great athlete, an A-student, the most popular boy at school, but he has secrets. He’s gay but hasn’t come out, he’s depressed, and he only shares his feelings with his also depressed queer dog, Sandro, who has a sarcastic sense of humor and suicidal tendencies.
His meeting with the girl and talking about his troubled relationship with his brother Wynton, who has bullied him for years, and his secrets from the family create a special bond with her.
Then there’s Wynton, the 18-year-old older brother who cannot deal with the loss of their father. He sleeps with his father’s trombone next to him, is a violin virtuoso, and the black sheep of the family who never stays out of trouble. He was kicked out of the house for selling his mother’s ring to buy a special bow to play at a jazz club. He and the rainbow-haired girl met before, at the lowest time of the girl’s life, and already shared a special bond, more profound than the other siblings’ bond with her.
But a tragedy strikes, and the entire family falls to pieces, with their secrets, betrayals, lies, regrets, and fears. As the cursed family story starts unraveling, the Fall siblings slowly realize nothing is as it seems, and maybe the rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, is the key to unlocking the case that carries their hidden family history! Could the truth hurt, tear you apart, but also save you as well?
Overall, the characters in this book were amazing. The gold-hearted Dizzy, who only wants her brother to see her as she is: quirky, goofy, and eccentric; Miles, who wants to shed the perfect boy skin to be himself; Wynton, who burdens the family secrets that ruin his life, and pours his hatred, resentments, sadness, and grief into playing his viola; and Cassidy, who wants to have a family besides her free-spirited, also troubled nomad mother, Marigold. Bernadette, the talented chef who can compose lyrical feasts with her culinary skills, still leaves food outside in case her drowned husband, Theo, decides to come back.
There are also Felix, a young, humongous, bi, culinary chef who embraces life with full enjoyment; Sandro, the quirkiest, darkly humorous dog; grandfather Alonso, who brings light everywhere he goes; and his lover Sebastian, who puts rocks in his pockets to avoid floating away. Maria, the brave, free-spirited soul who has wings to fly over the vineyards, is an ancestor of the family, and these are remarkable characters you may never forget.
This is a long book, and the pacing at the beginning is a little slow, but you won’t want to put it down. On the contrary, you’ll keep devouring each chapter and find yourself in a magical wonderland that enchants your mind and soul! The writing is amazing! The conclusion is satisfying and heartwarming! Don’t skip this heart-wrenching but also inspirational and promising dysfunctional family saga! This is one of the best books you can read in your lifetime.
Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/Dial Books for sharing this year’s greatest reading digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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Shelved as 'coming-soon'
January 28, 2015I WILL WAIT FOREVER FOR THIS! YOU HEAR ME JANDY? FOOOREVER!
(It's gonna be a bitch of a time though... Really 2 years? I don't know if I can handle this...)
(It's gonna be a bitch of a time though... Really 2 years? I don't know if I can handle this...)
November 14, 2024
I wonder if Jandy Nelson knows I would sell both my kidneys for a release date
June 15, 2024
Jandy Nelson has a really special place in my heart. In high school, when I'll Give You the Sun first came out, it was one of the first queer books, and therefore pieces of media, that I was able to sneak home and read (along with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe). As a young queer person who was having trouble even accepting it myself, it was a beacon of light, showing me that other people like me exist. That 16-year-old girl is the reason that I requested this arc, and why I was so excited to read it as soon as I got it.
While I still love Nelson’s writing as much as I remember, I found the plotting of this one to be a bit. . . all over the place. The introduction of Cassidy as a conduit for the stories and an additionally long backstory made it feel like there was way too much going on. The magical realism aspect of this book was really sweet and I did enjoy the family history, but it felt like a lot of it got muddled in the mother and father and uncle’s generation, because it kind of just felt like they sucked in ways that didn’t really relate to the curse? Or maybe the curse was just really well flashed out in the written historical parts and not in the present? There were just some things that felt a bit unforgivably cruel, both done to the parents and to the children that I couldn’t really get over and feel happy about the reunion? I know that was part of the point, but I just. . . didn’t feel bad for any of them so it didn’t work.
That being said, I loved all of the kids. Dizzy and Miles with Sandro were my favorite points-of-view and I really loved the inner turmoil that came from this inability to communicate between Miles and his brother, Wynton. I find myself wishing that Cassidy’s story, which honestly felt out of left field for a lot of the book to me, was less of a focal point and Dizzy, Wynton, and Miles’s story were more at the forefront. There was just so much that could be done with that family dynamic that I felt there was some wasted potential. Part of that may have been due to the fact that it felt as if I was dropped into the middle of the story instead of at the beginning of one. Even with that the case, I did find a lot of this book to be compelling and even grew to love Cassidy’s story, even though I do wish it didn’t fill up the majority of the book, but that could be an expectations thing. I probably would’ve liked it more if I knew she would be the main focus and not the thing that happened to the family.
When I liked this book, I really liked it, but there were a lot of times that I was just. . . eugh. While I enjoyed the curse in the history, I found that it felt like a way to excuse pretty much every adult of their terrible behavior in the present day and found their mother’s past to be just. . . weird in a way that wasn’t explained or justified well. Or really led up to in any way? I just wish it was more believable, because I was just left a bit annoyed instead of understanding. Additionally, I found that the curse was used a lot to talk about how one relationship was definitely not incest and I’m just at a point in life where if I have to listen to a long section of text about how them getting together isn’t incest, I’m not really interested anymore (sorry Clary and Jace, but you are a thing of the past). My last issue was that there was a really odd one off about a bisexual person’s past relationships that felt like it added to a pretty harmful bisexual stereotype and rubbed me the wrong way. I hope they change this part in the final copy, because it really was unnecessary and only added that being with a man and a woman is the perfect situation for a bisexual, which pissed me off.
While I really wanted to love this, the pacing was a little too off, and there were too many small issues that became bigger as the story went on. I did actually really like the ending and message of the book, I just wish that it was done a little bit better. I also loved the history of the town and was pleasantly surprised with the magic that filled the pages.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy
book release date: September 24, 2024
3/5
While I still love Nelson’s writing as much as I remember, I found the plotting of this one to be a bit. . . all over the place. The introduction of Cassidy as a conduit for the stories and an additionally long backstory made it feel like there was way too much going on. The magical realism aspect of this book was really sweet and I did enjoy the family history, but it felt like a lot of it got muddled in the mother and father and uncle’s generation, because it kind of just felt like they sucked in ways that didn’t really relate to the curse? Or maybe the curse was just really well flashed out in the written historical parts and not in the present? There were just some things that felt a bit unforgivably cruel, both done to the parents and to the children that I couldn’t really get over and feel happy about the reunion? I know that was part of the point, but I just. . . didn’t feel bad for any of them so it didn’t work.
That being said, I loved all of the kids. Dizzy and Miles with Sandro were my favorite points-of-view and I really loved the inner turmoil that came from this inability to communicate between Miles and his brother, Wynton. I find myself wishing that Cassidy’s story, which honestly felt out of left field for a lot of the book to me, was less of a focal point and Dizzy, Wynton, and Miles’s story were more at the forefront. There was just so much that could be done with that family dynamic that I felt there was some wasted potential. Part of that may have been due to the fact that it felt as if I was dropped into the middle of the story instead of at the beginning of one. Even with that the case, I did find a lot of this book to be compelling and even grew to love Cassidy’s story, even though I do wish it didn’t fill up the majority of the book, but that could be an expectations thing. I probably would’ve liked it more if I knew she would be the main focus and not the thing that happened to the family.
When I liked this book, I really liked it, but there were a lot of times that I was just. . . eugh. While I enjoyed the curse in the history, I found that it felt like a way to excuse pretty much every adult of their terrible behavior in the present day and found their mother’s past to be just. . . weird in a way that wasn’t explained or justified well. Or really led up to in any way? I just wish it was more believable, because I was just left a bit annoyed instead of understanding. Additionally, I found that the curse was used a lot to talk about how one relationship was definitely not incest and I’m just at a point in life where if I have to listen to a long section of text about how them getting together isn’t incest, I’m not really interested anymore (sorry Clary and Jace, but you are a thing of the past). My last issue was that there was a really odd one off about a bisexual person’s past relationships that felt like it added to a pretty harmful bisexual stereotype and rubbed me the wrong way. I hope they change this part in the final copy, because it really was unnecessary and only added that being with a man and a woman is the perfect situation for a bisexual, which pissed me off.
While I really wanted to love this, the pacing was a little too off, and there were too many small issues that became bigger as the story went on. I did actually really like the ending and message of the book, I just wish that it was done a little bit better. I also loved the history of the town and was pleasantly surprised with the magic that filled the pages.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy
book release date: September 24, 2024
3/5
September 5, 2024
4.5
I love this story!
A contemporary character driven family’s story set in Northern California wine country.
Theo Fall, a winemaker…left his pregnant wife and two young sons 12 yrs ago … the three kids Wynton, Miles, and Dizzy are scarred from the loss…he was a great father and they do not know why he abruptly left.
Cassidy… a rainbow haired teenage girl, lives with her mother Marigold in an old camper trailer where they live off the grid full time moving from place to place.
Marigold comes to town on a couple occasions at crossroads in the Fall children’s lives, and with her, the Fall children and she herself discover the truth of Theo’s disappearance and Marigold’s connection to they themselves.
I am not one who necessarily likes any magical realism in the books I read but it is masterfully incorporated in this story.
This is a beautiful story .. filled with passion, loss, humor, tenderness… a sublime read!
I also loved this author’s book I’ll Give You The Sun written about a decade ago. When I saw she had a new book available, I was so excited!
This is categorized as YA, but to me it certainly didn’t feel like that sort of story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC!
Also thank you Jandy Nelson for the journey I took with the Fall family this week!
Available September 24
I love this story!
A contemporary character driven family’s story set in Northern California wine country.
Theo Fall, a winemaker…left his pregnant wife and two young sons 12 yrs ago … the three kids Wynton, Miles, and Dizzy are scarred from the loss…he was a great father and they do not know why he abruptly left.
Cassidy… a rainbow haired teenage girl, lives with her mother Marigold in an old camper trailer where they live off the grid full time moving from place to place.
Marigold comes to town on a couple occasions at crossroads in the Fall children’s lives, and with her, the Fall children and she herself discover the truth of Theo’s disappearance and Marigold’s connection to they themselves.
I am not one who necessarily likes any magical realism in the books I read but it is masterfully incorporated in this story.
This is a beautiful story .. filled with passion, loss, humor, tenderness… a sublime read!
I also loved this author’s book I’ll Give You The Sun written about a decade ago. When I saw she had a new book available, I was so excited!
This is categorized as YA, but to me it certainly didn’t feel like that sort of story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC!
Also thank you Jandy Nelson for the journey I took with the Fall family this week!
Available September 24
Shelved as 'need-this-like-air'
November 29, 2020UPDATE: there are no updates.
September 11, 2024
3.25 stars
I love Jandy Nelson and it’s been so long since she released a new book. I was ecstatic to read When the World Tips Over. I’m not going to lie, this had such a slooooow start for me. It took me two full weeks to read and I usually can read several books in that amount of time. Once I got into it, past the halfway point, I did enjoy it, but I can’t fully get over that slow start. I like the three fall siblings, but where the story really shined was getting Cassidy’s pov as well as her stories. That was my favorite part of the book. I loved how the end came together and even though the ending was a little more abrupt than I would hope, I enjoyed the conclusion.
I love Jandy Nelson and it’s been so long since she released a new book. I was ecstatic to read When the World Tips Over. I’m not going to lie, this had such a slooooow start for me. It took me two full weeks to read and I usually can read several books in that amount of time. Once I got into it, past the halfway point, I did enjoy it, but I can’t fully get over that slow start. I like the three fall siblings, but where the story really shined was getting Cassidy’s pov as well as her stories. That was my favorite part of the book. I loved how the end came together and even though the ending was a little more abrupt than I would hope, I enjoyed the conclusion.
Want to read
April 12, 2016WHAT?! I need to read this! Everything Jandy Nelson writes is golden, perfect, and amazing. The Sky is Everywhere was great. I wish I had a little glass box I could put I'll Give You the Sun in, just so I could properly show it off. Or, better yet, a whole museum.
An Invisible Museum. Huh, huh? Get it? :D
Anyway, this writer is on my top 3 favorite authors list. Whatever she writes will be nothing short of spectacular.
Also: 2017?
Jandy Nelson,
If you let this book come out tomorrow, I'll give you the sun. Deal?
...Please?
An Invisible Museum. Huh, huh? Get it? :D
Anyway, this writer is on my top 3 favorite authors list. Whatever she writes will be nothing short of spectacular.
Also: 2017?
Jandy Nelson,
If you let this book come out tomorrow, I'll give you the sun. Deal?
...Please?
November 25, 2024
¡ERES MI PECADO MÁS ARDIENTE🔥!
💌Es más, hay historias que están destinadas a encontrarnos, como si hubieran estado escritas para deleitar a nuestra alma. Son novelas que no sabes cómo llegarán a ti, pero cuando las tienes en las manos, hay una vibración especial en el aire, el leve aleteo de una mariposa, el suspiro que se queda enredado en tu corazón, que te impulsa a abrirla para leer el primer párrafo…
🪄Solo el primero para ver si es para ti…
Y con eso basta para que se desaten huracanes en tu interior🔥
Es entonces cuando se convierten en tu "amante de horas de sueño perdido❤️🔥"
💌Y cuando tienes la suerte de que este libro te encuentre, ya no habrá marcha atrás, es imposible alejarte de él; porque te robará el corazón y te hará suspirar, anhelar, desear, volver a sus páginas, como si en ellas aguardase un secreto que solo tú eres capaz de desvelar…
Ay, estas historias😏
Son tan descaradas, extravagantes, duras, fantásticas; imposibles de definir, que se convierten al momento en tu Basherter🔥 (nombre judío para las almas gemelas)
Así que, PRECAUCIÓN, QUERIDA LECTORA, porque tienes ante ti la historia que no solo acariciará tu alma sino que hará el amor con ella…🤫
🪄Realismo Mágico
🪄Fantasmas
🪄Perros que hablan
🪄Soufflés que enamoran
🪄Romance
🪄Amistad
🪄Small Town
💌Es más, hay historias que están destinadas a encontrarnos, como si hubieran estado escritas para deleitar a nuestra alma. Son novelas que no sabes cómo llegarán a ti, pero cuando las tienes en las manos, hay una vibración especial en el aire, el leve aleteo de una mariposa, el suspiro que se queda enredado en tu corazón, que te impulsa a abrirla para leer el primer párrafo…
🪄Solo el primero para ver si es para ti…
Y con eso basta para que se desaten huracanes en tu interior🔥
Es entonces cuando se convierten en tu "amante de horas de sueño perdido❤️🔥"
💌Y cuando tienes la suerte de que este libro te encuentre, ya no habrá marcha atrás, es imposible alejarte de él; porque te robará el corazón y te hará suspirar, anhelar, desear, volver a sus páginas, como si en ellas aguardase un secreto que solo tú eres capaz de desvelar…
Ay, estas historias😏
Son tan descaradas, extravagantes, duras, fantásticas; imposibles de definir, que se convierten al momento en tu Basherter🔥 (nombre judío para las almas gemelas)
Así que, PRECAUCIÓN, QUERIDA LECTORA, porque tienes ante ti la historia que no solo acariciará tu alma sino que hará el amor con ella…🤫
🪄Realismo Mágico
🪄Fantasmas
🪄Perros que hablan
🪄Soufflés que enamoran
🪄Romance
🪄Amistad
🪄Small Town
Want to read
February 11, 2020It's November 2016. Waiting for an official release date is like...
UPDATE: I know that when it's released Jandy's book will be utter perfection, but 2017?!? I can't wait that long...
UPDATE #2: It's 2019 and still no book. But I have a good feeling about this year. 2019 is the year when Jandy releases this book - I can feel it!
UPDATE #3: It's 2020... and STILL no book.
But I'm full of blind optimism! Once Jandy finishes adapting the screenplay for The Sky is Everywhere, she WILL post an update on Fall Boys. Maybe she's almost finished the book. Who knows? What's important is that the release date is in sight. I can see it!
Until then, I will wait here, patiently.
UPDATE: I know that when it's released Jandy's book will be utter perfection, but 2017?!? I can't wait that long...
UPDATE #2: It's 2019 and still no book. But I have a good feeling about this year. 2019 is the year when Jandy releases this book - I can feel it!
UPDATE #3: It's 2020... and STILL no book.
But I'm full of blind optimism! Once Jandy finishes adapting the screenplay for The Sky is Everywhere, she WILL post an update on Fall Boys. Maybe she's almost finished the book. Who knows? What's important is that the release date is in sight. I can see it!
Until then, I will wait here, patiently.
October 9, 2024
“I do believe now that when the world tips over, joy spills out with all the sorrow.”
1 Sentence Summary: The Fall siblings—Dizzy, Miles, and Wynton—haven’t been the same since their father disappeared years ago, until one day a mysterious rainbow-haired girl appears and upends everything they thought they knew about their lives.
My Thoughts: This was absolutely incredible!!! The prose was lovely, the story was compelling, and I fell in love with the characters immediately. They were flawed and three dimensional and each had their own struggles to deal with, and their interactions and relationships with each other were so complex and nuanced.
“I never want Dizzy to feel like that, like the world is made of ashes. Like she's a shadow that has been detached from its person.
I never want her to know that a life is an abandoned unfinished story.”
I really loved the format of the book, with all of the POV switches and the flashbacks between past and present and the extra little tidbits like newspaper clippings and journal entries that were included. All of the stories within the story worked so well and made the overall novel much more layered and interesting. I also really appreciated getting to see the perspectives of each of the Fall siblings and how differently they would view the same situation. Everyone has something they’re struggling with, and you don’t know what other people are going through.
“He suspected he was in the wrong body, family, town, species, that there’d been some big cosmic mix-up. Like maybe he was supposed to be a tree or a barn owl or a prime number. He only found himself, his real self, in novels, not even in the stories and characters, but in the sentences, the lone words.”
The emotion was so well written, and the setting and atmosphere really added to it. I did tear up a few times while reading. There was a theme throughout of tragedy, of family curses, of destruction, yet there was also an undercurrent of hope and connection and new beginnings.
“We were together, I forget the rest.”
Jandy Nelson is such a talented writer, and is especially good at writing complex and compelling family dynamics. This novel is part family drama, part tragic love story, part mystery, and part magical realism. The way everything came together at the end was shocking (I gasped out loud at one of the reveals) and was absolute perfection.
AND I LOVED THE MAGICAL REALISM ELEMENTS!!!!!
“And I think I might finally know what it means to want to crash into infinity with words.”
Recommend to: Fans of family curses, multi-layered stories, secrets, magical realism, siblings finding their way back to each other, and strange (almost enchanted) towns.
(Warnings: swearing; sexual content; alcoholism/drug use; rape; child abandonment; mentions of death)
***
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review
May 29, 2024
How exactly am I supposed to accurately write down, in words, how much this book meant to me? I’m not, I can’t. It’s impossible. For starters, fans of I’ll Give You The Sun Rejoice. The moment I heard of its announcement that Jandy Nelson was releasing a new novel, since the publication of my ( now, second ) favorite book, IGYTS — I knew I needed to get my grubby little hands on it before it’s release. And since I went down that rabbit hole, I came out on the other end as a member of the Penguin teen influencer program. So, I can thank them for the advanced reader copy- big time.
Holy shit, was this a doozy.
I don’t even know where to start. I feel like I need to take a nap and then attempt to write this review when I’m not so book hung over. I know that I’m being biased, and believe me, I am being super biased. I knew going into this that I would love “When The World Tips Over.” Essentially, I was not going to allow myself to be disappointed in this book. But, rest, assured, I can confidently say that anyone who hasn’t even heard of Jandy Nelson will absolutely fall in love with this story. It exceeded my expectations with colors that don’t even exist. It is everything that made Jandy’s previous novel so special, but with steroids injected into it - crack cocaine injected into its words.
There is a huge cast of characters here with so many overlapping and over arcing storylines and yet each one has a distinct voice, a distinct purpose, and their own dreams - their own development. I want so bad to introduce each and every single one of them to you, because I love them all in their unique ways, but I also want you to meet them for yourselves.
This is going to sound really selfish, so bare with me and brace yourselves, but I almost don’t even want anyone to read this book, because it was so personal and vivid and loud for me. I know that there is going to be criticism on it. I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was mine, mine, all mine.
Dizzy and all of her quiet insecurities and loud assuredness, Cassidy, and her whirlwind of a childhood— her whirlwind of a mother. Miles. Miles, and how he spoke directly at me, like he was me. And everyone else that I just can’t do justice right now. Their interwoven lives, and the mysterious family curse that has befell them. All of them.
You know that feeling when your binge watching your favorite show on Netflix and you’re getting close to the final episode and your hearts racing because you just can’t let it end ? So you put it off, because if you don’t watch the final episode then it will never end ? That was this book.
I describe “I’ll Give You The Sun” to people as summer in a jar. If that’s true, then “When The World Tips Over” is the universe in a jar. It is love, heartbreak, death, life, the stars, sun, and the moon. It’s everything. This is my favorite book, I fear. How exciting is that?
WTWTO will be released on September 24th.
Holy shit, was this a doozy.
I don’t even know where to start. I feel like I need to take a nap and then attempt to write this review when I’m not so book hung over. I know that I’m being biased, and believe me, I am being super biased. I knew going into this that I would love “When The World Tips Over.” Essentially, I was not going to allow myself to be disappointed in this book. But, rest, assured, I can confidently say that anyone who hasn’t even heard of Jandy Nelson will absolutely fall in love with this story. It exceeded my expectations with colors that don’t even exist. It is everything that made Jandy’s previous novel so special, but with steroids injected into it - crack cocaine injected into its words.
There is a huge cast of characters here with so many overlapping and over arcing storylines and yet each one has a distinct voice, a distinct purpose, and their own dreams - their own development. I want so bad to introduce each and every single one of them to you, because I love them all in their unique ways, but I also want you to meet them for yourselves.
This is going to sound really selfish, so bare with me and brace yourselves, but I almost don’t even want anyone to read this book, because it was so personal and vivid and loud for me. I know that there is going to be criticism on it. I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was mine, mine, all mine.
Dizzy and all of her quiet insecurities and loud assuredness, Cassidy, and her whirlwind of a childhood— her whirlwind of a mother. Miles. Miles, and how he spoke directly at me, like he was me. And everyone else that I just can’t do justice right now. Their interwoven lives, and the mysterious family curse that has befell them. All of them.
You know that feeling when your binge watching your favorite show on Netflix and you’re getting close to the final episode and your hearts racing because you just can’t let it end ? So you put it off, because if you don’t watch the final episode then it will never end ? That was this book.
I describe “I’ll Give You The Sun” to people as summer in a jar. If that’s true, then “When The World Tips Over” is the universe in a jar. It is love, heartbreak, death, life, the stars, sun, and the moon. It’s everything. This is my favorite book, I fear. How exciting is that?
WTWTO will be released on September 24th.
September 8, 2024
Jandy Nelson, you genius
October 1, 2024
✰ 2.25 stars ✰
“If people bear the trauma of their ancestors, doesn’t it follow they also bear their rhapsodies? If there is generational pain passed down, mustn’t there also be generational joy?
If there are family curses that drop through time, mustn’t there also be family blessings that do the same?”
It's one of those rare instances where I don't even want to write the normal length of a review for a book that literally cannot be talked about without spoilers, but had no qualms in spoiling my entire weekend for how much it failed to deliver anything worthwhile.
I regret reading this book.
If not for the fact that it has been nearly ten years since Jandy Nelson's last release of a book - a book which I gave it five stars, no less - then it was simply hopeful anticipation that lured me to give it a go. What I ended up with was not worth the 500+ pages of family saga dynamics that stirred up no warm feelings in my heart - save for anger, confusion and frustration at the total lack of empathy and care upon the parents' treatment towards their children. 😥
I can't go into details. Or simply I don't care enough to do so. 😮💨
“Stories give our lives structure, and that structure is destiny.”
For When the World Tips Over, it can tip in both ways - towards the right side of happiness and lover or the wrong side of hatred and revenge. It is that painful and wretched struggle that has aggrieved a generation of Fall siblings who unbeknownst to them have to pay the price of ancestors passed to continue the cycle of resentment in order for their line to continue. 😢 'This was the secret history of a family that does not yet know itself.' There is no loophole, no chance of finding a way out, when the said participants act in ways that make them seem just as unforgiving of their misfortunes.
And it is with our latest set of siblings who have their own hurdles of familial drama to overcome that the wheel of destiny starts to tip in the direction of a strange and unexpected arrival in their midst. A person who will either tip the scale of justice and forgiveness to break the curse, 'when it’s brought into light and then becomes a blessing', or perhaps, lead them on another course of destiny not entirely in their favor.
What good points can I cover? 🤔 Well, the author worked very hard in assuring the readers that there were no incestuous relationships for any characters; the pointedness of that declaration felt almost laughable at times, had it not been my good graces that chalked it up to the character's thoughts reassuring themselves of this affirmation. Plus, there's not one, but two family trees! No need for confusion, here!
I respect how the family curse was presented and how it played out in history. The story is divided into five parts and you can see that there was no consistency in the writing. We jump from narrative to narrative in such strange motions that it would take a lot of patience and one's attention to remain focused with its story-telling. 👍🏻👍🏻 The length of the novel can be forgiven because the author had to cover enough ground into the respective history of the Fall family, in order to lay out all the pieces and explain where the curse began and how it could be undone. 'If only we could have joys without sorrows, blessings without curses.' There was depth and richness to each of their portrayals. What saddened me was the poor way in which they were recounted; surely they could have been told in a better manner than in which one character had to tell all. 🙎🏻♀️
It was a compelling mystery. Yes, that is its piece de resistance. How the author carefully paced each timely reveal, hinting towards all the clues, before finally spelling it out for you is what kept me going. It was literally the only thing that had me endure this dysfunctional story, because the feelings of repulsion that was festering in me had me wishing I had never bothered with this. 🙁
“What does that do to the forming psyche if your first experience of all-consuming boundaryless love is one of such profound loss?”
I did not like any of the characters - not one. I did not care for any of the romances, either - very surface-level and insta-loving, esp. for the current generation - the others, maybe not so much. Dizzy was annoying, Wynton did not get a chance to speak for himself, Cassidy - y'know, I wanted to care for her - but, some parts of her behavior seemed rather selfish to me. 🤨 You can write off her intense desire of 'want to be part of the Falls’ long and winding story' something to make up for the life she never had, but it suddenly felt like this whole thing was about her. And that really bothered me. I did not like how the author wrote her in the way that she demanded sympathy and she deserved her happy ending. 😐
Perfect Miles the Perfect Monster had a few moments where my heart ached for his heart breaking over the tragedy - 'Fuck. Off. Both. Of. You. Shitheads' - YES, my thoughts exactly! 🥺 But the way the author worded his reaction led to easy acceptance, simply because of his loneliness - it was too easy forgiveness on my part. Yes, I know, you can rationalize it by how said characters felt the absence of love and would do anything to refill that void, but I just couldn't accept the easy acceptance of it - regardless of the urgent necessity in which it had to be done. My rage over the deceit and heartbreak would have lasted a lot longer, even when forgiveness seems like the lesser evil. 😩
I need to talk to someone on the Young Adult committee. I need to know if inappropriate crass language like breast, penis, orgasm, dick, is now age-appropriate for Young Adult books? Please! This amount of vulgarity was once something that heralded a book as a banned book, so to see a twelve-year-old making such crude comments does leave one rather baffled, if not befuddled, like, is this okay?. If it is now the acceptable norm, I'll shut up - really I will. But the sheer abundance, if not need to include such words, felt so out of place and unnecessary. 🤦🏻♀️
“It was too much!
Everything was too much!”
Exactly!!! 😵
It does not even constitute as quirky, just absurd! I did not get any heartwarming feeling from the ending; it only upset me further that after all that lead-up, we were not even going to get the actual meet-up, let alone that moment where someone actually gets their due justice for their actions. I hate it. 😡 I hate it so much that authors simply dodge the moment where characters deserve to have that moment of explaining or justifying or even that comeuppance to get some closure. I derived no satisfaction; it just left me visibly frustrated and angry. And on top of that, they threw in some lame attempt at humor at how said character is not quite ready yet to face the fire. Urgh! 💢💢💢
It literally wounded me and aggrieved me to see how the pieces were falling into place and how so much wrong has been done, and you can chalk it up to a family curse all you want - there is no reason for how some of these parents got away with so much of what they did. No one is held accountable for anything, it's treated so lightly and oh, it's okay, because hey, it's destiny. 🙄 The only reason I cannot rate this any lower, is because I know that whenever they do release a new book, I'll probably still read that; so, I'm not in that position to write them off just yet, though I want to. After the pure tormented agony this put me through I don't even want to think about it more than I have to.
I also could not help but draw parallels to the fact that this story also alluded to extramarital affairs, as well as age-gap relationships that may be problematic to some - to name a few. And also, there is one instance that requires a trigger warning that totally caught me off-guard. It is also very disheartening to see how callously parental abandonment and cheating is depicted; it seems so forgiving of it, like it's the magic in Paradise Springs that makes it okay for everyone to behave this way. 😒
There's only so much I can say without really saying anything. 🙅🏻♀️ I know a lot of time and effort and care and thought was put into crafting such a complicated and complex story, but the points that I felt deserved attention did not receive their due justice. Some may argue I missed the point of the story. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion. Maybe I should have appreciated how two brothers found it in their hearts to forgive and love again - 'a frail and flimsy love maybe, but love all the same' - that secrets explained put sadness to rest - that loneliness eased with the acceptance of family. 🫂 That there is cruelty in seeing that so much time is lost by one's desire for another purpose to fuel hatred that you live a life of regret not knowing or realizing things could have been different if the world had given you a chance. Maybe there is light that can still shine through the darkness for a hopeful life.
But, honestly?
I really don't care. I struggled to even find anything remotely rewarding from this, and even now I don't think I vented enough over just how much it was an infuriating read, and how frustrated I felt over the total lack of empathy for certain characters. I wish I could erase it from my memory. 😔
“If people bear the trauma of their ancestors, doesn’t it follow they also bear their rhapsodies? If there is generational pain passed down, mustn’t there also be generational joy?
If there are family curses that drop through time, mustn’t there also be family blessings that do the same?”
It's one of those rare instances where I don't even want to write the normal length of a review for a book that literally cannot be talked about without spoilers, but had no qualms in spoiling my entire weekend for how much it failed to deliver anything worthwhile.
I regret reading this book.
If not for the fact that it has been nearly ten years since Jandy Nelson's last release of a book - a book which I gave it five stars, no less - then it was simply hopeful anticipation that lured me to give it a go. What I ended up with was not worth the 500+ pages of family saga dynamics that stirred up no warm feelings in my heart - save for anger, confusion and frustration at the total lack of empathy and care upon the parents' treatment towards their children. 😥
I can't go into details. Or simply I don't care enough to do so. 😮💨
“Stories give our lives structure, and that structure is destiny.”
For When the World Tips Over, it can tip in both ways - towards the right side of happiness and lover or the wrong side of hatred and revenge. It is that painful and wretched struggle that has aggrieved a generation of Fall siblings who unbeknownst to them have to pay the price of ancestors passed to continue the cycle of resentment in order for their line to continue. 😢 'This was the secret history of a family that does not yet know itself.' There is no loophole, no chance of finding a way out, when the said participants act in ways that make them seem just as unforgiving of their misfortunes.
And it is with our latest set of siblings who have their own hurdles of familial drama to overcome that the wheel of destiny starts to tip in the direction of a strange and unexpected arrival in their midst. A person who will either tip the scale of justice and forgiveness to break the curse, 'when it’s brought into light and then becomes a blessing', or perhaps, lead them on another course of destiny not entirely in their favor.
What good points can I cover? 🤔 Well, the author worked very hard in assuring the readers that there were no incestuous relationships for any characters; the pointedness of that declaration felt almost laughable at times, had it not been my good graces that chalked it up to the character's thoughts reassuring themselves of this affirmation. Plus, there's not one, but two family trees! No need for confusion, here!
I respect how the family curse was presented and how it played out in history. The story is divided into five parts and you can see that there was no consistency in the writing. We jump from narrative to narrative in such strange motions that it would take a lot of patience and one's attention to remain focused with its story-telling. 👍🏻👍🏻 The length of the novel can be forgiven because the author had to cover enough ground into the respective history of the Fall family, in order to lay out all the pieces and explain where the curse began and how it could be undone. 'If only we could have joys without sorrows, blessings without curses.' There was depth and richness to each of their portrayals. What saddened me was the poor way in which they were recounted; surely they could have been told in a better manner than in which one character had to tell all. 🙎🏻♀️
It was a compelling mystery. Yes, that is its piece de resistance. How the author carefully paced each timely reveal, hinting towards all the clues, before finally spelling it out for you is what kept me going. It was literally the only thing that had me endure this dysfunctional story, because the feelings of repulsion that was festering in me had me wishing I had never bothered with this. 🙁
“What does that do to the forming psyche if your first experience of all-consuming boundaryless love is one of such profound loss?”
I did not like any of the characters - not one. I did not care for any of the romances, either - very surface-level and insta-loving, esp. for the current generation - the others, maybe not so much. Dizzy was annoying, Wynton did not get a chance to speak for himself, Cassidy - y'know, I wanted to care for her - but, some parts of her behavior seemed rather selfish to me. 🤨 You can write off her intense desire of 'want to be part of the Falls’ long and winding story' something to make up for the life she never had, but it suddenly felt like this whole thing was about her. And that really bothered me. I did not like how the author wrote her in the way that she demanded sympathy and she deserved her happy ending. 😐
Perfect Miles the Perfect Monster had a few moments where my heart ached for his heart breaking over the tragedy - 'Fuck. Off. Both. Of. You. Shitheads' - YES, my thoughts exactly! 🥺 But the way the author worded his reaction led to easy acceptance, simply because of his loneliness - it was too easy forgiveness on my part. Yes, I know, you can rationalize it by how said characters felt the absence of love and would do anything to refill that void, but I just couldn't accept the easy acceptance of it - regardless of the urgent necessity in which it had to be done. My rage over the deceit and heartbreak would have lasted a lot longer, even when forgiveness seems like the lesser evil. 😩
I need to talk to someone on the Young Adult committee. I need to know if inappropriate crass language like breast, penis, orgasm, dick, is now age-appropriate for Young Adult books? Please! This amount of vulgarity was once something that heralded a book as a banned book, so to see a twelve-year-old making such crude comments does leave one rather baffled, if not befuddled, like, is this okay?. If it is now the acceptable norm, I'll shut up - really I will. But the sheer abundance, if not need to include such words, felt so out of place and unnecessary. 🤦🏻♀️
“It was too much!
Everything was too much!”
Exactly!!! 😵
It does not even constitute as quirky, just absurd! I did not get any heartwarming feeling from the ending; it only upset me further that after all that lead-up, we were not even going to get the actual meet-up, let alone that moment where someone actually gets their due justice for their actions. I hate it. 😡 I hate it so much that authors simply dodge the moment where characters deserve to have that moment of explaining or justifying or even that comeuppance to get some closure. I derived no satisfaction; it just left me visibly frustrated and angry. And on top of that, they threw in some lame attempt at humor at how said character is not quite ready yet to face the fire. Urgh! 💢💢💢
It literally wounded me and aggrieved me to see how the pieces were falling into place and how so much wrong has been done, and you can chalk it up to a family curse all you want - there is no reason for how some of these parents got away with so much of what they did. No one is held accountable for anything, it's treated so lightly and oh, it's okay, because hey, it's destiny. 🙄 The only reason I cannot rate this any lower, is because I know that whenever they do release a new book, I'll probably still read that; so, I'm not in that position to write them off just yet, though I want to. After the pure tormented agony this put me through I don't even want to think about it more than I have to.
I also could not help but draw parallels to the fact that this story also alluded to extramarital affairs, as well as age-gap relationships that may be problematic to some - to name a few. And also, there is one instance that requires a trigger warning that totally caught me off-guard. It is also very disheartening to see how callously parental abandonment and cheating is depicted; it seems so forgiving of it, like it's the magic in Paradise Springs that makes it okay for everyone to behave this way. 😒
There's only so much I can say without really saying anything. 🙅🏻♀️ I know a lot of time and effort and care and thought was put into crafting such a complicated and complex story, but the points that I felt deserved attention did not receive their due justice. Some may argue I missed the point of the story. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion. Maybe I should have appreciated how two brothers found it in their hearts to forgive and love again - 'a frail and flimsy love maybe, but love all the same' - that secrets explained put sadness to rest - that loneliness eased with the acceptance of family. 🫂 That there is cruelty in seeing that so much time is lost by one's desire for another purpose to fuel hatred that you live a life of regret not knowing or realizing things could have been different if the world had given you a chance. Maybe there is light that can still shine through the darkness for a hopeful life.
But, honestly?
I really don't care. I struggled to even find anything remotely rewarding from this, and even now I don't think I vented enough over just how much it was an infuriating read, and how frustrated I felt over the total lack of empathy for certain characters. I wish I could erase it from my memory. 😔
June 11, 2024
A story of family through generations shared through the years, family stories, family secrets, tragedies, dysfunctional families, parental abandonment, discovering hidden truths, and finding the family that will accept you, and the people who will understand you and love you for who you are.
There are moments where this is intense, moments that are heartbreaking, as well as moments that are heartwarming.
This covers a lot of territory, some of which are revealed through letters written in bygone years, and having some of those myself from my grandparents, I know how important those are to me, and what a touchstone they can be.
A story that is shared through bringing together all these people who are part of this family, if not by blood or marriage, then through love and perhaps friendship that might have been or become love. It covers a lot of years, and explores the after effects of abandonment, as well as the blessing of finding the place you call home.
Pub Date: 24 Sep 2024
Many thanks for the ARC provided by PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group / Dial Books
June 20, 2024
it breaks my heart to say this because I absolutely ADORED nelson’s other two novels,
but this one is a bit of a mess :( it confirmed for me that while I love maximalism as a design aesthetic, I’m not sure it works for me in storytelling.
this book is trying to do a LOT, and with so many characters and weirdnesses piled on top of one another, it just became a bit untenable for me, unfortunately. Also, one of my favorite things about Nelson’s other two novels was her beautiful writing style, and with this book, I had the strange sense that she was actively trying to replicate the magic of that style and maybe take it even further, but the result ends up seeing like a caricature to me. Anyway, I will still (always!) be excited to read whatever she writes next, but this one did not work for me
but this one is a bit of a mess :( it confirmed for me that while I love maximalism as a design aesthetic, I’m not sure it works for me in storytelling.
this book is trying to do a LOT, and with so many characters and weirdnesses piled on top of one another, it just became a bit untenable for me, unfortunately. Also, one of my favorite things about Nelson’s other two novels was her beautiful writing style, and with this book, I had the strange sense that she was actively trying to replicate the magic of that style and maybe take it even further, but the result ends up seeing like a caricature to me. Anyway, I will still (always!) be excited to read whatever she writes next, but this one did not work for me
September 6, 2024
Reader, this book was not for me.
I can see so many, really strong reviews for this book, and I am pretty confused. I am not sure what they are seeing in this story that I am not. I had a really hard time following the storyline, I even took notes about the different siblings and different generations. it has a sort of a dream like quality and the pacing may have had something to do with why I couldn’t follow it.
I’m also really amazed that this is classified as young adult? I cannot imagine a 12-year-old reading this and understanding it, let alone it being appropriate for kids.
It is possible I am not smart enough for this one.
I can see so many, really strong reviews for this book, and I am pretty confused. I am not sure what they are seeing in this story that I am not. I had a really hard time following the storyline, I even took notes about the different siblings and different generations. it has a sort of a dream like quality and the pacing may have had something to do with why I couldn’t follow it.
I’m also really amazed that this is classified as young adult? I cannot imagine a 12-year-old reading this and understanding it, let alone it being appropriate for kids.
It is possible I am not smart enough for this one.
Want to read
March 26, 2024I HAVE BEEN WAITING 3 YEARS. I COME BACK HERE SO OFTEN FOR UPDATES I CANT WAIT ANY LONGER. SOS.
April 4, 2025
C’était impossible de ne pas penser à Jude et Noah en lisant ce livre
C’était impossible de pas chercher cette phrase qui allait à nouveau révolutionner ma vie
When the world tips over, tu étais toi même victime de ta propre malédiction : jamais tu ne pourras être vu pour qui tu es à cause de ton grand frère 🤍
C’était impossible de pas chercher cette phrase qui allait à nouveau révolutionner ma vie
When the world tips over, tu étais toi même victime de ta propre malédiction : jamais tu ne pourras être vu pour qui tu es à cause de ton grand frère 🤍
April 13, 2025
April 2025: nu al opnieuw gelezen. Voor mijn doen erg snel na uitkomen van een nieuw verhaal. Ik vind er nog steeds hetzelfde van. Wat mooi, bijzonder, alles.
Oktober 2024: Sprakeloos. Het voelt alsof dit boek je ziel neemt.
Niet weten wat je moet zeggen, met stomheid geslagen, perplex staan, stil, ergens de woorden niet voor hebben, stilzwijgend, stomverbaasd: sprakeloos.
Allemaal woorden die mijn staat van zijn beschrijven na het uitlezen van dit verhaal voor een paar uur/dagen/weken. Dat is eerlijk gezegd niet overdreven, want eind oktober las ik dit boek en nog steeds weet ik niet hoe ik mijn sprakeloosheid en de sfeer van dit boek op papier kan krijgen. Ik zou kunnen zeggen dat mijn wereld wankelde na het uitlezen van dit boek, maar ik ga een poging wagen.. Op Lezersgoud.nl vind je een uitgebreidere versie van waarom dit boek voor mij zo belangrijk is.
Het is geen geheim dat ik uitkeek naar nieuw werk van Jandy Nelson, want Ik geef je de zon is een favoriet boek. Eerlijk gezegd twijfelde ik er niet aan of Nelson haar vorige boeken zou overtreffen of dat het misschien niet goed zou zijn. Als de wereld wankelt is een losstaand boek en mijn gevoel zei me dat het opnieuw goed zijn. De vraag was alleen op welke manier het goed zou zijn. Om gelijk maar antwoord te geven op mijn eigen vraag:
Als de wereld wankelt is voor mij het mooiste, beste, speciaalste en wankelendeste boek van dit jaar (en langer).
'Het verhaal is pas afgelopen als het is afgelopen, toch?'
Oktober 2024: Sprakeloos. Het voelt alsof dit boek je ziel neemt.
Niet weten wat je moet zeggen, met stomheid geslagen, perplex staan, stil, ergens de woorden niet voor hebben, stilzwijgend, stomverbaasd: sprakeloos.
Allemaal woorden die mijn staat van zijn beschrijven na het uitlezen van dit verhaal voor een paar uur/dagen/weken. Dat is eerlijk gezegd niet overdreven, want eind oktober las ik dit boek en nog steeds weet ik niet hoe ik mijn sprakeloosheid en de sfeer van dit boek op papier kan krijgen. Ik zou kunnen zeggen dat mijn wereld wankelde na het uitlezen van dit boek, maar ik ga een poging wagen.. Op Lezersgoud.nl vind je een uitgebreidere versie van waarom dit boek voor mij zo belangrijk is.
Het is geen geheim dat ik uitkeek naar nieuw werk van Jandy Nelson, want Ik geef je de zon is een favoriet boek. Eerlijk gezegd twijfelde ik er niet aan of Nelson haar vorige boeken zou overtreffen of dat het misschien niet goed zou zijn. Als de wereld wankelt is een losstaand boek en mijn gevoel zei me dat het opnieuw goed zijn. De vraag was alleen op welke manier het goed zou zijn. Om gelijk maar antwoord te geven op mijn eigen vraag:
Als de wereld wankelt is voor mij het mooiste, beste, speciaalste en wankelendeste boek van dit jaar (en langer).
'Het verhaal is pas afgelopen als het is afgelopen, toch?'
Want to read
August 22, 2024oh my god, a new jandy nelson book after a decade (!!!!!!!!!) and its releasing on my birthday!? she did it for me!!!!!!!!!
Shelved as 'anticipating'
March 19, 2022jandy nelson has a lot of talents, including:
1) making me cry uncontrollably
2) creating complicated (family) relationships
3) quotes. that's it, that's the talent
4) making me wait for a book for 12456789 years without my excitement fading.
i love how all the reviews are basically chaotic readers begging for this book to have a release date or to have an f/f relationship which...same honestly.
also it's been way too long since i've read the sky is everywhere and i'll give you the sun, help.
1) making me cry uncontrollably
2) creating complicated (family) relationships
3) quotes. that's it, that's the talent
4) making me wait for a book for 12456789 years without my excitement fading.
i love how all the reviews are basically chaotic readers begging for this book to have a release date or to have an f/f relationship which...same honestly.
also it's been way too long since i've read the sky is everywhere and i'll give you the sun, help.
August 19, 2024
Thank you to my boss for lending me her arc of this book after I told her that, when I was seventeen, I cried every time I OPENED my copy of I'll Give You The Sun and could barely read any of the words they were so blurry.
Ten years after the publication of I'll Give You The Sun is a book worth waiting any number of decades for. When the World Tips Over is a kaleidoscopic--not my word--story that walks the line of magic so carefully, you never think to question the existence of angels and ghosts and telepathic dogs. It's hard to praise a novel where everything makes sense and yet nothing is expected.
And so instead I'll say: This book made me want to be smarter. My journal entries were suddenly in Jandy Nelson's voice, which is maybe giving myself too much credit. This book changed the way I see the world.
Anyway. I had to use nasal spray to declog my nose this made me cry so hard. I would be surprised if this is not at LEAST a Printz Honor book in January.
Ten years after the publication of I'll Give You The Sun is a book worth waiting any number of decades for. When the World Tips Over is a kaleidoscopic--not my word--story that walks the line of magic so carefully, you never think to question the existence of angels and ghosts and telepathic dogs. It's hard to praise a novel where everything makes sense and yet nothing is expected.
And so instead I'll say: This book made me want to be smarter. My journal entries were suddenly in Jandy Nelson's voice, which is maybe giving myself too much credit. This book changed the way I see the world.
Anyway. I had to use nasal spray to declog my nose this made me cry so hard. I would be surprised if this is not at LEAST a Printz Honor book in January.
Want to read
June 26, 2015You know I will read everything you write, Jandy Nelson. Everything!
Because I know IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!!!
But em uh 2017?? Really? REALLY???
Well you know I have this one thing I'm not really good at, it's called waiting.
BUT, I will wait for this! Yes yes take your time I will always wait for your books Jandy.
AAAAHHH I'M SO EXCITED!!
Because I know IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!!!
But em uh 2017?? Really? REALLY???
Well you know I have this one thing I'm not really good at, it's called waiting.
BUT, I will wait for this! Yes yes take your time I will always wait for your books Jandy.
AAAAHHH I'M SO EXCITED!!
August 9, 2024
The story took me a while to get into, and while some of the character dynamics didn't fully click with me, I found some joy in this book and really liked the author's writing!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.
Want to read
May 25, 2017It's mid-2017 JANDY WHERE YOU AT
...
2017 has never felt so far away
...
2017 has never felt so far away
August 7, 2024
4.5⭐️
When the World Tips Over is a breathtaking, enchanting novel that beautifully weaves together themes of love, loss, and resilience.
Jandy Nelson masterfully crafts the tale of the Fall siblings, each uniquely compelling in their own way. Twelve-year-old Dizzy, with her hopeless optimism and ability to see spirits, brings a touch of magical realism that is both whimsical and deeply moving. Miles, the seventeen-year-old brainiac and athlete, is beautifully flawed, struggling with his identity and longing for a love that always feels out of reach. And Wynton, the nineteen-year-old virtuoso violinist, is a force of nature, his passion for music and his self-destructive tendencies create a captivating tension that drives the narrative forward. As the siblings grapple with their father’s disappearance and their fractured family dynamics, the book navigates the delicate balance between sorrow and joy.
What truly sets When the World Tips Over apart is Jandy Nelson’s lyrical prose and her ability to create characters that feel achingly real. The novel is filled with vivid imagery and evocative descriptions that transport the reader into the heart of the Fall family’s world. The adventures, flashbacks, and endless threads of love stories add depth and richness to the narrative, making it a fascinating exploration of generational legacies and the ways in which we are shaped by our past.
This might be a young adult book, but it will speak to readers of all ages. Jandy Nelson’s storytelling is both intricate and luminous, capturing the reader’s imagination and heart from the very first page.
I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for another Jandy Nelson book, and this one was so worth the wait. She has once again proven herself to be a masterful storyteller, delivering a story that is as deeply moving as it is beautifully written. This book perfectly captures the magic of family and the enduring power of hope.
When the World Tips Over is a breathtaking, enchanting novel that beautifully weaves together themes of love, loss, and resilience.
Jandy Nelson masterfully crafts the tale of the Fall siblings, each uniquely compelling in their own way. Twelve-year-old Dizzy, with her hopeless optimism and ability to see spirits, brings a touch of magical realism that is both whimsical and deeply moving. Miles, the seventeen-year-old brainiac and athlete, is beautifully flawed, struggling with his identity and longing for a love that always feels out of reach. And Wynton, the nineteen-year-old virtuoso violinist, is a force of nature, his passion for music and his self-destructive tendencies create a captivating tension that drives the narrative forward. As the siblings grapple with their father’s disappearance and their fractured family dynamics, the book navigates the delicate balance between sorrow and joy.
What truly sets When the World Tips Over apart is Jandy Nelson’s lyrical prose and her ability to create characters that feel achingly real. The novel is filled with vivid imagery and evocative descriptions that transport the reader into the heart of the Fall family’s world. The adventures, flashbacks, and endless threads of love stories add depth and richness to the narrative, making it a fascinating exploration of generational legacies and the ways in which we are shaped by our past.
This might be a young adult book, but it will speak to readers of all ages. Jandy Nelson’s storytelling is both intricate and luminous, capturing the reader’s imagination and heart from the very first page.
I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for another Jandy Nelson book, and this one was so worth the wait. She has once again proven herself to be a masterful storyteller, delivering a story that is as deeply moving as it is beautifully written. This book perfectly captures the magic of family and the enduring power of hope.
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