The Sun Is Also a Star

By: Nicola Yoon

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee, Dominic Hoffman

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The number one New York Times best seller and National Book Award Finalist from the best-selling author of Everything Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other.

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 12 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?

©2016 Nicola Yoon (P)2016 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Beautifully crafted." (People Magazine)

"A book that is very much about the many factors that affect falling in love, as much as it is about the very act itself...fans of Yoon’s first novel, Everything Everything, will find much to love - if not, more - in what is easily an even stronger follow up." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Transcends the limits of YA as a human story about falling in love and seeking out our futures." (POPSUGAR)

This was cute but flawed

I am solely reviewing the narration here. It was nice to have multiple readers since there was more than one main character plus one was a boy and one a girl. The problems I have with the narration are 1) The narration was way too slow. I had to speed it up and it still felt slow. 2)The woman narrating 17 year old Natasha sounds like she is 40. It's fine to be 40, I'm in my 30's but it's strange to hear such an adult voice narrating a 17 year old. 3) Some of the accents were done very poorly. I know I sound like a harsh critic, but I think that the audio industry is so large now that it is possible to find the perfect narrator for each story. These guys and gal just weren't the right fit.

Beautifully written love story

This was perhaps the BEST book I have read/listened to in a long while!! I loved everything about this story and fell in love with the characters as well. I have recommended this book to all of my friends. BTW, I'm a 43 year old, mother of two who is a hopeless romantic!!

My Favorite YA Book of the Year

I was on maternity leave over the summer when I received an early copy of The Sun Is Also a Star. Thankfully my mom was around that day to watch the baby, because I couldn’t put it down. Not only is Nicola Yoon answering the call for more diversity in YA Literature, she is also creating compelling, honest, and memorable characters in her fiction. The Sun Is Also a Star, which is a finalist for the National Book Award, is told from the alternating perspectives of two teenagers – one a Korean American boy who is on the “doctor tract” despite his proclivity for poetry; the other, a Jamaican girl who is desperately trying to save her family from their imminent deportation. Over a single day we watch how fate weaves its way into their relationship and their futures – together and apart. I recently got to listen to the audiobook, which was beautifully performed by Bahni Turpin, Raymond Lee, and Dominic Hoffman. Turpin and Lee inhabit the main characters in such a way that ensures Yoon’s work will become essential listening.

Sweet Little Book

This is a sweet little book of a Jamaican girl about to be deported who by happenstance meets a Korean-American boy, conflicted about his path in life. Both fall in love in the span of a few hours. Her writing style is solid, but this one is okay in comparison to "Everything, Everything". The story is implausible and the female narrator was annoying. Overall, a cute story, but not as great as it was hyped to be. Still worth the credit.

Read this book!

This is such a beautifully written book. It’s lovely and touching and honest and just a wonderful read. I highly recommend it.

don't normally read young adult

but thought this might be a good one for my grand-daughter. wanted to "read" it first to make sure it was appropriate. thoroughly enjoyed it.

just one day

who knew about could Chronicle the events of just one day that would change to people's lives forever? a must read, different from any book I've ever read

Absolutely incredible

If you want an emotional book that will make you cry laugh and doubt everything than this is the one for you. The performance was lovely and I haven’t enjoyed listening to anything as much as this

sweet story

the story is about fate. it is really sweet and makes you laugh and tear up. good east listen. voices are meh.

Awesome story

I enjoyed the point of views of both characters and using 2 different actors. plus another actor to Narrate. It had a real life ending

Not for me

This book is too YA and too unbelievable. I couldn’t invest in the cheesy-romancy story and the one day timeframe was too far-fetched. The multiple narrators were very good but unfortunately didn’t salvage the book at all for me. Unpopular opinion but no, no, no.

Beautiful

I don't really know what to add other than the word beautiful. It encompasses my feelings on the book. Looking forward to the next Nicola Yoon book.
Also perfectly narrated.

Narrator Love

I love a YA love story, yes they can be a little Insta-love, but they are great, you can get lost in a fabulous book for a few hours, and when you look up, all is right with the world!

I loved the fact that this was not only told in dual POV, but it also goes into the background of some of the other characters so that you can see why they are the way that they are

Narrated as always beautifully by Bahni Turpin with Raymond Lee and Dominic Hoffman who are 2 new narrators for me, but made this book sound so good

Best Read Audiobook

This audiobook has been my favourite so far in terms of how much thought was put into how it would sound. It's a delight to listen to. The story itself was funny and insightful and I encourage all to listen.

True love

This book give an Insight into 2 different cultures and the needs for the parents to uphold and preserve their culture through their children , with Natasha and Donald a love story that started but ended with no control over their situation.

Heart wrenching & warming

Read this as part of a reading challenge (a YA novel) & thoroughly enjoyed it from the perspective that the novel captures everything that it means to be 17 & how your world values are never quite the same after the late teens. And how everything seems to be able to last forever ‘Cos you’re invincible.

I like how the story has asides, as well as the threads of life running through the characters. I enjoyed the ‘conflict’ of Arts v Science. There are many aspects that I enjoyed, even cried 6 minutes from the end.

Just something niggles at me about the actual writing style, I’m not able to put my finger on it & it could simply be my cynical, realist, adult brain reading the wildly wonderful days of been 17 & thinking the world is your oyster. The 40+ adult in me knows different now.

Beautiful story for young adults

Yoon is a brilliant writer with an experimental style. Even though the story is too romantic for my personal, there was artistry in the writing. And I enjoyed the book because of that. Yoon added an alternative story of life in multicultural America told through a teenage love story. It’s a weighted story of self, love, race, migration, belonging, ambition and family; but told through a love story and which a landmark city as its backdrop. These add a different dimension to the exploration of these issues. A different way of seeing them. Somehow through the prism of love these problems seem surmountable even though all stories of migration and deportation and removal are not neatly or easily wrapped up. But here is one such story where overcoming these issues may or may not hold possibilities. This story is also an ode to New York - a city that’s as romantic as it can be gritty. I recommend this if you need a light read.

One criticism, the voice used for Natasha was too southern. The reader should have a New York accent and I found it hard to believe the Natasha character when she spoke. I had to suspend a lot of disbelief to enjoy this story.

The sun is also a star

This is literally my favourite book I’ve ever read, I originally read this book a few years ago and I have read it many times since, listening to it was like a complete different experience but I loved it still.

The sun is also a star.

So, we follow a day, with philosophies thrown in and issues tackled and grounded youth.
Snippets of nonfiction intermingled. But overall a story and so, within 10 minutes of finishing I’m off to watch the film.

Rom com

The performance was great!
The story had some interesting ideas, I enjoyed the cultural clashes of the two families, but unfortunately a lot of the romance scenes were just cheesy and unoriginal.