Everything, Everything
Nicola Yoon
Another acclaimed work by Nicola Yoon
The Sun Is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
A fast, funny, idea-driven YA romance that pairs a rational Jamaican-born teen with a dreamy Korean American poet over one day in New York, with immigration stakes that give the love story real weight.
What It's About
The Sun Is Also a Star follows Natasha, a Jamaican-born teenager who has lived in New York since childhood, and her family, who are facing deportation after their immigration case has run out. On a single day in Manhattan she meets Daniel, a Korean American student whose parents expect him to pursue a safe, conventional career. The two spend hours together trying to work out whether a connection formed in a few minutes can mean anything, and whether either of them is willing to change the path they have been handed.
Yoon alternates chapters between Natasha and Daniel and adds short interludes narrated by a voice that calls itself the Universe, along with brief glimpses of strangers whose lives brush against theirs. This structure does a lot of work. It makes the city feel crowded with small chances, and it keeps returning to the book's central question about whether randomness or choice shapes a life.
Reading it feels quick and conversational, with plenty of dialogue, humor, and sharp observations about family and identity. The romance drives the story, and the book is more interested in ideas and inner life than in plot twists. Expect a lot of talk about science, poetry, and what people owe their parents, and less action than the premise might suggest.
Read this if you…
- want a romance where the characters' ideas about love and fate are as interesting as the attraction itself
- enjoy alternating viewpoints and short, playful chapters that move quickly
- are curious about how immigration and family duty shape a young person's sense of possibility
Skip it if you…
- need a realistic, slow-building romance, since the central relationship moves very fast
- find cosmic narrators and heavy use of coincidence more irritating than charming
Key Ideas
- 1
Fate versus evidence as a way of living
Natasha trusts data and cause and effect, while Daniel leans toward destiny and poetic meaning. The book does not simply pick a winner. It treats these as two competing ways of making sense of chance, and it asks what each one costs a person who lives by it.
- 2
Immigration as a constant background pressure
Natasha's family lives with the fear that their status could end their life in the only home they know. Yoon shows how this uncertainty shapes everyday decisions, sense of belonging, and what feels possible, keeping the stakes concrete rather than abstract.
- 3
Family expectations and the cost of being good
Daniel has spent his life meeting his parents' hopes and suppressing his own interest in writing. The novel examines the guilt and loyalty that come with that bargain, and what it might mean to choose a different life without rejecting the people who shaped you.
- 4
Coincidence structured as a storytelling device
Alternating viewpoints, the Universe interludes, and short portraits of strangers give the book a distinctive shape. The form encourages readers to notice how many small moments connect people, which supports the theme while also making the story feel self-consciously designed.
Limitations
Many readers find the speed of the central attraction hard to believe, and the book leans on coincidence in ways that can feel contrived. The Universe interludes are inventive but sometimes read as cute or overly explanatory. Natasha's family is drawn with real feeling, though the legal process is handled in broad strokes. Some readers feel Daniel's parents and community are sketched more quickly than the two leads, so the wider cultural picture stays somewhat thin.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is The Sun Is Also a Star a standalone novel?
- Yes. It is a self-contained young adult novel, and you do not need to read Nicola Yoon's earlier book, Everything, Everything, first. It has a different setting and a different central premise, so readers can start here without missing anything important.
- How does it compare to Everything, Everything?
- Both books mix romance with a larger question about the world and use a distinctive structure. This one is more grounded in a real-world problem, immigration, and it has a more open, city-based feel. If you liked the emotional intensity of the earlier novel, you will probably enjoy this one's bolder ideas, though its romance feels less contained.
- Does the book still feel relevant?
- The immigration themes remain pressing, and the questions about family duty and choosing your own path are timeless for young readers. The references to the city and the characters' daily lives are fairly contemporary, but the core emotional concerns hold up well.
- Published
- 2024
- ISBN
- 9780593815403
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Young Adult
Book details and cover from Google Books.
Ready to read The Sun Is Also a Star?
Get your copy on Amazon, or listen to it on Audible. We earn a commission if you buy through these links.
You Might Also Like
If Only I Had Told Her
Laura Nowlin
Shares the Young Adult Fiction genre and themes
Girl in Pieces
Kathleen Glasgow
Shares the Young Adult Fiction genre and themes
An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir
Both books explore Young Adult Fiction