Lynnie 
contemporary young adult, magical realism
I enjoyed Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You The Sun several years ago, so I was excited to read something new from her. When the World Tips Over is the story of the Fall family - not just the current Fall siblings, Dizzy, Miles and Wynton, but also the Fall family through multiple generations and how trauma and decisions can leave echoes through time. Family secrets and dysfunction, secrets, misunderstandings and love are all at the heart of this novel.
I admit I had a difficult time getting started on this book because I wasn't particularly interested in viewing the world through 12-year-old Dizzy's perspective. Dizzy is immature for her age and the beginning felt unnecessarily cruel. Fortunately things turned around quickly and within a few chapters I was fully invested in the Fall siblings and curious about what could possibly tie them to Cassidy and others in the book.
Nelson is a beautiful writer and truly paints a picture with her words. I do think that sometimes she gets a little too lyrical with her prose, but it fit better with some characters in this novel than others. I also found some of the family ties confusing and while I realize that was intentional, thank goodness for the family tree at the end of the book because I had lost the thread of who was who by then. A family tree earlier in the novel would be very helpful. (To be fair, I think there WAS one, but I'll be darned if I can find it by "leafing" through the digital version).
The story is told through multiple narrators and points of view as well as notes, letters, diary entries, transcripts and other correspondence. I thought the variety of story-telling techniques was interesting and really worked when a different perspective helped move the story along.
Once again, Nelson has a fascinating, inclusive cast of characters. The LGBTQ+ characters are no doubt going to get this book on the radar of our modern-day book banning brigade and that would be a shame because I think the portrayal in this book of all the realities and differences among the characters was beautifully written; no matter how you identify yourself, you are likely to find a character to relate to.
This book does have a slow pace, which I can tell by how long it took me to read it. The slow pacing does not mean it's boring, by any stretch, but it did allow me to feel like I spent plenty of time getting to know the characters so that I could truly enjoy the book's ending.
Thank you to the Penguin Group, Dial Books, NetGalley and Jandy Nelson for the advanced reader copy. This book will be published on September 24, 2024
I admit I had a difficult time getting started on this book because I wasn't particularly interested in viewing the world through 12-year-old Dizzy's perspective. Dizzy is immature for her age and the beginning felt unnecessarily cruel. Fortunately things turned around quickly and within a few chapters I was fully invested in the Fall siblings and curious about what could possibly tie them to Cassidy and others in the book.
Nelson is a beautiful writer and truly paints a picture with her words. I do think that sometimes she gets a little too lyrical with her prose, but it fit better with some characters in this novel than others. I also found some of the family ties confusing and while I realize that was intentional, thank goodness for the family tree at the end of the book because I had lost the thread of who was who by then. A family tree earlier in the novel would be very helpful. (To be fair, I think there WAS one, but I'll be darned if I can find it by "leafing" through the digital version).
The story is told through multiple narrators and points of view as well as notes, letters, diary entries, transcripts and other correspondence. I thought the variety of story-telling techniques was interesting and really worked when a different perspective helped move the story along.
Once again, Nelson has a fascinating, inclusive cast of characters. The LGBTQ+ characters are no doubt going to get this book on the radar of our modern-day book banning brigade and that would be a shame because I think the portrayal in this book of all the realities and differences among the characters was beautifully written; no matter how you identify yourself, you are likely to find a character to relate to.
This book does have a slow pace, which I can tell by how long it took me to read it. The slow pacing does not mean it's boring, by any stretch, but it did allow me to feel like I spent plenty of time getting to know the characters so that I could truly enjoy the book's ending.
Thank you to the Penguin Group, Dial Books, NetGalley and Jandy Nelson for the advanced reader copy. This book will be published on September 24, 2024
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