Characters
The Sun Is Also a Star is one of my favorite YA books of all time! The story is mainly centered around the ephemera, yet intense romance between two very opposite teenagers—practical Natasha and romantic Daniel—unlikely to even be on each other's radars if it weren't for their chance encounter in New York City, which happens when they are both not where they were supposed to be.
What I love about this novel is Yoon's character development, not only of the main characters but also including the unique points of view of minor characters in the book. For example, when Natasha is running late with her meeting with her immigration officer, she is perturbed by the security officer, who seems to be spending way too much time examining her personal items. As a result, she is late for the meeting and has to reschedule with someone else. Natasha worries that her family will now definitely be deported. In the next chapter, however, the security officer describes her encounter with Natasha from her point of view, revealing to the reader that she was depressed and lonely at the time, and her interaction with Natasha saves her life.
This brief encounter also sets off an unforeseeable chain reaction of events that changes Natasha's destiny. The reader realizes that it's impossible to know how important or effectual the most trivial interaction can be.
Characters
The vast majority of Nicola Yoon’s novel for young adults The Sun Is Also a Star is based around the meeting and falling in love of the two main characters, Natasha and Daniel, who are both seventeen years old.
Natasha Kingsley is Jamaican and is about to be deported from the United States. Daniel Bae is Korean American. They meet in New York City when Daniel is meant to be attending a college admissions day. The two main characters hold very different views: Natasha has a rational, science-based way of thinking, while Daniel is more of a romantic dreamer.
Some of the book is narrated by Natasha, some by Daniel, some by a third-person narrator, and interestingly, there are also sections showing the point of view of other minor characters. There is also discussion of other characters by Natasha and Daniel; for example, Daniel talks about his brother Charlie (whose full name is Charles Jae Won Bae) and his parents, while Natasha also talks about her family, including her brother Peter.
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