"Are stories prayers? Invitations? Mirrors? Storms?

Or maybe they're homes." 

When the World Tips Over, Jandy Nelson


This is a book that was worth waiting ten years for.

The highly anticipated book to follow Jandy Nelson's "I'll Give You the Sun" (2014) does not disappoint. It invigorates, pulling you into the fantasia of the Fall Family and the technicolor of their lives, with every word. 

The Fall siblings - Wynton, Miles, and Dizzy - 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, with their chef mother, Bernadette, following the disappearence of their father. 

When an angel-being, rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls’ world over, the siblings are convinced she may be the only one to save them after a horrible accident occurs.

Like the summary says, there's "...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."

From Dizzy's kid view of religion, Wynton's way with music, Miles' mania (and hilarious gab with Sandro, the suicidal queer shadow dog), and the rainbow girl's magic of capturing humanity (in all the ways good and bad), these are four characters I will not soon forget. "When the World Tips Over" immediately became my favorite read of the year, and I'm excited to share with Nelson's fans that their excitement for September should be everything and more. She's done it again and better this time. It's the raw experience of being a young adult paired with magic, family blessings and curses, and color, in one. I devoured every page and let this book devour me right back. 

I had the pleasure of seeing Jandy Nelson read and speak at the Basalt Regional Library in 2015 during her Aspen Words residency following her Printz award win for "Sun" - which I have no doubt inspired her decision for Felix, a tremendous secondary character both literally and spiritually, to hail from Denver. I was even more fortunate to interview her for my local paper job at the time, and heard first-hand from her about "The Fall Boys and Dizzy in Paradise" (the title at the time), which has consumed my thoughts ever since. Her mention of cooking classes and wine country at the foundation of this book had me spinning out for years, wondering what magic she would surely weave. I've been waiting ever since for this book to come out and had even worried at times another book might take precedent in the meantime. Clearly, that was not the case. 

Reading "When The World Tips Over" for the first time, I feel how I felt the first time I read "I'll Give You the Sun": bathed in colors and electrocuted to be creative again. 

"When the World Tips Over" is a new story for myself and many to find home in for sure. Thank you for your words and telling us the story of the Falls, Jandy. I can't wait to see more of your work and always know it will be perfectly timed to tell a greater story every time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I absolutely loved this book! Jandy Nelson will never disappoint!

more detailed review to come soon

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers, PENGUIN GROUP, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review. When The World Tips Over is about the Fall siblings' lives being overturned by a rainbow-haired girl.

This is a YA magical realism novel, very similar in style to Jandy Nelson's first two books, with chapters from the perspective of all the Falls siblings and snippets from "diary" entries of a few of the other characters.

I am a HUGE Jandy Nelson fan (been waiting for this book for nine years) and this book didn't disappoint. It took about 80 pages before I was fully invested but once I was, I couldn't put it down. The world of Paradise Springs is so vivid, so enthralling, and the characters are much of the same. The writing is also so poetic and beautifully written that I found myself reading passages over and over.

I also really loved the way the story slowly unfolded and how you needed all of the different points of view in order to understand the full story. I just know I will be finding new things every time I reread!

I have to also note in this review that I've felt like Jandy's books were written for me in the past and this one is no different. As someone named Cass (!!!) I LOVED Cassidy's character and the stories she told as well as the Fall siblings reactions to her. She really made the novel completely come alive for me and connected me to the other characters through how they all saw her.

Overall, this is an incredible book that I can't wait to reread it when it officially comes out (just in time for my birthday!) and am so grateful for the opportunity to read it early.

Simultaneously heartbreaking and wholly adorable, Jandy Nelson's "When the World Tips Over" is a tender yet epic tale about what we inherit from our ancestors and what we choose to do with the hand we're dealt. Like her previous work, Nelson creates a slightly fantastical world that is rooted enough in reality it's easy to suspend your disbelief and dive right in. Written with vivid metaphors and descriptions, it's clear that Nelson understands the complexities of being a teenager (at three different ages!) and how earth shattering certain emotions can feel when you're young.

First things first, I've had this book on my TBR for literally ten years, since the release of Jandy Nelson's last book I'll Give You the Sun. It was worth the wait.

When the World Tips over is a strange book with strange characters. Mainly, we follow three siblings, Dizzy who is a weird little twelve year old who talks to ghosts. She has two older brothers, Perfect Miles who goes to a private school on an athletic scholarship, smart, popular guy. Except, he's been skipping school and everything for the past two weeks. And he talks to dogs. Their older brother is Wynton, who just got out of jail for stealing their mom's car and crashing it into a statue of one of their ancestors.

It has seemingly always been Dizzy and Wynton vs. Miles, until now, when all three meet a mysterious girl with rainbow hair and she has a lasting effect on all three of them. All three unable to get Cassidy out of their head.

Cassidy is a college student, researching the Falls family. Part of the school is told by Cassidy recounting the families history on a drive to Paradise Springs to Felix, a new employee at their mom's restaurant. Along with POVs from the siblings + Cassidy, we also get unsent emails from Miles to their father that disappeared after (allegedly) coming back to life and unsent letters from to mother to everyone. I would consider 4 POVs to be a lot, but never had a problem following along here.

10 years in the making. Worth the wait. Jandy Nelson, please don't make me wait another decade for your next book.

I felt my heart break seventeen individual times while reading this novel. Let me tell you about them...