WHEN THE WORLD TIPS OVER
by Jandy Nelson
published on 9/24/2024*
*THANKFUL to @penguinteen and @netgalley for the early access (all quotes from uncorrected proof)

•💅🏼💅🏼💅🏼💅🏼💅🏼 ( 5️⃣ manis) •

“I think it’s possible to live our lives without believing in destiny, without feeling it at work in the choices we make, or the choices that are made for us. But it feels impossible to tell the story of our lives without it. 
Stories give our lives structure, and that structure is destiny.”

Hi friends 👋🏻 — I am super excited about the phenomenal new novel from @jandy.nelson! WTWTO is an intricate and luminous look at a family’s complicated past (and present) framed through the power of storytelling, memory, & a touch of magic and mystery (swipe for a synopsis from the publisher). ✨⚡️💥

Nelson very cleverly explores these themes while challenging herself to bring us a dynamically structured & compelling narrative. The prose is gorgeous, the characters are complex & the plot keeps you flipping page after page after page. The WIDE variety of structural devices Nelson uses showcases the importance of storytelling to the overall arc, while never feeling convoluted. She brings us to connections without spoon-feeding the reader, which is a quality I adore in quality YA literature. 📚

“If people bear the trauma of their ancestors, doesn’t it follow they also bear their rhapsodies? …If there are family curses that drop through time, mustn’t there also be family blessings that do the same? …I do believe now that when the world tips over, joy spills out with all the sorrow.” 🌈🌪️😪🥰

There is so much emotional depth in this book. I felt very connected to so many of the characters’ experiences, & the queer representation and identities throughout the novel. I can’t wait to discuss this book with more of the bookish community when it’s published this September! It is highly recommended by moi. I think this would make for a superb audiobook experience if that’s made available! 🎧

If you haven’t read Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN, it’s one of my most beloved books, and I also suggest picking that one up while you wait for your world to be tipped over on 9/24/24 🌏🌈

Jandy Nelson’s new YA novel, When The World Tips Over, delivers all of the feels, fun, emotion, and magic that her readers expect. The Fall family reeks of dysfunction — a father who walked out on them years ago, a mother who cannot face the truth, always in trouble oldest brother, Wynton, perfect middle son, Miles, and nerdy youngest, Dizzy — but a difficult past haunts them. When a mysterious young woman enters their lives, the truth begins to crash in for all of them. Although at times the story drags a bit, Nelson’s writing and character development shine making it more than worthwhile. (FYI —Nelson tackles a lot of issues in this book, drinking, abuse, cheating, sex, etc., that may not be suitable for younger readers.)

Thank you NetGalley and The publisher for an eARC of this novel!

“No one could explain this. A real love story is not falling in love once, but again and again through all sorts of incarnations Theirs was a real love story”

If there is anything that Jandy Nelson can do, she can write a perfect world wind cacophony of characters. Her characters are anything but 1 dimensional or ordinary. They are alive and filled with life and bright bright color. She knows how to create live with words. You root for the characters and your heart stalls when something happens to your favorite. I think my favorite part is how anyone can find something to relate within her stories. Between Dizzy, Wynton, Cassidy, and Miles one can find a glimmer of relatability.

When the world tips of swirls family of the blood and found kind, friendship, parental support and unsupport, love of all kinds. I think this a perfect book for young adults who are trying to find themselves or have already done so.

Also post on Goodreads

Thank you NetGalley & Penguin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review can also be found on Goodreads.

A preface before my review: I'm always excited when a publisher gives me an ARC, but receiving this one in particular was an honor. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson was the first book that ever truly stuck with me. Getting lost in between the pages of Lost Cove with Noah & Jude is one of my absolute favorite things to do. I read it multiple times a year, just to visit my old friends. That novel left an indelible mark ten years ago, and I have been eager for another Jandy novel since. When When The World Tips Over came across my dashboard, I was stunned and over the moon. I went in with extremely high hopes, given my deep love for IGYTS. Every. Single. Expectation. Was. Met.

Paradise Springs is a town so peculiar you can't find it on a map. But once you cross the town line, the magic wraps you up in a sun warmed blanket and brings you home. No one can explain what happens in this town, the magic that occurs. The magic isn't absent from the Fall family.

Meet the Fall's - Dysfunctional siblings Dizzy, Miles, Wynton, and their mother, Bernadette. Missing is their father Theo, who has a legend of his own within the town. As every family, there are secrets and embarrassments. The Fall's are not excluded in this.

Little sister Dizzy is going through a friend breakup, worships her tortured brother Wynton, and is desperate for a relationship with her brother Miles. "Perfect Miles" is struggling with The Gloom Room, his sexuality, and his direction in life. Wynton is consistently caught up in the law, is a violin prodigy, and faces a huge turn of fate. The one thing all siblings have in common, despite their last name of course, is they've all seen an angel. One by one, a mysterious rainbow haired girl covered in words appears to each Fall sibling, helping them find their true selves all while revealing the secret of a lifetime.

The same sense of magic and special that you find in IGYTS can be found in When The World Tips Over. Nelson's writing is SO vivid, dynamic, and simply beautiful. You don't read about the literary world, you are IN this literary world. The sights, smells, sounds, all of it is brought to you. Nelson's way of discussing important, yet sometimes difficult, topics shines yet again. You will find yourself floating with joy while reading, just as Sebastian and Alonso did in the forest.

Ten years felt like forever, but I will happily wait again for another Jandy Nelson novel (although I hope we don't have to). I felt like there were so many nods to IGYTS in this novel. And maybe I was imagining it, but let me live in my delusions! As usual, I am left completely in awe. I'll be dreaming of Paradise Springs just like Marigold, forever and always.

A story of family through generations shared through the years, family stories, family secrets, tragedies, dysfunctional families, parental abandonment, discovering hidden truths, and finding the family that will accept you, and the people who will understand you and love you for who you are.

There are moments where this is intense, moments that are heartbreaking, as well as moments that are heartwarming.

This covers a lot of territory, some of which are revealed through letters written in bygone years, and having some of those myself from my grandparents, I know how important those are to me, and what a touchstone they can be.

A story that is shared through bringing together all these people who are part of this family, if not by blood or marriage, then through love and perhaps friendship that might have been or become love. It covers a lot of years, and explores the after effects of abandonment, as well as the blessing of finding the place you call home.



Pub Date: 24 Sep 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group / Dial Books

Yes, yes, yes, yes 1000 times. I wish I was Jandy Nelson so I could adequately use words to say what this book is to me. I’ll Give You The Sun was my favorite YA book when I read it ten years ago, and still nothing (well, almost nothing) has come close. When I read YA, THIS feeling is what I’m looking for. This quirky, larger-than-life, earth-shattering feeling in Jandy’s writing that perfectly encapsulates teenagerhood.

Quotes (from uncorrected text):

“Telling you my story in betrayals, I've realized something. Each one has brought me so much anguish, but in the end, I realize, joy as well. I didn't understand this until now.… I do believe now that when the world tips over, joy spills out with all the sorrow. But you have to look for it.”
*
“He was weird. He knew this. He suspected he was in the wrong body, family, town, species, that there'd been some big cosmic mix-up. Like maybe he was supposed to be a tree or a barn owl or a prime number.
He only found himself, his real self, in novels, not even in the stories and characters, but in the sentences, the lone words.”
*
“Miles realized he'd somehow walked out of his life and into a new one, a much better one. He closed his eyes, felt like he and Felix were lying in the air together. He wanted to write in his pad: There's a secret world within this one. A wind has blown us there.”
*

Usually I don’t like books with so many characters. Usually I don’t like multi-generational stories. But I don’t know, Jandy Nelson just does it for me. Whatever she writes, I will read, no questions asked. The way that in both Sun and World, she weaves seemingly unrelated storylines together to form a perfectly chaotic story of family and love. The magical realism makes everything seem like a fairytale and it adds to the story, too.

I have to say that this writing style will not be for everyone. There is not a quickly-moving plot, because instead we’re learning about the Fall family history and watching these lovely characters grow most of the time. If you like flowery writing, character-focused books, and books about family, read this!!

Five stars plus a slice of aphrodisiacal chocolate soufflé, from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

I was a high school librarian when the author's previous books came out and they quickly became favorites! I was soooooooo excited for this new release as it is quite literally the perfect way to begin Pride month of reading the rainbow!!!!

*no apologies for my excited overuse of exclamation points*


UPDATE
Jandy Nelson is a gifted YA storyteller. Her characters show a tremendous amount of growth. I enjoy books with multiple narrators, and this was no exception. However, there were so many characters that my interest in them kept wavering. I felt for each one and made connections from my own life, but didn’t necessarily bond with any wholeheartedly. This may have been the point regarding the family curse: All were lovable and all were flawed. Maybe for me there were too many flaws to overcome?

3 out of 5 stars and my continued respect to the author.

When the World Tips Over is another Jandy Nelson masterpiece. I loved the characters, the slow burn romances, the tragedy, the "talking" dog, the culinary mentions, music, and the sibling rivalry that spanned generations.

That said, this book requires an attentive reader. It requires us to (as the book says) move in to the story with our whole bodies and hearts. There are many characters. There are generations to track. There are multiple genres (letters, blank pages. legends, retellings). There are jumps forward and back in time.

If you are attentive, this book is immensely rewarding and beautiful. Nelson's descriptions are quote worthy many times.

This is a true reader's book. It's gorgeous if you want to dive in deeply to a family saga more complicated than you can imagine.

How to even begin this review? This was just the book I needed at the time I needed it! I couldn’t put it down this weekend. I wanted so badly to finish the story but I also didn’t want it to end. Having just gone through the death of my last remaining parent and my husband's the realization that our generation is next has hit me hard. I read some letters recently as I was cleaning out my mother's closet that gave me a new perspective on my parents' lives and love for each other as well as for my siblings and I. It's added to my inner urge to spend time writing my thoughts in a journal before it's too late. However, I've been stuck trying to figure out what I should write mainly because I lack the energy. After reading this story in which family stories, journals and letters tell the underlying stories throughout I'm ready to journal. It's time to just let it pour out of me and write letters that won't be delivered until perhaps my time here on earth has come to it's conculsion. This story is intense and beautiful. A story of how dysfunctional families can be when secrets are the norm and how they have the opportunity to bring them together when the truth is laid bare. I've always believed that my own personal 'people-pile' is made up of those I choose rather than only those with whom I share blood. What I've taken away from this story is that having someone(s) who understands your wonderful weirdness helps us to navigate this life with a lot more grace and joy. Be yourself! I'm grateful that I've never read any of Jandy Nelson's books because now I don't have to wait for the next one to come out. I can just catch up with the old ones!
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for a copy of the book to preview in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was everything and beautiful and awful all rolled together. I loved the intertwining storylines and the massive cast of characters that made me happy, sad, and everything in between! My heart broke and mended back together in the course of this one story. It was beautifully crafted and I adored all of the queer representation! It made me, a semi-closeted 40-something bi woman, want to jump for joy. Phenomenal work, this is a must read!

I really wanted to like this book. This author is a mixed bag for me where I've loved one of her novels, but the other was just okay. However, it has been so long since I read either one of those novels, that I was eager to read a new book by this author. There were a lot of characters in this one and the writing was so different, it was almost too disjointed. It was difficult to stay focused and want to keep reading this one. I did manage to finish it, but it was a struggle. I never grasped the importance of the majority of the characters and it just felt to disappointing to read. I honestly didn't like any of the characters either. This entire book felt so forced. I couldn't wait for this book to be over.

Some of this author’s titles I have enjoyed, but this one seemed a little disjointed. I felt like the story was all over the place, and the plot didn’t really stick.

Jandy Nelson has a brilliant way of navigating the complexities of family, relationships, and the burden of secrets in her newest novel, When the World Tips Over. From the moment a strange girl with rainbow hair shows up in town, each of the Fall siblings finds themselves confronting the demons of their past and the secrets of their present. As tragedy brings them all together, long-buried truths and betrayals must surface for them to find a way forward.

This one is a YA book, it’s also told from multiple perspectives. That was a bit confusing at times the amount of characters is hard to grasp with the many plots going on also. I’ve read other books by this author and they were good. This one was a 3 star for me because it was hard to keep track.

Oh boy! This was one of my longest reading adventures because I went back and reread some chapters that were like music to my ears, a healing touch to my soul. I absolutely devoured each chapter, each heartfelt moment, including resentments, unexpected revelations, pure magical realism, nonstop sobbing, shedding tears, heart-bursting angst, and true happiness appearing like a sunrise after the dark. The dreamy notes of jazz music, the aphrodisiac taste of chocolate soufflés, the innocence of young hearts, and the four betrayals that may rip the heart but lead people to their destiny!

This book is a lyrical symphony! The most delicious meal! The most heartbreaking family saga where the curse of Abel and Cain may incarnate in two brothers, and the curse can only be broken by facing the truth and seeing things with your heart!

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It has already taken its honorary place in my library, and I plan to give it as a gift to anyone who is still soul-searching, tarnished by family history, lost in the dark, and needs something inspirational to find their path again!

The story starts with a rainbow-haired young girl’s appearance in Paradise Springs, a dreamy town in Northern California. This mysterious teenage girl touches the lives of three siblings. Is it a coincidence, a divine intervention? Who is this girl? Is she a guardian angel, a young student searching for the Fall family roots? A vagabond, running away from home?

Firstly, she saves the life of Dizzy Fall, a 12-year-old quirky girl who sees voices in color and also sees spirits. Dizzy is learning to bake cakes like her chef mother, Bernadette, and misses her drowned father, Theo. The rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, pushes her away from a high-speed truck and disappears, making Dizzy think she’s an angel. But neither her family members nor her estranged best friend, Lizard (aka Tristan), whom she only talks to via voicemail, pay her any attention.

Then the rainbow-haired girl meets Perfect Miles: the brainiac, golden boy of the family who never does anything wrong. He’s a great athlete, an A-student, the most popular boy at school, but he has secrets. He’s gay but hasn’t come out, he’s depressed, and he only shares his feelings with his also depressed queer dog, Sandro, who has a sarcastic sense of humor and suicidal tendencies.

His meeting with the girl and talking about his troubled relationship with his brother Wynton, who has bullied him for years, and his secrets from the family create a special bond with her.

Then there’s Wynton, the 18-year-old older brother who cannot deal with the loss of their father. He sleeps with his father’s trombone next to him, is a violin virtuoso, and the black sheep of the family who never stays out of trouble. He was kicked out of the house for selling his mother’s ring to buy a special bow to play at a jazz club. He and the rainbow-haired girl met before, at the lowest time of the girl’s life, and already shared a special bond, more profound than the other siblings’ bond with her.

But a tragedy strikes, and the entire family falls to pieces, with their secrets, betrayals, lies, regrets, and fears. As the cursed family story starts unraveling, the Fall siblings slowly realize nothing is as it seems, and maybe the rainbow-haired girl, Cassidy, is the key to unlocking the case that carries their hidden family history! Could the truth hurt, tear you apart, but also save you as well?

Overall, the characters in this book were amazing. The gold-hearted Dizzy, who only wants her brother to see her as she is: quirky, goofy, and eccentric; Miles, who wants to shed the perfect boy skin to be himself; Wynton, who burdens the family secrets that ruin his life, and pours his hatred, resentments, sadness, and grief into playing his viola; and Cassidy, who wants to have a family besides her free-spirited, also troubled nomad mother, Marigold. Bernadette, the talented chef who can compose lyrical feasts with her culinary skills, still leaves food outside in case her drowned husband, Theo, decides to come back.

There are also Felix, a young, humongous, bi, culinary chef who embraces life with full enjoyment; Sandro, the quirkiest, darkly humorous dog; grandfather Alonso, who brings light everywhere he goes; and his lover Sebastian, who puts rocks in his pockets to avoid floating away. Maria, the brave, free-spirited soul who has wings to fly over the vineyards, is an ancestor of the family, and these are remarkable characters you may never forget.

This is a long book, and the pacing at the beginning is a little slow, but you won’t want to put it down. On the contrary, you’ll keep devouring each chapter and find yourself in a magical wonderland that enchants your mind and soul! The writing is amazing! The conclusion is satisfying and heartwarming! Don’t skip this heart-wrenching but also inspirational and promising dysfunctional family saga! This is one of the best books you can read in your lifetime.

Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/Dial Books for sharing this year’s greatest reading digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

When the world tips over is a delicate tale about family, relationships, and everything else that comes with love.

Dizzy Fall (12) is going through a messy divorce with her best friend. Always and forever herself and weird, she feels lonely. A rainbow haired, pretty girl saves her life when the girl pushes her out of the way of a moving car.

Miles Fall (17), can’t get out of the gloom room. Not permanently. Trying to be everything his older brother isn’t, he’s perfect, but hiding something important, he’s gay, and not out to anyone. A car ride with a rainbow haired, pretty girl changes everything when he finally finds someone that understands him.

Wynton Fall (19) is a talented violinist and the oldest sibling. He’s not Perfect Miles, nor the dreamer that Dizzy is. One night, he is saved, like his siblings, by a rainbow haired girl, when a car hits him and drives away. The difference is that he already has met the girl before, in a meadow, when they were seven, a few hours where they fell in love.

Cassidy (19), is the rainbow haired girl. Carrying secrets that are not hers, she finds all the Fall siblings and saves them, in different ways.

What will happen in Paradise Springs when secrets and lies start unraveling and stories are getting told aloud after so long a time?

This mesmerising and fascinating book will leave the readers with an empty feeling and bind them to the story.

A thing that I loved about this book was the many ways of writing that were in it. Pieces of the book are written in first person, as if someone is talking with a friend, and a chunk of it was written in letters, another as a diary or a fairytale.

The characters had a depth to them that is hard to find in books that makes them seem real, as if they are made of blood and bone.

I’d recommend this book to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, The perks of being a wallflower, and Turtles all the way down.

I got this ARC for free from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing this review

I was so excited to read this, as I'll Give You the Sun was such an important book to me. This delivered--I was particularly invested and moved by Cassidy's story, by the unflinching way Nelson writes that narrative. The magical elements (the talking dog--though I did love him) didn't necessarily work for me entirely, but the story itself, this family and their lore, these kids and their heartbreaks and emotions, won me over fully.

I had a hard time following this book. There were to many plot lines and characters. I am not sure if I would recommend this book.

Before you read any further, I must confess that I love Jandy Nelson. Her writing is so good at creating stories that are both timeless and relevant at the same time. I absolutely loved 'I'll Give You The Sun' and she doesn't disappoint in this book.

The only way I can accurately describe Nelson's writing is that she is able to weave this large quilt. She takes each character and weaves them over and under in order to create a whole picture. In this book it is the Fall family. Each character has their own personality and characteristics and yet they are all related. Their histories and stories all woven together to create the story of a family. The past very much connected with the present.

I loved so many things about this book. Sandro is one of my favorite characters. I have often wished that I could communicate with my dogs! I loved all of the stories and learning about all the ghosts.

The only bad thing about this book was that it had to end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jandy Nelson and Penguin Teen for an advance copy of this book.

A beautiful YA story told from multiple perspectives. I loved the slow reveals, getting to know Dizzy, Miles, Wynton, and Cassidy, seeing the collision of their stories coming together. I also enjoyed the magical realism with ancestral ghosts and the telepathic dog Sandro. This novel is definitely older YA with some of the content and themes. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital ARC!