Member Reviews
WHEN THE WORLD TIPS OVER is a beautifully written and expansive stories that covers generations, timelines, perspectives, and even worlds. Jandy Nelson is a truly mesmerizing writer and has such a way with words and descriptors. This story was richly detailed and emotional, with highs and lows thay cascaded throughout.
The length was intimidating, as the story did get a bit extraneously detailed at times with all the wandering tendrils of thought and writing dispersed throughout. It would have been a better book with a few areas tightened up so the story flowed better. That said, I’ve been a longtime Jandy Nelson fan and will continue to read all she writes.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Books for the opportunity to read and review WHEN THE WORLD TIPS OVER.
I adored this.
I’m newly into Jandy Nelson. I recently read and loved I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN and quickly understood what I was missing. WHEN THE WORLD TIPS OVER has many similarities yet is solely its own too.
What I loved:
• the imagery👏🏽Jandy writes so colorfully and vividly and I want to be inside her head. Her writing is so atmospheric but in such a bright, specific way
• complicated, flawed relationships - her characters and their relationships are so dynamic, never one thing which makes them incredibly real even when when she adds a little unbelievable flare to them
• the story of the Falls and The Curse was so fun and interesting and really added to the story
🌍🌈💕
I will say parts of this got a little too.. idk the word.. out of hand? It was perhaps too long in that sense. But everything came together at the end and I did love it so, so much. Fans of I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN will not be disappointed with this one. Another banger, for sure.
This is a deeply moving, multifaceted coming of age book. It’s told in multiple POVs, each bringing their own uniqueness to the story. It’s very emotional—poignant and joyful at the same time.
I also really enjoyed the very cinematic writing. I'd watch this show? movie? mini series? in a heartbeat. I actually can’t wait for the audiobook.
Thank you so much for the ARC!
I am a huge Jandy Nelson fan and I'll Give You the Sun remains to be one of my all time favorite YA books! I was SO excited to hear she had a new book coming out and immediately started reading this 500+ book the day I got a copy! This is a multigenerational family saga full of family secrets. The story is quite long but each character and story plays a distinct purpose to the bigger family at large. This has some bigger themes like parental abandonment and some of the family secrets that come out. Each sibling is drawn to this mysterious girl and we learn about her tragic background. There is a mysterious family curse, similar to Cain and Able. The book was over 500 pages but I still felt it could have benefited from slightly more character development towards the end. This story leans heavy in magic realism with family curses and talking dogs. All of the characters are quite flawed and I would have liked to see slightly more growth in some of them.
Recommend if you enjoy:
Long, complicated family stories
Multigenerational, complicated family stories
Lots of secrets and betrayal
Magic realism elements
Stories about brothers
Generations old family curses
This was the rare book for me that I had some issues with but ended up loving so much that I’ll give it five stars anyway. Jandy Nelson’s stories are so layered and complex and messy, and the characters she writes are so magical that you’ll accept the weird shit happening with a shrug (ok I guess this is magical realism but idk it just feels different). She writes so well as characters of vastly different ages, and I was itching to dig up all the secrets being revealed in this great big loving chaotic family page after page. This review isn’t coherent, but honestly that feels right for this book.
This was a cute, heartwarming adventure. It is magical realism intertwined with literary fiction. All the characters were well developed and the message was refreshing. Even with this being YA it was still hard-hitting.
I would also like to say there is a dog and he's awesome - I would read it on that alone
Thank you to Netgalley and Dial Books for a copy of this book. It is available now!
“ She did not know what to do with the leftover love no one wanted anymore.”
Jandy Nelson is for all ages. This one didn’t hit as hard for me as I’ll Give You The Sun and I felt it could have been scaled back a bit, but still full of complex relationships and emotion.
So this was magical and incredible, just like everything else Jandy Nelson writes. This is a coming-of-age story with great queer representation and topics that speak to both teens and adults. There's romance, young love, betrayal, history, magic, cooking, you name it! Now THIS is a fully-fleshed out YA story, one that makes you forget you're reading YA. It was whimsical and golden, heartfelt and sincere. If you've read Jandy Nelson's other hits, you'll love this one too. I can't recommend this enough!
Thank you so much to Penguin Young Readers Group/Dial Books and NetGalley for the eARC, and for the opportunity to leave an honest, voluntary review.
I absolutely adored I’ll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson’s last novel. I devoured it over just two days. I was so excited that Nelson was back with a new novel, but I was a little concerned that my taste might have changed too much in the past decade for me to enjoy this one. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.
If you loved previous novels by Jandy Nelson, or books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this book is absolutely for you. It’s a melancholic, multi-POV novel about a family. There’s a touch of magical realism, and a lot of feeling.
The Fall siblings live in Northern California, deep in the heart of wine country. Dizzy, an eternally optimistic 12-year-old, is whimsical and the glue that holds the family together. Miles is the perfect child, the one that is stunningly gorgeous, a gifted athlete and true brainiac. Wynton is the oldest brother with a true talent as a violinist.
Each uniquely navigating through a world that seems to be fracturing…until a rainbow-haired girl shows up.
Who is this stranger? Is she an angel? Or just a normal teenager? Upon her entrance, the Fall world is tipped over…
This book has it all - tension, pain, love, family lore, secrets, love, generational legacies, and love. It captured my heart so unexpectedly. I rooted for all the members of this family and, when I finished, I felt like I’d read the most enchanted story of the year. I give it all the stars and feel like I need a reread of I’ll Give You the Sun asap! Jandy Nelson is phenomenal and I’m really happy I took a chance on this one. It will quite possibly land on my favorites list at the end of the year!
4.5 - This story was so beautiful!! I was someone who LOVED I'll Give You the Sun when I was younger and it still remains one of my favorite YA novels. So I was beyond excited for Jandy to release a new novel and to have the privilege of reading it early!
I was so moved by the characters, the family dynamics, the platonic and romantic love!! Jandy's writing was stunning as per usual and had me tearing up multiple times!! I loved the representation and how special and different each character was, where each character really stood out to me. The way that Jandy always manages to craft such a special story, with characters who feel real, and the way she writes both platonic and romantic love at a young age is so beautiful.
When the World Tips Over is a book of rainbows, magic, queerness, and family. Wyton, Miles, and Dizzy have been left behind by their father when they were younger and all are scarred. Cassie is a rainbow haired girl, trying to survive with just her mother, living a nomad life, when she just wants to be a normal girl. Cassie appears in each of the children's lives as a sort of positive reinforcement, friend, and confidant when things get hard. At the beginning of the book it is really difficult to see how all of these characters are connected, but things slowly work themselves out as you piece together the different relationships.
This book had a tone of magical realism with it and really focused on the history of this family. Most of all, I loved each of the children. Wynton really broke my heart into pieces and I connected with his soul so much. Dizzy and Miles each had their own struggles but truly were such unique and soulful characters. Seeing this family break down their barriers and grow to love each other again was so beautiful.
If you were a fan of Jandy's I'll Give You the Sun or are looking for a magical realism/YA novel, please check this out!! Such a beautiful story. Thank you to Penguin Teen for the free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
WHEN. THE WORLD TIPS OVER by Jandy Nation was heartbreaking, immersive, heart touching joy. The story of the three Falls siblings, each uniquely and exceptionally talented is well-written, absolutely captivating beauty -- beginning with the youngest sibling being rescued from death by a rainbow-haired girl who changes each one of the siblings, challenging their assumptions about themselves and the way the world works. There was magical realism, the physical reality of hard California sun, the ever-present family wound of the father who left. There was the beautiful writing, the poetic descriptions that made the story so vivid. A marvelous read for anyone at any age. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.
THANK YOU penguin teen for entrusting me with a physical ARC of this book. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to read it early. it has been ten years since I first read i'll give you the sun, one of my favorite books of ALL time, and to have a new jandy nelson novel to read and to cherish is still a pretty surreal feeling for me.
when the world tips over follows the fall family, descendants of the founder of paradise springs, a northern california town that has hidden itself from the rest of the world. siblings dizzy, miles, and wynton - all named after their absent father's favorite jazz trumpet players - are all growing up in a big white house on their family's vineyard, and when the novel opens, we learn that wynton has done something unforgivable, and found himself ostracized by miles and their mother. only dizzy still believes him to be good. when tragedy strikes, and only a girl with rainbow hair can (hopefully) fix it, every member of the fall family finds out what forgiveness truly looks like. what follows is a family saga for the ages.
this is honestly the perfect book to welcome autumn in with. when i read it i pictured a world full of yellows and reds and oranges, a place where birds whizz past you singing their song, violin accompaniment in the distance, and chocolate soufflés cool on windowsills.
it is a beautiful story about hope, love, endurance, family (the one you choose and the one you're born into), and what it means to reject the fate laid out for you, and try a new one on for your own. the magic that winds itself through these pages makes the falls' story that much brighter - a talking dog? a boy who glowed so bright at birth it warmed an entire town? are any of these things real, or are these the truths we tell to keep ourselves afloat?
i loved this book. it's a vibrant triumph of a novel, and i couldn't recommend it more!
I audibly screamed when I saw that Jandy Nelson was coming out with a new book. I absolutely adored I'll Give You the Sun and couldn't wait to read this one. There were so many things that I liked - each POV was so beautifully done, the storytelling aspect was an awesome way to explain past events, the magical realism was perfection, and the story itself was equally heartbreaking and hopeful. It was a beautiful look at just how hard it is to be a kid and grow up navigating how your world and relationships can be ever changing.
I've always loved how lyrical Jandy Nelson's writing is, even though it does make the start of this book a little slower. For me, I was really enraptured by all the characters so I didn't mind the slow build at all. Would absolutely recommend this one!
As my first dive into Jandy Nelson’s writing, When the World Tips Over was a delightful surprise. The book is a stunning blend of complex characters and emotional depth, and what I enjoyed the most was how Nelson masterfully wove together themes of family, love, and identity. Each character, from Dizzy to Cassidy and Miles, felt like a real person with relatable struggles, making their intertwined stories even more captivating.
Nelson's storytelling pulls you in like a whirlwind. The emotional intensity kept me hooked as the plot unfolded, full of twists and turns that I didn’t always see coming. By the time I reached the end, I felt completely immersed in their world. The book explores the bonds between family and friends, and how love, in all its forms, can both heal and complicate life.
If you’re a fan of beautifully written stories about self-discovery and deep emotional connections, this is one to pick up. I'm glad I gave Nelson a try—definitely a memorable read!
The way Jandy Nelson details each character in her books and focuses on their quirks is stunning. This book drags you in and makes you feel like part of this town, this family. You immediately feel each character's pain and wonder about their mysterious history. This is another fantastic release from Jandy.
This is one is tough to rate. The writing is beautiful, whimsical, mystical, and imaginative. However, sometimes the author's indirect writing hindered my ability to understand the plot or the point of a sentence. There is a lot of reading between the lines and interpreting which had me confused at points. I loved the magic, mystery, and whimsy of this story. Characters with powers, wine and soufflés full of magic, a setting out of a fairy tale. For such unrelatable plot points, they also felt so connected to the character's development that the magic felt relatable in a way.
My other problem is this book felt way to long. The story is told through different POVs, letters, dreams, flashbacks, stories. The mixed media, while creating a full story, felt really long, and drawn out. I found myself having to go backward to remember a plot point or character story to try to fill in the holes or connect different parts of the story.
Overall, this was a very unique story, especially for YA. If you are looking for something interesting and willing to put in the work and really dedicate yourself to being immersed in this story, then I recommend it.
When the World Tips Over isn’t a light and easy-going mainstream read. It’s strange and mystical and rather winding. But if you’re looking for something different, you’ll find yourself caught up in the magic and mystery—and passions—of the Fall family.
Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.
<i>I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and Penguin Group in exchange for an honest review. </i>
It’s been a minute since I struggled so much with a star rating for a book— it’s simultaneously two stars and four stars but three just doesn’t seem right.
Jandy Nelson writes my absolute favorite kind of character to read: sad yearners. Her work is imbued with a kind of heartache and melancholy that speaks to me on such a deep level while at the same time taking me on a journey of appreciation of the things in life that make all those heavy feelings worth experiencing. The way she writes romance is so swoony and this is the second time I’ve stayed up to finish one of her books so I can have that late-night romantic catharsis.
That being said… I have a real issue with what let’s call the Shadowhunter Problem. It’s a frustrating issue because I feel like it’s the one thing standing in the way of me really enjoying this book. I really loved the writing and the magic and the way food and wine and nature and love are all described. In so many ways it was such a joy to read. But I just can’t fully give myself over to it.
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson is one of the best books I've read in a long long time.
This was such a well written family drama with multiple POVs.
She has just written such a beautiful and magical story that I just devoured.
Thank You NetGalley and Dial Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!