A lovely follow up,novel by Jennifer Niven. Heartwarming and heartbreaking at times. A definite 'must' for the library

A book that opened a world more wider.
If you ever feel like being in the shoes of others and have a sense of their feeling, this book holding up the universe is for you.
It gives two characters facing the world which believes in degrading and disrespecting people around you.
It gives the insight of how troubled people deal with life. The challenges they face.

And it somewhere also deals with the thing that with you , your loved ones suffer as well. They go through everything you go through.
Only they don't see it as clearly as you are seeing it. But they try.

Just as Jennifer Niven wrote in her acknowledgment that she wrote it with all her heart , and here I declare we felt with all our heart.
She has given us characters which will stay and motivate us to look beyond.

I don't know if people felt this way but I found Finch from All the bright places and Jack from Holding up the universe a bit similar.

I gave this book a star less just for a single reason that is because it felt like dragging a bit in the middle. But its first hundred pages and last one fifty pages were touching and profound. They really brought the best in the characters.

I enjoyed the character development in Libby , she really stood out.

I recommend this book to each and every individual out there. You need to read it.

I never got around to reading Jennifer Nevin's debut, All the Bright Places, but it's a book I've been meaning to read because I know it's well-loved. So when I saw her second novel was being released, I jumped at the chance to read it.

Holding Up the Universe is a cleverly told story of two very distinct and realistic characters. Both Libby and Jack grabbed me from the beginning and I was intrigued to get to know them. Libby is amazing, she has been through so much from her mother's sudden death to her life-threatening weight gain, but she is unbelievably strong and determined. Jack is dealing with prosopagnosia - the inability to recognise faces, even those of your loved ones and closest friends. His fear of being teased, lied to, or attacked was so palpable, it was easy to see why his anger got out of control.

It was endearing to watch the relationship between Libby and Jack develop and to see each of them grow over the course of the story. Each of their conditions is written about honestly and with sensitivity. The ending was sweet and hopeful, and left me a little teary.

Ableist language: freak, dumb, crazy, idiot, lame, imbecile, moron, maniac.

Thank you to Random House Australia for the ARC via Netgalley.