When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson (2024)
I don't think I've ever used the world 'overwhelming' in a posted review, but I might as well start with this one. What a sprawling, wondrous, heartfelt, saga Jendy Nelson conjures up here. It's a lengthy but fascinating feast of star-crossed love, painful truths told as fabulist tall tales and family histories afflicted with biblical-level tragedy. I don't know when I've come across a novel whose richly imagined storytelling and prose makes you ache for every character in it.
In Northern California's wine growing country, the three siblings of the Fall family have come asunder, torn by their beloved father's unexplained disappearance from their lives. Quirky 12 year old Lizzie, a social outcast, sees ghosts sometimes. 17 year old 'Perfect' MIles is so secretly miserable, he's ready to resign the role of his family and community's 'Golden Boy'.. And 19 year old Wynton, brilliant musician and self destructive bad boy, seems destined for a path of either great fame or total doom......maybe both.
Into each of their lives, comes a beautiful, almost other-worldly girl with rainbow colored hair. The two Fall brothers and their little sister find themselves entranced and enchanted by their encounters with her. And they will indeed be forever changed when the rainbow girl's backstory unfolds for the reader, an epic road trip filled with joy, cruelty, heartbreak and a stunning reveal which I certainly won't breathe a word about here.
While I realize that the dives into magical realism may not be to everyone's taste, there's so much to absorb, experience and savor in this book that you can't help but surrender yourself to it and let all the emotion wash over you. Anyone searching for a read to lose themselves in totally.......I'd say look no farther.
5 stars (*****). Make a place on your Must Read list......
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