#noahandjude

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5

This was a perfect choice for my last book of 2022. This book has long been my favorite and is one of the few books to make me cry every time I read it. Noah and Jude are twins, and they could not be more different. The earlier years (when they're 13-14) are narrated by Noah as he struggles with his sexual orientation, his relationship with his father, and where he stands with Jude as they both apply to CSA, his dream high school. The later years (when they're 16-17) are narrated by Jude, after their mother has died, and Jude is attending CSA while Noah hasn't touched a paint brush or talked to Jude in 2 years. As the story goes on, we see the how they ended up so fractured and apart. This story tackles so, so many important topics; love, grief, substance abuse, depression, sexual assault, and more, all while telling the story of the lives of the twins. Something about it always hits me hard and I feel like this quote can sum up how:

"We were all heading for each other in a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story."

Noah: doesnt know how to peice together words and works much better with drawings and colours. Sometimes he’ll draw out what his assignment feels like on the side of his paper and work off that describing it. He’s really good at writing when he just gets a burst of inspiration for a mind painting. He can almost describe it perfectly in words as well as pictures. But after a few minutes he only remebers the drawing and blanks out on words.

Brian: Writes essays like a god™️. Essays require a formula (as he says) and since they do it’s like the math problems he does in his head. If he’s given a topic and all the information he can put together one wicked essay, he struggles at writing out his feelings and poems though unless the poem follows some sort of strict order.

Jude: Either writes in factual paragraphs or short line entires. It’s either Grandma’s bible entries or her dads medical books. She’s amazing at writing out long factual papers but never seems to have the energy to write them out. Instead she’ll scribble down some short entries and later decide to talk about the topic in depth. (Or not at all).

Oscar: Keep it short and to the point™️. He goes by this a lot but can also write a lot when he’s invested and passionate about the thing he’s writing about. (Or if he’s trying to impress the reader).