The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon Summary

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon is a young adult contemporary romance about two teenagers who fall in love over the course of one day in New York City. Natasha, a pragmatic Jamaican immigrant facing deportation, meets Daniel, a Korean-American poet forced to pursue medicine, and their chance encounter leads them through a whirlwind day exploring fate, love, and identity. The novel tackles immigration, family expectations, and cultural identity while questioning whether their connection is destiny or coincidence.

The Sun Is Also a Star is ideal for young adult readers who enjoy contemporary romance with serious social themes. This book appeals to those interested in immigration stories, multicultural perspectives, and the debate between fate and science. Readers who appreciate instalove done thoughtfully, diverse representation, and emotionally charged narratives will connect with Nicola Yoon's storytelling. It's also recommended for anyone seeking a fast-paced, single-day romance that explores deeper issues beyond the love story.

The Sun Is Also a Star is worth reading for its beautiful writing, diverse characters, and thoughtful exploration of immigration and identity. Nicola Yoon balances romance with substantive themes like deportation, family pressure, and cultural expectations, making it more than a typical love story. While some readers find the coincidences unrealistic and the instalove overwhelming, most praise the emotional depth, cultural authenticity, and the genuine connection between protagonists. The novel offers both entertainment and insight into marginalized experiences.

Nicola Yoon is a bestselling young adult author known for Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star. The Sun Is Also a Star draws from Yoon's personal life as a Jamaican immigrant married to a Korean-American, lending authenticity to the cross-cultural romance and immigration themes. Her writing style blends humor, emotional depth, and informative cultural insights, creating stories that resonate with diverse readers while tackling serious social issues through accessible, character-driven narratives.

The Sun Is Also a Star explores fate versus coincidence as its central theme, with Daniel believing in destiny while Natasha relies on science and logic. Other major themes include:

• immigration and deportation, examining the human cost of undocumented status through Natasha's family crisis
• family expectations and cultural identity, particularly through Daniel's pressure to become a doctor despite his poetry dreams
• the intensity of young love
• pursuing dreams versus practical survival

The 36-question love experiment in The Sun Is Also a Star is based on psychologist Arthur Aron's real study, which Nicola Yoon incorporates as a plot device. Daniel challenges skeptical Natasha to participate in this experiment, where two strangers answer thirty-six predetermined questions and stare into each other's eyes for four minutes to scientifically induce love. Throughout their day together, they take turns asking these questions, growing intimate and vulnerable, ultimately proving that connection can develop through intentional disclosure and presence.

The Sun Is Also a Star does feature instalove, as Daniel and Natasha meet and fall in love within a single day in New York City. However, Nicola Yoon executes this trope thoughtfully by grounding their connection in meaningful conversation, shared vulnerability, and the 36-question love experiment. Most readers agree the instalove feels earned rather than cliché because the characters genuinely connect emotionally and intellectually. The compressed timeline creates urgency since Natasha faces deportation that evening, making every moment count and justifying their accelerated feelings.

At the end of The Sun Is Also a Star, Natasha is deported to Jamaica despite her efforts with immigration attorney Jeremy Fitzgerald, and she and Daniel share their first "I love you" at the airport. They initially try to maintain contact but grow apart as Natasha assimilates into Jamaican culture while Daniel attends Hunter College. Ten years later, they coincidentally reunite on a flight where Irene, the security guard whose life Natasha unknowingly saved, works as a flight attendant and recognizes them both.

The Sun Is Also a Star addresses immigration through Natasha's family facing deportation due to her father's undocumented status being revealed to police. Nicola Yoon portrays the emotional devastation, legal complexities, and human cost of immigration enforcement, showing Natasha's desperate attempts to secure legal help on her final day. The novel highlights how undocumented immigrants live with constant fear, limited opportunities, and sudden family separation. Through Natasha's story, Yoon creates empathy for immigrant experiences while exploring identity, belonging, and the American Dream's complexities.

The fate versus coincidence debate drives the central tension in The Sun Is Also a Star between romantic Daniel and scientific Natasha. Daniel believes their multiple random encounters throughout one day—meeting at the record store, crossing paths at the subway, discovering their appointments are in the same building—prove they're destined for each other. Natasha insists these are merely statistical probabilities in a densely populated city. Nicola Yoon leaves this question deliberately ambiguous, allowing readers to interpret their connection through their own philosophical lens.

Common criticisms of The Sun Is Also a Star focus on the:

• unrealistic plot coincidences, with readers finding it implausible that Daniel and Natasha repeatedly cross paths in New York City
• Some critique the instalove as overly sentimental and cheesy, particularly in the final third of the book where the romance intensifies
• Others feel Nicola Yoon oversimplifies complex themes like immigration and nihilism for the sake of the romance, and that Natasha's character contradicts her stated beliefs by falling in love so quickly despite claiming to be a pragmatic nihilist.

The Sun Is Also a Star and Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon both feature diverse protagonists, young romance, and lyrical writing, but differ significantly in structure and themes. Everything, Everything is narrated primarily by one character with a medical twist ending, while The Sun Is Also a Star uses multiple perspectives over a single day without major plot twists. The Sun Is Also a Star addresses immigration and cultural identity more explicitly, whereas Everything, Everything focuses on isolation and risk. Many readers prefer Everything, Everything for its unique premise, though The Sun Is Also a Star tackles more socially relevant issues.