Holding Up The Universe Analysis

Isha Judd once said, “Say yes to changes, to surprises, and to unexpected events; you will start to appreciate the perfection within everything.” In Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven, this quote seems to sum up Libby and Jack’s life after everything they’ve gone through. Libby, an overweight girl, only wanted to get through the torments of highschool, while Jack, a popular boy with a secret disease called prosopagnosia, or face blindness, wanted to keep up his facade; they never thought that, through a slight altercation, they would end up having anything to do with each other, and especially nothing more. These intriguing characters, an unpredictable plot, tied together with a lasting theme all make this the best book you would ever read.

There are many crazy things that happen to Libby and Jack that drive the story and make for an amazing read. For example, when Libby was much more overweight than she is in the time of this story, she was stuck in her house and had to be removed with a crane. Libby also experience lots of teasing and bullying for her weight throughout the course of the story; near the beginning of Libby’s time in high school, Jack even makes her the subject of a cruel game called “fat girl rodeo.” Jack has his fair share of a crazy life, too. His prosopagnosia makes it so that he can’t recognize anybody’s face, not even his family members’. He uses distinct traits about people to identify them, but throughout the books there are a few mixups. Despite this, Jack has never told anyone and struggles to keep his popularity