The Sun Is Also a Star

At the start of the novel, Natasha demonstrates a striking boldness for someone her age. A high school student and undocumented immigrant from Jamaica, Natasha tries to halt her family’s deportation, even though the rest of her family have resigned themselves to leaving. Due to her undocumented status, there are few people outside of her family with whom she can confide in about her immigration struggles. There is her best friend, Bev, but she has already started college on the West Coast and forgotten about Natasha towards the end of the novel. There is also her ex-boyfriend, Rob, who cheated on her with his current girlfriend, Kelly, simply because he could not bear to choose between the two of them. There is also her unreliable father. Natasha has determined that she can rely on only herself and her ability for straightforward and logical reasoning.

Due to the precarity of her life as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S., Natasha is wary of lofty dreams—such as her father’s aspirations for acting stardom—that do not provide stability. She reveals to Daniel that she would like to be a data scientist one day, not because she has any passion for the field but because she conducted research once and determined that the job fit her personality.