Who Dies In 'The Sky Is Everywhere' Triggering Lennie'S Grief?

In 'The Sky Is Everywhere', Lennie's world shatters when her older sister Bailey dies suddenly from an arrhythmia. Bailey wasn't just a sibling—she was Lennie's anchor, the vibrant one who filled every room with laughter and bad poetry recitals. Their shared childhood memories make the loss cut deeper, like losing half of herself overnight. The novel doesn't show Bailey's death on page, but her absence lingers in every chapter—in the empty bedroom, the unfinished songs they used to play together, and Lennie's guilt for being the sister left behind. What makes it especially brutal is how ordinary Bailey's last day was—no dramatic illness, just collapsing after a school play rehearsal. That unpredictability mirrors real grief, where tragedy doesn't announce itself with warnings.

Bailey Walker's death is the emotional core of 'The Sky Is Everywhere', and Jandy Nelson writes it with raw honesty. This isn't a dramatic car crash or violent end—it's a quiet, medical tragedy that makes it relatable. One minute Bailey's belting show tunes in their kitchen, the next she's gone from an undiagnosed heart condition. The beauty of Nelson's writing is how she makes you feel Lennie's disorientation. Through scattered poems Lennie writes to cope, we piece together their relationship: Bailey was the sun to Lennie's moon, the bold one who pushed her shy sister out of comfort zones.

What's fascinating is how Bailey's death unlocks dual narratives. There's the obvious grief, but also Lennie's first experiences with love and sexuality—things Bailey will never get to experience. The parallel between losing a sister and discovering romance adds layers to the mourning process. Nelson also cleverly uses Bailey's old boyfriend Toby as a mirror to Lennie's pain—their shared loss creates this messy, poetic connection that blurs lines between comfort and betrayal. The book excels at showing how death doesn't just take a person—it rearranges everyone left behind.

The tragedy in 'The Sky Is Everywhere' hits hard because Bailey's death feels so avoidable—a healthy 19-year-old collapsing from something no one saw coming. Lennie's grief is complicated by all the 'what ifs'. What if someone had checked Bailey's heart sooner? What if Lennie had been there? The novel captures that specific agony of losing someone right as adulthood begins—Bailey will never finish music school, never fall in love again, never see Lennie grow into herself.

What stands out is how Bailey stays present through her belongings. Her chaotic bedroom becomes a shrine, her sheet music still waiting to be played. Lennie's habit of burying poems about her in the dirt is one of the most original depictions of grief I've read—like she's trying to send letters to the afterlife. Their grandmother's garden serves as another silent character in this loss, with flowers marking both their childhood and Bailey's absence. It's a story that understands grief isn't linear—some days Lennie forgets she's gone, other days it feels like the world should stop turning.