ARC Review: Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood

You know when a prologue makes you feel sadness and pain all at the same time? And it's only the first page. That never happens to me. Until now.

Infinite Sky just did, in the first page, I knew I was in for a one of a kind read, and that I should brace my heart for a very memorable read.

Title: Infinite Sky (Infinite Sky #1) by C.J. Flood
Release Date: May 20th 2014
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher (Thanks Simon & Schuster Asia!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

A truly beautiful book about the summer that changed one girl's life, as her mum leaves home, travellers set up camp in the family's field, her older brother goes off the rails, and she falls in love for the very first time. Opening with a funeral, Iris is mourning the boy in the casket - but who is it? Sam, her tearaway brother, or Trick, her tentative boyfriend? Over one long hot summer, we find out just how their three lives were turned upside-down.

"Is it possible to keep loving somebody when they kill someone you love?"

I should've known. When I've read that line, I should've known that this is going to be one of those reads that gets in your skin and leaves you overwhelmed with emotion when it's all over.

Iris' is a good kid. A little bit lost and lonely, with her mother leaving them, but she's there to discover what life is like for herself with all the things changing around her, and with Trick's family camping on Silverweed, Iris' summer became something that will change her young life forever. Maybe Iris is too nice, maybe she is naive, maybe she's too trusting and only sees the good in people, but she's a better person than her brother or her father can ever be and I liked her for being like that, just a touch too innocent.

Most of the time I just find myself so exhausted seeing Iris' family. It's tiring to feel sorry, pity them and be angry all the while. I don't think it's enough reason to have your mother or your wife walk out on you to be cruel and prejudiced to other people. Trick and his family doesn't deserve that. Then sometimes I feel bad for Sam. What happened to the talented, creative boy? What happened to his family? It's a very confusing time for everyone because nothing was the same, and no matter how hard they try to get by, it doesn't change the fact that something was missing the moment Iris' mother was gone. Iris' father and her brother was expecting her to side with them, to understand why they're behaving the way they do, that she thinks the way they do, I'm not sure what to feel anymore. How will a girl, barely fourteen years old, understand all of that? And when bad things happen, just how much can Iris forgive and understand? How can she move past the hurt?

I can't imagine what it feels like to live the way Trick and his family does, to be constantly moving, not staying in one place long enough. Do you not want to have something permanent? Though they have their own prejudice against "country people" it was mostly brought on with how they were always treated. People are angry when they move, people get angry when they stop. What else is there to do? I still do not understand the hate coming from Iris' father, so when Iris befriended Trick, I felt like it was such a wonderful thing to happen. To try and separate themselves from all that was happening in their lives, to just be there, surrounded by the corn den, playing in brooks and just connect with each other. Why can't that be enough?

CJ Flood's Infinite Sky is a beautifully written coming of age tale. A story of an unlikely friendship that was something short of love, loss and its many forms, the void it creates and the struggle to fill it with something better. It's a story of grief and the ability to forgive and to accept that things just happen. It's a story of death and the power to move past the pain, sadness, regrets and loneliness it gives. It's a story about a summer that changed one girl's life. Infinite Sky is the kind of book that grabs your heart and squeezes really hard. I don't know how the author managed to write such a melancholic story and still manage to make it somewhat lovely and hopeful in its sadness. But it's the kind of read that makes you feel emotional, and in the end you might find a tear or two running down your cheek when you realize how much the story gets to you. It's got that quiet kind of sorrow mixed in with a kind of budding yet bittersweet romance that makes your heart ache just a little bit in the end.

Content (plot, story flow, character):

The .5 star was because Sam's and his father's attitude towards Trick's family was so horrible. Why? I feel so angry at them most of the time. You can't tell me because Sam's experience a difficult time in his life. Iris was suffering too, but she wasn't like that.
.5

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
The UK cover better conveys the feel of the story, but this one looks good as well!