From the author of The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland comes a hilarious and heartbreaking novel about coming apart, getting it together–and moving on. It’s just a two-hour drive…Pondering math problems is Esther Ainsworth’s obsession. If only life’s puzzles required logic. Her stepfather’s solution? Avoidance. He’s exiled the family to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to erase a big secret … Mexico, to erase a big secret from Esther’s past. So much for the truth. Now for the consequences: an empty swimming pool, a water-sucking cactus outside her window, a goldfish rescued from a church festival, and Esther’s thirst for something real.
Step one: forget about her first love. Step two: make allies. Esther finds them in Jes s from the local coffee bar; a girl named Color who finds beauty in an abandoned video store; Beth, the church choir outcast; and Moss, a boy with alluring possibilities. Step three: confess her secret to those she hopes she can trust. Esther’s new friends do more than just listen. They’re taking Esther one step further.
Together, they hit the road to face Esther’s past head-on. It’s a journey that will lead her to embrace her own truth–in all its glory, pain, and awesomeness.
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The Infinite Pieces of Us is a very good young adult fiction book. Esther and her family move to Truth and Consequences from Ohio. Their family is living a lie- running from Esther’s teen pregnancy. Will Esther find the truth she is looking for? An enjoyable read about truth, family, friends, and most importantly love.
This was an enjoyable book to read, though also heartbreaking. I wouldn’t call it a romance book, though there are love-story subplots. It’s more of a contemporary YA with social and religious issues. There’s a good amount of diversity (lesbian, gay, poverty, pregnant teen, psychic, Christian group, and a mentioned character who might be Muslim or Jewish judging by the surname Kahn). It’s interesting how Esther’s emotions and mental dealings are revealed layer by layer. There’s a mystery mixed in. The relationship between the sisters is more vital to the plot than any “romance.” The focus is on the bonds of friendship and healing from emotional trauma.
I’d recommend it to those who enjoy a YA book about ordinary teenagers. Also to anyone researching a debate on teen pregnancy or adoption, and the small town gossip that goes with those choices. Or, if you like math jokes, this book has those! I don’t read much in the contemporary YA genre, but this was a Kindle first-reads. I read it cover to cover because the mystery of what would happen next kept me hooked.
This realistic fiction is somewhat controversial. The story is complex. The author’s voice is a strong one.
I learned about the name of a real place. “Originally named Hot Springs, the city changed its name to “Truth or Consequences”, the title of a popular NBC Radio program.” (Wikipedia, and mentioned in the book.)
“Life is simply better on coffee.” I love that quote and the role coffee plays in the book.
“I’ll feel around for her, touching my belly, and all I’ll find is loose flesh.” This is sort of raw, emotional punch this book delivers.
Esther’s list of fears in Chapter 24 is fantastic. There’s a bit of pop-culture mixed in that not everyone will get.
“And the strangest thing happens in the middle of my happiness — I worry it will all go away.” Wow. That’s such a powerful line to me.
A possible trigger for some people, there’s a portion that questions Christianity and the Bible.
I deeply loved the part about men creating borders, not nature. How the lines are arbitrary, they don’t actually exist outside of the minds of people.
The cover is a setting in the book, something only someone who has read the book could appreciate. The title is a reference to her love of math. It’s a well-edited book.
The universal life lesson seems to be not to underestimate someone, or make assumptions without facts. Everyone has a secret. I could relate to Jesus, so he’s my favorite character in the book. Hannah reminded me of someone I knew long ago, but to say why would be a huge spoiler, so I’ll just say my one-time-friend had the same kind of plot-twist with someone that Hannah did.
Obstacles in the book seem easier for the other characters. So it seems that the real obstacle is the need to cope with something that has been shoved under the rug instead of faced.
It holds up a mirror up to the society of small towns that gossip about teenagers, and to those who pretend life-altering events didn’t happen instead of seeking therapy to help deal with reality. The book also presents the reality of inadequate sexual education and how shaming safe-sex also has consequences. (Interestingly, even if the consequence breaks the heart and mind, it still doesn’t always become a deterrent.)
There are multiple scenes where females characters have conversations that are not about males. There are also scenes where mixed genders don’t hook up with each other, but rather form friendships. #Bechdel
Five stars are not enough. This beautiful story will stay with me for a long time. Esther’s journey is heart wrenching at times but the friends she makes along the way piece her back together.
Wonderful and quirky contemporary fiction for teens about finding your people, finding yourself, and understanding your family.
For fans of FAR FROM THE TREE.
The more I read YA fiction, the more I realize just how hard it is to be a kid nowadays. I won’t bore you with idyllic memories of roasting marshmallows around a campfire, but I will say that for many kids—and parents—today the world is a harsh, unforgiving place fraught with consequences. And this reality was never more evident than in the wonderful new novel by Rebekah Crane entitled The Infinite Pieces of Us. In it, she has given us Esther Ainsworth, a smart, soulful sixteen-year-old girl who has already lived far beyond her years and who is now forced to live in a dry, brittle desert that serves as punishment for something she did and whose secret must never be revealed.
If you are a parent raising teenagers, read this book. Because these honest, hurt characters will tell you truths that your children will not—that what you see on the surface doesn’t begin to describe the pain and anxiety they carry inside like an even smaller hurt child.