Book Review: Infinite in Between by Carolyn Mackler

---

Infinite in Between
Author: Carolyn Mackler
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: September 1st 2015
Review Source: HarperTeen

Printz Honor author Carolyn Mackler returns with this striking new novel that chronicles the lives of five teenagers through the thrills, heartbreaks, and joys of their four years in high school.

Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. So much can happen in those in-between years….

Zoe feels like she will live forever in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thought he wanted to be more than just a band geek. And Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s all falling apart around her.

Echoing aspects of John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club, Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens together to create a distinct and cohesive whole—a novel about how we can all affect one another’s lives in the most unexpected and amazing ways.

Infinite in Between follows five students throughout their high school experience. The group of students all met while at student orientation, while in their group they decided to write letters to their future selves and after graduation the group would meet back up and read the letters together.

Honestly for myself when there are so many point of views, I usually get lost with the characters until about a quarter of the way through, sometimes more depending on the story. By that time the characters have started forging their path and their own personalities and characters begin to stick. With having five different point of views, it did take me awhile to remember who was who and what their story may be. Whitney, Zoe, Mia, Jake, and Gregor may have all been completely different from each other, but they all went through major struggles and hurdles throughout the years that shaped the person they evolved into. High school is hard, finding yourself, figuring out your future, going through hormones, and having to study is taxing on a person and I don’t think we give youth enough credit for everything that gets piled on them during those four years. And a lot of this book focused on that, the things we hide but struggle with daily, questioning ourselves, and trying to figure it all out.  We get to see the students evolve into something different, something stronger, and something better for themselves.

While I did enjoy this book, it was too many point of views for my liking. Then the main students had their friends and I just get too confused sometimes. But that didn’t stop me from devouring this book. Which I think was the benefit of having many point of views, once I finished one person’s chapter I was eager to get back to them and that was just one endless cycle, well I guess it ended when the book ended, but you get my point.