Infinite Sky

I've mentioned before I like a bit of a morbid read. The prologue to Infinite Sky promises this with gusto; Iris, our heroine, is at the funeral of a 15-year-old boy. Her devastation is piqued by the question, "is it possible to keep loving somebody when they kill someone you love?". So begins the tale of woe, with echoes of a 21st century Juliet and her Romeo.

This opening is a delicious teaser for the reader, casting a shadow throughout the story as you try and guess who will end up the boy whose "coffin's the same size as a man's would be". Iris will soon be in mourning, but is it for her wayward brother Sam, or her first love, Trick? Readers expectations are set and, in this exciting debut, C.J. Flood quickly guides us into the summer that changed Iris' life forever.

Iris is a country girl, her mother having recently left to find herself in Tunisia. Since she left their house is chaotic (wonderfully symbolised by the choice of Fiasco for the name of their dog); their family is struggling to adjust. It is at this time a group of gypsies move into their paddock. Her father is enraged, predicting trouble and planning to evict them from his land. However, Iris is intrigued by their lifestyle, which parallels with the one her mother has left them for. In particular, she is intrigued by their son Trick, and the two form a close friendship. Iris falls for him, the only person who seems to listen to her apart from her distant mother on the end of a phone line.

Against the backdrop of a beautiful summer, Iris struggles to maintain order as her father fails to retain control of his family. As a result of his guard dropping, Sam goes off with the wrong crowd and becomes increasingly troubled while Iris spends time with Trick. The siblings' separate rebellions come to a crashing and gripping conclusion; although I knew this was coming, I was absorbed and shocked in equal measure.

I really enjoyed Iris' voice as narrator. On the cusp of adulthood, she is struggling to find who she really is (as seen in her realistically tumultuous relationship with shallow best friend Matty). She still views the world with a childlike innocence that allows her to step away from the prejudices of her father and brother. Her naivety prevents the story from becoming a debate about the rights and wrongs of the Traveller lifestyle, nor a caricature. It is a simple, moral tale of the destruction wrought when hatred pervades. Iris and Trick have much in common, but as the worlds into which they are born and the suspicion their families have for each other align, their fate can only lead in one direction.

This is a story where nobody is blameless. Funeral scene aside, it's not overly sentimental; the strength of C.J. Flood's writing is in it's subtlety and simplicity. No comment is needed, no thread is left loose. You sympathise with every character, despite their wrongs. The themes in the tale are as old as time, but Flood's echoes of Montague and Capulet and the end of innocence provide a fantastic read. A powerful, punchy and thought-provoking book, I'd definitely recommend popping this in your handbag to see you through the rush hour.

(Available in hardback, paperback, audio and Kindle edition from Amazon)

The Fault in Our Stars

You know this is a story which won't have a happy ending. No tale where the main characters meet at a cancer support group is likely to be. Yet this did not stop The Fault in Our Stars being a brilliant, if emotionally battering, read.

Hazel, our chief character, is one of those teenagers you only really see in books and films (the sort my shy, bookish adolescent self longed to be). Smart, well-read and worldly, she has been living with terminal cancer since she was 13. A drug trial has proven somewhat miraculous and has extended her years; however, she will never get better and she lives with the realities of oxygen tanks, isolation from her schoolfriends and regular emergency dashes to hospital. Part of her world is attendance at a cancer support group and it is here she meets the handsome, equally smart and worldly cancer survivor Augustus Waters.

Augustus is also one of those books-and-films teenagers, a dashing, youthful, sporty prince. As a character, he is irresistible and you cannot help fall for him alongside Hazel. Although you know fate is against them, I was rooting for Hazel and Gus, hoping that she had not seen her last miracle. This was not only for the sake of our chief protagonists but also for their parents, who are strong supporting characters. In their support and suffering, the parents add a vital emotional element beyond the central plot of Hazel and Gus. Metaphors of violent destruction and war are used to bring home the impact of the loss of a child, with Otto Frank also serving as a timely reminder at a crucial turning point.

John Green's characters were perfect; although not self-pitying, they still felt and acknowledged their pain. There are no martyrs, but strong characters who have human limits. Humour carries this story and for the first half I was amused and moved as Hazel and Gus' relationship blossomed. John Green's attention to the little details rather than the big gestures made their romance true and at times made it easy for me to forget the big dark cloud that hangs over them. Alas, eventually said big dark cloud catches up with our young lovers, and despite knowing it was their particular destiny, it still hit me hard. I would advise any reader to ensure they don't make the same mistake I did - do not read the latter half of this novel without a tissue nearby!

Although the conclusion brought countless tears to my eyes, I loved this book for its lack of melodrama despite the subject matter. Again, Green's focus on the little details of death and dying moved me rather than big, sentimental moments. A truly expert touch from a great writer.

So is this a good rush hour read? It is a very well written novel and I truly lost myself in the world of Hazel and Augustus. Since starting the first few pages I've been raving to anyone who'll listen about how much I've enjoyed it. However, it did cause me a few awkward public transport moments. These included needing to immediately stop reading, look to the sky and repeat the mantra "it's just a story, it's not real" over and over in my head to prevent full on sobbing on the Tube. So, if you don't mind the occasional strange look from your fellow commuters, I would arm yourself with some Kleenex and absorb yourself in this brilliant book.

(Image taken from http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141345659,00.html# - available in paperback, hardback or Kindle edition from http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141345659)