Scan barcode
chapita4's review
3.0
This was a book that ended up being good...but had the promise of being great. It is always tricky when an author alternates stories by chapter and in this case I ended up feeling like neither of the stories were complete. I wanted to know more about each characters because it was written well and I wanted to know more. As someone who has worked in the social service field I was glad to see a portrayal of immigration that was thoughtful, insightful and realistic.
timna_wyckoff's review
3.0
The Carla storyline was heartbreaking and worth reading the whole book for, but the Alice storyline didn't move me, and the connection was pretty weak in my opinion.
jonandtracy's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
marshmallowbooks's review
4.0
This book is about achingly true and parallel realities that exist simultaneously, although it may be hard to believe that is the case. Such is the world we live in today.
I don't want to give anything away so I will keep my comments fairly generalized. There are two stories told in this book: one taking place in North America and one in Central America. Both are about individuals who are longing, and working for something that seems nearly impossible. Both are about characters finding out what they're made of and trying to accept the way their lives have gone. Each one is on one side of a very wide spectrum, yet they can still both identify multiple blessings they have been given and curses they've had to endure.
A few advisory items: there is some harsh swearing, and some difficult events the characters go through. Also, and I mention this just because I felt a little misled by the book summary: the intersection of these characters doesn't happen where I kept thinking it might - it's actually much later in the book than I anticipated, and in a different way that I had originally imagined.
I listened to the audio version, which featured two narrators. Both were excellent.
I don't want to give anything away so I will keep my comments fairly generalized. There are two stories told in this book: one taking place in North America and one in Central America. Both are about individuals who are longing, and working for something that seems nearly impossible. Both are about characters finding out what they're made of and trying to accept the way their lives have gone. Each one is on one side of a very wide spectrum, yet they can still both identify multiple blessings they have been given and curses they've had to endure.
A few advisory items: there is some harsh swearing, and some difficult events the characters go through. Also, and I mention this just because I felt a little misled by the book summary: the intersection of these characters doesn't happen where I kept thinking it might - it's actually much later in the book than I anticipated, and in a different way that I had originally imagined.
I listened to the audio version, which featured two narrators. Both were excellent.
mcearl12's review
4.0
I received an advanced electronic copy of this book from Random House Publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
To start, I have to say...if you've never read anything by Amanda Eyre Ward, do yourself a favor and rush to your local bookseller/Amazon/Audible and pick one, any one of her books right now. I fell in love with her writing through her first book, "Sleep Toward Heaven," and to this day, that remains my favorite of her books (one never forgets that first love, right?). Having said that, though, you can't go wrong with any of her books...and her latest, "The Same Sky," would also be an excellent place to start.
The subject matter is plucked straight from the headlines (though I'm sure she began writing before the nation really began noticing), but the story is a personal one. The picture of a Colorado-born woman and a Honduras-born girl are drawn piece by piece, chapter by chapter. So many obvious differences, but the more I read, the more I saw the similarities...the "same sky" not so much a physical sky to me, but more of a metaphorical sky. There are so many differences between us all, many of them simple accidents of birth (there but for the Grace of God, etc.), but underneath that, we all yearn for the same things, don't we? Love, compassion, acceptance, safety.
I loved Carla and Alice and, to be honest, by the end of the book, I wanted more. I wasn't ready to leave them yet. Ward's style, warm, but with no extraneous words, gives an unsentimental, honest, picture of her characters and their lives...what it costs them to keep living...and she uses as deft a hand with the quiet moments as she does with the devestating ones.
Read this book. Take your time and soak each chapter in. You will be tempted to rush through it, but don't... take it from me and let yourself linger there awhile.
To start, I have to say...if you've never read anything by Amanda Eyre Ward, do yourself a favor and rush to your local bookseller/Amazon/Audible and pick one, any one of her books right now. I fell in love with her writing through her first book, "Sleep Toward Heaven," and to this day, that remains my favorite of her books (one never forgets that first love, right?). Having said that, though, you can't go wrong with any of her books...and her latest, "The Same Sky," would also be an excellent place to start.
The subject matter is plucked straight from the headlines (though I'm sure she began writing before the nation really began noticing), but the story is a personal one. The picture of a Colorado-born woman and a Honduras-born girl are drawn piece by piece, chapter by chapter. So many obvious differences, but the more I read, the more I saw the similarities...the "same sky" not so much a physical sky to me, but more of a metaphorical sky. There are so many differences between us all, many of them simple accidents of birth (there but for the Grace of God, etc.), but underneath that, we all yearn for the same things, don't we? Love, compassion, acceptance, safety.
I loved Carla and Alice and, to be honest, by the end of the book, I wanted more. I wasn't ready to leave them yet. Ward's style, warm, but with no extraneous words, gives an unsentimental, honest, picture of her characters and their lives...what it costs them to keep living...and she uses as deft a hand with the quiet moments as she does with the devestating ones.
Read this book. Take your time and soak each chapter in. You will be tempted to rush through it, but don't... take it from me and let yourself linger there awhile.
alwaysbooking's review
4.0
I received a copy of this book for my honest review from NetGalley.
This is my first time reading Amanda Eyre Ward. The story started off a little slow due to obvious reasons. You need to learn the characters in this book in order to see how things in life intersect. There are two main characters Alice and Carla.
Alice was raised in a loving family but her mother died of cancer young. Then she also had breast cancer, fought it and won. However while undergoing treatments one of the many downfalls for saving your own life is not having children. She meets a wonderful man and they fall in love. He knows from the beginning that children may not be in the cards. Through their struggles they find each other more.
Carla really tugged at my heart strings she comes from Tegu and is trying to sneak into America. Her struggles in her hometown and while on the journey here were awful. Of course everyone knows its awful to get here to possibly be deported back. Her life here isn't as fantastic, she struggles through and finds herself pregnant before 12.... You can guess the rest.
This was a really good book, it seemed the author really did he research which I thank her for.
This is my first time reading Amanda Eyre Ward. The story started off a little slow due to obvious reasons. You need to learn the characters in this book in order to see how things in life intersect. There are two main characters Alice and Carla.
Alice was raised in a loving family but her mother died of cancer young. Then she also had breast cancer, fought it and won. However while undergoing treatments one of the many downfalls for saving your own life is not having children. She meets a wonderful man and they fall in love. He knows from the beginning that children may not be in the cards. Through their struggles they find each other more.
Carla really tugged at my heart strings she comes from Tegu and is trying to sneak into America. Her struggles in her hometown and while on the journey here were awful. Of course everyone knows its awful to get here to possibly be deported back. Her life here isn't as fantastic, she struggles through and finds herself pregnant before 12.... You can guess the rest.
This was a really good book, it seemed the author really did he research which I thank her for.
lgmaxwell722's review against another edition
4.0
I couldn't put this book down. This heartbreaking story surprises you with it's twist of events. A quick read with a powerful impact.
sallymentzer25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
judithdcollins's review against another edition
5.0
A special thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
THE SAME SKY, by Amanda Eyre Ward is a riveting novel of a woman and a teen, a powerful journey of two souls which connect for a heartfelt novel of loss, faith, hope, and love. A story which will grab you and will linger long after the book ends.
Jake and Alice, live in Austin, Texas—a couple having given up on conceiving after ten long years. Alice, has come to terms with no longer being a mother and throws herself into work at her husband’s barbeque restaurant. They try the adoption route to once again end in a disappointment, among other things which is destroying the happiness in their marriage.
Carla Trujilio, thirteen years old is poor, and being raised by her grandmother in Honduras, with her four year old twin brothers. They have experienced poverty and life has not been easy, surrounded by violence. They long for a life in America with the American dream. A young girl with hopes and dreams she envisions for her life.
Her mother left when she as five years old, and sends money home Texas where she’s trying to make a better life for her family, but she only has enough to bring one son. When Carla’s grandmother dies, Carla decides to take her fate into her own hands and embarks on a dangerous journey across the border with Junior, the twin left behind.
Poor Carla’s journey is heartbreaking, as she walks and walks and hitches a ride on a freight train known as "The Beast," and endures pain and loss that makes her long for her simple life back home. On the Beast and in shelters along its rails, people traded stories about their experiences, discussing everything from bandits, robbers, and rape as she makes her way from Tegucigalpa to Texas.
Alternating between Carla and Alice, (which I enjoyed) readers will cry and weep for Carla for a poignant story of love and loss. Alice wants a baby and Carla longs for a life in America with her mother and family. As a girl, Carla dreamed of America, imagining lying down in a large green field, watching her mother unpack a picnic dinner. The basket would be filled with anything she could dream of, before she held her close to say she loved her.
Both a young girl and a mature woman, both under the same sky wanting a somewhat different. but really the same life. One of love and compassion. The love of a mother and daughter, and family. Ward holds off on the final intersection of characters until the end, making for a powerful ending.
This was my first book by Ward and was blown away by this thought-provoking story, as you feel the emotion and pain of the characters and you become invested in their happiness and survival. I have already chosen some of her books on audible, which I look forward to listening and reading more from this newfound and talented author.
The book hits home to all of us as Americans today, as we take for granted our lives, when so many immigrants are suffering through real poverty, as they attempt to flee to come to America through violence and danger, such as portrayed in this gripping novel
I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, I wished for one more chapter to allow readers to linger and bask in a few more moments of happiness.
THE SAME SKY would make for an ideal book for book clubs or group discussions.
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books
THE SAME SKY, by Amanda Eyre Ward is a riveting novel of a woman and a teen, a powerful journey of two souls which connect for a heartfelt novel of loss, faith, hope, and love. A story which will grab you and will linger long after the book ends.
Jake and Alice, live in Austin, Texas—a couple having given up on conceiving after ten long years. Alice, has come to terms with no longer being a mother and throws herself into work at her husband’s barbeque restaurant. They try the adoption route to once again end in a disappointment, among other things which is destroying the happiness in their marriage.
Carla Trujilio, thirteen years old is poor, and being raised by her grandmother in Honduras, with her four year old twin brothers. They have experienced poverty and life has not been easy, surrounded by violence. They long for a life in America with the American dream. A young girl with hopes and dreams she envisions for her life.
Her mother left when she as five years old, and sends money home Texas where she’s trying to make a better life for her family, but she only has enough to bring one son. When Carla’s grandmother dies, Carla decides to take her fate into her own hands and embarks on a dangerous journey across the border with Junior, the twin left behind.
Poor Carla’s journey is heartbreaking, as she walks and walks and hitches a ride on a freight train known as "The Beast," and endures pain and loss that makes her long for her simple life back home. On the Beast and in shelters along its rails, people traded stories about their experiences, discussing everything from bandits, robbers, and rape as she makes her way from Tegucigalpa to Texas.
Alternating between Carla and Alice, (which I enjoyed) readers will cry and weep for Carla for a poignant story of love and loss. Alice wants a baby and Carla longs for a life in America with her mother and family. As a girl, Carla dreamed of America, imagining lying down in a large green field, watching her mother unpack a picnic dinner. The basket would be filled with anything she could dream of, before she held her close to say she loved her.
Both a young girl and a mature woman, both under the same sky wanting a somewhat different. but really the same life. One of love and compassion. The love of a mother and daughter, and family. Ward holds off on the final intersection of characters until the end, making for a powerful ending.
This was my first book by Ward and was blown away by this thought-provoking story, as you feel the emotion and pain of the characters and you become invested in their happiness and survival. I have already chosen some of her books on audible, which I look forward to listening and reading more from this newfound and talented author.
The book hits home to all of us as Americans today, as we take for granted our lives, when so many immigrants are suffering through real poverty, as they attempt to flee to come to America through violence and danger, such as portrayed in this gripping novel
I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, I wished for one more chapter to allow readers to linger and bask in a few more moments of happiness.
THE SAME SKY would make for an ideal book for book clubs or group discussions.
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books