Under This Forgetful Sky
by Lauren Yero
Atheneum, 2023. 399 pages.
Review written September 10, 2023, from a book sent to me by the publisher
Starred Review
This book is eligible for the Morris Award, so I’m writing this review after reading it myself, but before any discussion with the committee, so the opinions are entirely my own. I won’t post the review until after our Winners are announced. (Okay, long after – it got stuck in the cracks.)
This book was quite different than the other books I’ve read. It’s set in Chile in the distant future after environmental disaster. Wealthy, comfortable people live in the Upper Cities, closed in by a wall. Below them, without the same things making their lives easy are the Lower Cities, which in many places have been poisoned by chemicals from the Upper Cities.
We first meet Paz, a girl who lives in Paraíso (once Valparaíso), one of the lower cities. She works as a Scout for the Library. Today she found a dead hummingbird, and she’s privately tracking where she finds them, and it points to the Upper City of St. Iago. Here’s how she puts it:
But there’s a saying in Paraíso: sin pega, no vales nada. Without a job, you’re nothing. I was lucky to have this high-class job as a Library scout. I had a curse hanging over my head – in the eyes of the Library, my right arm was a sinner’s arm, shriveled and shameful. Most everybody in my condition picked trash. If I held up the bright green picaflor and told how I’d traced the stiff bodies of a thousand poisoned creatures all the way to St. Iago, I knew how it would look. It would look ungrateful. It would look like I was courting radical ideas. Everybody knew what they did to traitors.
Our other viewpoint character is Rumi, a boy who lives in St. Iago. He lives in comfort, but his every move is monitored. And he sees the world through virtual reality specs. Today’s the anniversary of his mother’s death by terrorism, and official eyes are on him and his mental health.
But then Rumi’s father comes home from a secret trip to the Lower City infected with a strain of Zábran, the virus that caused widespread death and destruction before the Upper City citizens were able to separate themselves from such contaminants. If the government finds out, he’ll simply be expelled to die – so Rumi goes on a quest to find a cure, which may exist in the Lower Cities.
Once there, he gets captured by the terrorists Las Oscuras. Where Paz is also imprisoned. Then Rumi thinks Paz rescues him, not knowing that finding out what he’s up to is her initiation to join the terrorist group. She takes Rumi to the Library, where they do get information how to find a person who has the cure – but Rumi also gets secrets to keep from Paz.
The bulk of the book is the dangerous journey to find a cure, but there are secrets and intrigue in the background.
Right up until the end of the book, I wasn’t sure how much I liked this book. Some of the interplay between powerful forces was a bit confusing. But let me say only that the author pulled it off. She shows us that people are complicated, but will fight for Hope. She didn’t tie things up in a neat bow or leave too easy solutions, but she showed us people taking steps to find solutions to difficult problems, and learning to see from the perspectives of others with very different backgrounds.
laurenyero.com
simonandschuster.com/teen
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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