Infandous is raw, gripping readers with hideous fairy tales and myths, weaving them into Sephora's life. Each of these seems unrelated to the overall story, but with each chapter narrated by Sephora, you can see how she is living them, to a degree.
There are so many angles to this story that pull away layers of love, pain, truth, fear, and acceptance. It's not a feel-good book that will make you long for the romance of it all. It is a gritty look at what life is really like sometimes. Sometimes you have no read choices; sometimes you're thrown into the storm that other people have cast around you and the best thing you can do is try to keep your head above water and get through it.
Arnold gives us an unapologetic look at the dark side of love. Sephora has secrets that will hurt everyone she loves, but they hurt her most of all. She can't see a way around the choices she (or anyone else in her life) has made. And she can't imagine a life for herself that is separate from her mother's. She does give us the courage to look at horrifying things and hope that they might be overcome, no matter the brusque tone of the narration, or the utter helplessness you feel as more is revealed. For such a grim book, I was oddly buoyed by it. I highly recommend you try it.
Infandous by Elana K. Arnold: Fantastic! Available from booksellers and libraries in March of 2015.
