The book is well written and definitely a good choice for reading groups. I had a lot of questions why the main character made the decisions she made - so discussing it with other people might bring some clarity.

This was a beautiful story about a Columbian family fractured by deportation. Telling the story from different perspectives worked well and really made you understand the characters and their motivations. I highly recommend this book.

The story opens with Talia, an escapee from a school for troubled girls, but its roots go deeper. Talia is the 3rd child of Mauro and Elena, who met and fell in love in Colombia before immigrating to the United States. When Mauro gets into trouble, he's deported due to an expired visa, and Elena wonders if she and the oldest children Karina and Nando will ever see him again. Talia is sent back to so that she can grow up in Colombia, but after her dramatic escape, she needs to get to the US quickly if she will ever see her family again.

Engel's writing is poetic and profound as she depicts the immigrant experience through this Colombian family. We see their struggle to survive and to be accepted by their new country. Elena encounters violence and unfair treatment, and her pain is so evident in Engel's storytelling. Karina ponders what it means to be considered an undocumented immigrant. How can a person be undocumented when the documents of their family history exist? How can one dehumanize another in this way, by calling them undocumented? How can the US consider Colombia to be violent and war-torn while poverty and gun violence wreak havoc on this country? We hear from each of the five family members throughout the novel, creating a well-rounded picture of their unique but related experiences.

This book is a great addition to the body of Hispanic and migration literature as well as a touching family saga; I highly recommend picking it up. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Review to be posted on Instagram by pub date 02 Mar 2021.

The story goes through the lives of a family of 5 living in Columbia and migrating to the United States. The story beautifully weaves Andean myths and Columbia legends while telling a family’s immigration story to the United States.
The parents live in constant fear of deportation after over staying their visas. Two of their children were born in the USA making them legal citizens but their mother is still in the country illegally. The third child Thalia is a fugitive running from a crime she committed in Columbia to see her father one last time before she rejoins her mother and siblings in the USA.

I felt as if many of the chapters could be left out because they were too repetitious. I also had trouble following the story because the timelines jumped around too much. But do not let that discourage you from reading Infinite Country. This book has a very important message to tell and I feel as if the more people that can get their hands on this book or books similar, an awareness will be raised to a very important message. A loving, hardworking family has to live in separate countries due to immigration laws in the USA. The mother and the two oldest children remain in the United States but they must suffer in silence and endure unimaginable abuse. Infinite Country is a work of fiction but for many undocumented immigrants this is their reality. Undocumented immigrants are treated less than human.

This is a harrowing and heartbreaking tale that will definitely stay with me for a very long time. Many thanks to the publisher, Patricia Engel, and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

I've seen a lot of buzz around Infinite Country on bookstagram accounts, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of it in January. The story follows the lives of Colombian family as they decide to leave Colombia for the United States. Although they start out believing their time there will be temporary they overstay their visas and have to then navigate life there together until deportation tears the family apart. Engel's characters have to face what it means to live in two places and two languages while never really feeling completely at home or at peace in either. The story really comes together when the family's two children get to tell their stories, and I wish they'd come in a little earlier.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Elena and Mauro are young and in love, living in Bogota, Colombia, with her mother and their young daughter. Mauro has visions of a better life for his young family and convinces Elena that the best thing for them is to move to the United States on a visitors visa. They start in Houston, and move multiple times as they work to survive and send money back to Elena’s mother...and stay away from Immigration.
We learn their story through each of the family members. Elena’s was most poignant as we see that she looks at life as through a kaleidoscopic- alternating pictures of the difficulties of living as an undocumented person in the US, contrasting with her rose colored view of life in Bogota.
As time passes, we learn more about life in Colombia, and the myths and customers Elena and Mauro were raised under. As a contrast, we also hear directly from the two children with Elena in the US - Karina and Nando, and their youngest daughter, Talia, who has been living with her mother and Mauro. The American children’s stories about their high school experiences are heartbreaking, as were those of their parents as they try to make a life for their family.
It’s an important book to read to work towards a better understanding of the difficult choices and conditions immigrants face.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read Infinite Country in exchange for an honest review.

INFINITE COUNTRY is a heartwrenching tale of a family fractured by immigration. It explores themes of love, loss, safety, while including in some meaningful Andean folklore.

Mauro and Elena grow up and fall in love in Colombia. After years of violence wrecking the country, they leave for America, hoping for better opportunities and to send money home to Elena's mother. While in America, they move from place to place, from job to job, trying to live under the radar. They contemplate whether or not to overstay their visas, always on edge of the consequences. Ultimately this leads to the family being torn apart, and hard decisions being made about the children. The book focuses primarily on Talia, the youngest daughter, born in America, but living in Colombia with her father, and trying to get back to America to stay with her mother and siblings there, Elena trying to survive in America and build a life for her two other children who are still with her, and Mauro, struggling with sobriety and trying to make a home in Colombia with Talia. Later in the book the reader is let in more on how Karino and Nando, the other two children are living in America.

This is a deeply moving book, exploring the choices one makes- the trauma, the separation, and the continued love. It should resonate strongly with readers who are interested in a deeper understanding of how many undocumented people live.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for this advance reader copy for review.

I’ve been trying to read more books written by Latinx writers, who are sorely underrepresented. INFINITE COUNTRY was an engaging read that I blew through in one night. Talia’s story of displacement is one that needs to be told. We so often read stories about unauthorized American immigrants trying to “make it” in the country, but rarely are met with the perspective of Americans displaced elsewhere. This is one of the most enduring stories of identity I’ve ever read and forces us to question how where we come from shapes who we are.

Infinite Country is a powerful portrait of an America that I never see and rarely think of. Growing up in a rural community almost as far north as possible in the United States has kept the stories like the one in Infinite Country in the news or in other stories and usually not at the forefront of my mind. Engel does a masterful job painting a portrait of the pains and struggles of immigration. Reading this short but potent novel makes a person believe (and rightfully so) that the US has a perverse passion to destroy immigrant families. This book is immense in its scope for such a short novel. Engel digs deep into the idea of a nuclear family, immigration, deportation, the American dream, nationalism, racism, sexism, and sexual assault. The tightly wound narrative of a family torn apart because of the deportation of a father and the fallout of this can be read in one sitting, but it will leave you thinking for a long time after about many disparate topics that all can be connected to the idea of the "American Dream."

You should read this book! You should read this book because it will make you think about issues that are prevalent in society today. It will open your eyes to the reality of what is happening to real people in this world. Although this story is a fictional novel, the reality is that this is life for so many. Infinite Country is “small but mighty”. A couple hundred pages, but the message and the story from this author with stick with you and make you question policies and procedures in this country, and have you asking what we can do to demand change going forward. I suspect this will be a widely talked about novel in 2021, and I’m looking forward to recommending and discussing with others,

Elena and Mauro are teenagers living in Bogota, Colombia. They fall in love, and after having their first daughter, they make the decision to travel to the US to seek opportunity there. In the United States, they find work and are able to send money home to Elena's mother back in Colombia. But before long, their tourist visas expire and they begin a life of moving around the country frequently to keep their now three children and themselves safe. In addition, they are living in fear and under constant stress, because they are now "undocumented." It is tough, but working, until Mauro is unexpectedly deported and everything changes. Elena makes a difficult decision that alters their family forever.

This book was a beautiful and heart-wrenching glimpse into the life of undocumented workers in this country. I gasped out loud when I realized what Elena had done, and found myself aching with hope for this family. It was a gripping, satisfying, emotional read. (And I wish everyone could read this, because empathy on this subject is sorely needed right now...)

This is an interesting take on the problems confronting immigrants to the USA. A wonderful story about the struggles of one family.

This is a really good work of fiction. There was one chapter where I had to put the book down and walk away because I am tired of all the white hate that is currently popular in the media, but other than that it is an exceptional read.

Beautifully written heart wrenching novel of immigrants from Columbia coming to America.Told through different view points.A look at people leaving their country and dealing with life in America.Thisvis a book that should be read and discussed perfect for bookclubs.#netgalley #avidpress

Truly heart-wrenching! A book that made me feel tingly-good and heart-pounding-bad in equal measure. I love how in such a short novel the author makes you fall so in love with each of the main characters. The way that every one of those characters has a totally different relationship to both of the countries they've called home only adds to the story's depth.

So heavy on the political innuendos. I want to be entertained while reading and this book felt like the authors compilation of complaints and grips played out through her characters thoughts and actions. I wish Patricia had told us more about Talia's life and journey.

Issues relating to immigration and asylum have long vexed policy makers and citizens of the United States. With the exception of Native Americans who have been robbed and abused of their birthright, everyone else has come to the country either by choice or force. Assimilation and acceptance of these immigrants has always been a challenge, not least of which of late when many families have been forced to separate even before they can plead their cases.

Patricia Engel’s novel “Infinite Country” tackles these issues head-on and in an exceptional manner. I first became familiar with Patricia Engel’s writing with “Veins of the Ocean,” winner of the 2017 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction. I was struck by her meticulous characterizations and depictions. She continues and evolves these attributes with her lens now focused on the complexities of immigration. She clearly knows her subjects.

I was most compelled by Engel’s lack of “one-sideism”. Don’t come to “Infinite Country” looking for the “Shining City on the Hill” where the tired and hungry come to escape from the inferno that is their home country. No, there is far more nuance, introspection, confusion, hope, and regret on the part of everyone that chooses to come, leave or stay. There is plenty of good and evil to spread around. Every family has its own story. It is never easy to leave home for any reason – economic, environmental, threat of violence, or disease. Engel captures it all in a remarkable way. This story is timely and timeless and a powerful addition to the literature around a most compelling, intractable, and forever growing issue of our times.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the dARC.

This book… where do I even begin?!

Infinite Country is the story of a mixed-status family torn apart by distance and borders. This is the story of Mauro and Elena - soulmates torn apart by deportation - Karina and Nando - siblings with different citizenships, both struggling to find their space in the cruel world of American high school - and fierce and determined Talia, who has one shot to be reunited with her mother and siblings in the United States, and will stop at nothing to get there.

This book is like a kaleidoscope - small and understated on the outside, but when you look inside you find a shimmering scattershot of myths, stories, and vibrant characters coming together and sliding apart as you turn its pages. It is a beautiful story, and I am truly amazed at how much Engel has managed to pack into these 208 pages.

There is such a sense of longing in this book, for a family that exists only in memory, and of mourning, for those relationships that have been fractured and eroded by time and space. But it is also a story about love and fidelity and hope that, despite these immovable forces keeping them apart, they will one day be reunited.

Talia’s story in particular sizzles with tension and urgency. The energy of her chapters propels you through the book and keeps you racing through the pages because you have to know what happens to her. I loved her character and I could’ve read a whole book about her and her journey alone.

There were some interesting formatting and styling choices in this book that I’m still a little undecided on. The mix of third and first person narration made the book feel a little disjointed at times for me and hurt the overall momentum a bit as well… but I loved that the varying focus points allowed for Mauro, Elena, Karina, Nando, and Talia to have their stories told in full.

Infinite Country is such a timely and important story that speaks to the real-life experiences of mixed-status families around the world. I am so in awe of Patricia Engel’s talent and artistry… her previous book, The Veins of the Ocean, has been sitting on my bookshelves unread for way too long and I’m so grateful for the reminder and motivation to finally pick it up.
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CW/TW - animal death, rape

Engel's novel is definitely engaging, it delves deep into the themes of immigration and disillusionment and does so in a delicate and sincere manner.

No one leaves a home willingly. Revolts, economic deprivation, persecution causes desperate people to are strangers in a strange land where they may find work, but face prejudice from American citizens..

The old clichés of .of: "speak English," they take our jobs, they are rapists and murderers follow the family who seeks a new life as they try to escape the crime ridden country of Columbia..
Yet, Engel illustrates that the American employers can be the rapists. crime also exists in the United States, and employers take cruel advantage of the immigrants, Yet, family love and loyalty overcomes great obstacles.
This book reveals with great empathy the plight of present day immigrants who struggle to begin a new life in a country that doesn't want "the huddled masses yearning to breathe free..., the homeless, tempest-tost to me,"
She doesn't lift her lamp beside the golden door..

Infinite Country portrays with a sympathetic brush the loyalty, love, and devotion that her family has towards each other and their desperate attempts to establish a new home despite their nostalgic love of their old one.