Review, Excerpts, & Giveaway: THE SAME SKY by Amanda Eyre Ward

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I don’t think this is going to be a typical “Sunny” review. The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward doesn’t warrant a feel-good review because it is about the faith we need during difficult journeys, the journeys of all of us under the same sky. It was very timely as I was touched by the end of a beautiful friend’s journey with cancer while reading this story. God works in mysterious ways.

Read on to see my thoughts on Ward’s attempt at this poignant subject matter. First, let’s start with the book’s deets:

Publication Date: January 20, 2015

Length: 288 pages

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House)

Source & Format: Review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley; digital

Official Summary

In this heartrending and poignant novel, award-winning author Amanda Eyre Ward tells the story of Alice Conroe, a forty year old Texas barbecue owner who has the perfect life, except she and her husband long for a child. Unable to conceive, she’s trying desperately to adopt but her destiny is quickly altered by a young woman she’s never met.

Fearless thirteen-year-old Carla Trujilio is being raised by her grandmother in Honduras along with her four year old twin brothers. Her mother is sending money home from Texas where she’s trying to make a better life for her family, but she only has enough to bring one son to her. 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.

Two powerful journeys intersecting at a pivotal moment in time: Alice and Carla’s lives will be forever and profoundly changed. Heartbreaking, emotional, and arresting, this novel is about finding the courage to trail blaze your own path in life with faith, hope and love, no matter the struggle or the tragedy.

Sunny’s Review

The Same Sky is an extraordinary look at the lives of two very different individuals, each telling their first-person point of view in a back and forth cadence. The novel starts with Carla, a girl living in Honduras, who has experienced a tremendous amount in her young life. It then switches to Alice, a woman in her forties, who has had a very different life in comparison but has also had her share of problems. I found Amanda Eyre Ward’s gripping stories for these two characters to be well written and very thought-provoking. The insights I gained were numerous and I felt like I was reading a memoir, their stories felt so real.

I found Alice to be very intriguing. Her struggles with health, and in more recent years with infertility, made her very relatable. She was so focused on this struggle that she was grasping at straws in all other aspects of her life and often forgot the good in her life. This tended to cause some frustration for those around her. Some of her relationships were strained, yet I found these words from her mother-in-law to be very important to Alice and her evolution throughout the story:

“I wish you had children, honey,” said Winifred. “But what you have already…that’s all I could ever hope for, for my baby—a love like yours. Don’t you know how lucky you are?”

As Alice came to grips with her life, her focus changed and that was when I enjoyed her character most.

Even though I liked Alice, it was Carla who made The Same Sky for me. The realizations I gained from her journey were humbling. Ward did an incredible job of giving Carla an important voice in this story, telling of the difficulties so many people are facing around the world and the incredible amount of faith it takes to endure it all. In this text, Carla shares her thoughts on God’s impact for her and those she loves, even during uncertain times:

Why God made certain decisions, I could not even dream of knowing. God only gave my grandparents one child—my mother—though they had yearned for more. God sent Hurricane Mitch to Honduras, and yellow glue. Yet He also gave us the stars, the feel of cool night on our faces. He gave me my brothers, and the way I felt when Humberto looked at me. I believed God watched over me. I was lucky in this. Many people I knew feared that God had forgotten them.

Throughout the telling of her story, Carla frequently thanked God for getting her to the next phase of her journey. Carla’s story hit me hard. I realized how much I have taken for granted growing up the way I did and living the type of life I live. Even though I can’t feel guilty about it, I have been asking myself, what can I do to help others like Carla? I can do more. I feel like I have been challenged by her.

This was one of my favorite passages of the story, as it shares Carla’s views, including what she thinks of Americans like me:

As I’ve said before, I believe in God. I could worry about what I could worry about, and I had to trust God to take care of the rest. As my story continues, please remember this. Some of the things that happened to me would ruin a person who did not have faith. If despair runs as deep and fast as the Rio Bravo, my belief that I am not alone forms a lifeboat underneath me, keeping me from drowning. This is hard for an American to understand. Having enough—having too much—enables you to forget that you are not in charge. But letting go of your fear also means you must accept whatever life God gives to you. I believed, as I prepared for my journey, that God had great plans for me.

I have tried to be in charge of my life, and I have to admit there have been times I have tried to take that responsibility away from God. I am very thankful for young Carla who reminded me that I am not in charge; God is in charge and has great plans for me.

We are all living under the same sky, and I found how Ward shared that concept in this story to be gripping. This story was thought-provoking and wonderful, and I found the switch from Alice’s to Carla’s point of view to be very effective. If this story came out in audio, I would most definitely read it again as I would love to hear these stories told by two different narrators.

There were a few times throughout that I wish a bit more development would have gone into a scene, or that there was a bit more background information to solidify what I was reading/experiencing. The story also ended a bit abruptly for me, but after reflecting on that, I think it was the author’s way of letting us decide how life would turn out for these two amazing characters.

I am thankful for the humbling lessons I learned while reading The Same Sky and am in awe of the realities of so many as close to home as my own small community, as well as around the world. God has great plans for all of us.

Bottom Line

The Same Sky is a gripping story of two incredible characters and their difficult yet faithful journeys through very different lives. It is a humbling story that reads like a wonderful memoir and is an incredible view of how we all live under the same sky.

Rating: B+ (4½ stars)

Wine/Beverage Pairing: Purified water, for long journeys on foot.

Buy Digital: Kindle | Nook

Buy Print: Amazon | B&N

Other Titles by Amanda Eyre Ward

Close Your Eyes

Goodreads

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Forgive Me

Goodreads

Buy: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Nook

The Same Sky Giveaway

The kind folks at Ballantine Books have generously offered to give away a print copy of The Same Sky to ONE lucky Kindles & Wine reader (U.S. residents only).

To enter for your chance to win, you must:

Be a follower of our blog (click HERE to subscribe), AND…
This book clearly humbled me. Hit the comments and tell me about a book that humbled you when you read it.

Please note: All entrants must review and adhere to our official giveaway policy. This contest will close on Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 11:59 PM (CST) and the winner will be notified via email on Friday, February 13.