A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith book review by Nicole

Annabeth is entering her senior year of high school with her best friend Noe and is looking forward to the entire experience of what is to come. With her head stuck in the future, all she can think about is going to college with Noe, her Paris plans, and following her best friend to the ends of the earth. To her dismay, nothing goes right; she gets pregnant, her mother tells her that her father raped her, Noe is recruited for a gymnastics team at a completely different college, and their friendship starts to fall apart. This is the story of broken relationships and change; from the point of view from a girl who’s life is falling apart, Smith tells the story of recovery.


This story feels like an emotional diary from a broken girl who desperately needs help. From how Smith set up the novel, the reader gets a full novel with the experiences and reactions both emotional and physical from Annabeth. This intricate yet simplistic set-up of the novel from both the character backstories to how the chapters set up adds to the overall mood of sadness to recovery of this book. I was able to feel connected to the characters despite how different their lives were from mine. Smith beautifully portrayed what it meant to fall apart and start building your life back up again. The path of both Annabeth and Noe follows one of sex and pregnancy that leads to abortion, rape, eating disorders, underage drinking, and bullying so be aware with younger audiences.

Educationally this book can be used to analyze the culture of high school and its impact on teens. As previously mentioned, relations, both mending and breaking, is a reoccurring theme that strives to tell that one’s true family is the closest when you need it and toxic relationships that cause personal harm should always be weeded out, no matter the past relation. Furthermore, this book is perfect for a bookshelf theme in May which is Mental Health Month. It would be such a great experience if students could have a mental health seminar which would provide both resources of how to overcome disorders and novels like this which describe the experiences of a sufferer.