When We Were Infinite

Starred review from October 1, 2021

Gr 9 Up-High school senior Beth's group of friends is the most important part of her life. Sunny, Grace, Brandon, Jason, and Beth are all part of the Bay Area Youth Symphony and spend almost all their time together, communicating via text messages when they are apart. When Beth and Brandon witness an act of domestic violence in Jason's house, the four friends make a pact to attend the college he wants to go to so they can continue to be there for him. Beth's father left when she little, and because of that she feels like she must always be whatever other people need her to be, so they won't leave her. Thus, when her friend group starts to grow apart, she feels it the most deeply and tries the hardest to fight the changes. Many high school students will relate to the important role of friendship in Beth's life. The story is written from Beth's perspective as she looks back on the events of senior year, and sometimes the shift from the present moment high school narration to Beth's reflection is disconcerting. Suicide, abuse, racism, mental health, and microaggressions are frankly and thoughtfully discussed. The back matter includes a resource section for readers who might be struggling with mental health issues. Beth's friends are Chinese, and she is biracial (white and Chinese). VERDICT This quiet, introspective book deftly captures the range of emotions and challenges that come with growing up coming into your own.-Florence Simmons, School Library Journal

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 15, 2021
High school senior Beth Claire knows what it's like to lose someone you love. Ever since her White father left, after her parents' divorce, Beth has blamed her Chinese American mother for the end of their marriage. Striving not to repeat her mother's mistakes, Beth does her best to be someone who is wanted and needed by those around her, especially her four closest friends, Brandon, Grace, Jason, and Sunny. She cherishes the closeness of their group and wants nothing more than for them all to stay tightly bonded through the year and even beyond graduation. Then Beth and Brandon accidentally witness Jason's father assaulting him. Jason brushes off the violence, but Beth is devastated by the realization that she was unaware of her friend's family situation. She becomes anxious when she and her friends are unable to devise a way to help Jason. The story is told retrospectively by an older Beth, whose tenderness toward her younger self contrasts with high school Beth's critical and self-effacing demeanor. Her desire to be enough--competent enough, Chinese enough, accommodating enough--is described with the clarity of hindsight and vivid emotion, particularly when it comes to Jason, who was able to see past Beth's carefully cultivated mildness to understand her in a way that the others do not. Brandon, Grace, Jason, and Sunny are all Asian American; Sunny is pansexual. Beautifully, achingly cathartic. (resources) (Fiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from February 15, 2021
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In her senior year of high school, Beth can count on two things: her close-knit friend group and her love of the violin. Both are threatened when she witnesses friend and bandmate Jason being physically assaulted by his own father. The friends rally to aid one of their own, but none of them truly understands how to save Jason from his family's legacy of violence. As Jason spirals downward, he makes a fateful decision to end his suffering permanently. He survives, but his despair and anger spread outward like a contagion, endangering the friends' futures. Gilbert is exceptional at presenting the nuanced and complex lives of American teenagers, especially Asian American teens. As in 2018's Picture Us in the Light, Gilbert draws readers into the characters slowly, showcasing the dynamics they share with each other and their families. Family is at the center of the novel, with the book's conceit being the intergenerational transmission of immigrant parents' hopes--realized and not--onto their children. This is done with an astonishing level of empathy, even as the subject matter delves into violence, suicide, and racism. Gilbert is a master writer in the YA arena, and this book adds to her impressive oeuvre.

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