My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“I believe in Bonnie and Clyde”
I’m on Amy Harmon books readathon this June and Infinity + One is my third book of Ms. Harmon after A Different Blue and Making Faces. I’m proud to say that all the three books are now my best all time favorite.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be saying this every time I’m about to review Amy Harmon’s books. But really, this is all I’ve got when it comes to her books:
The word ‘great’ obviously doesn’t cover what I feel about this book. So does ‘well-written’, ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, or ‘beautiful’. Even ‘perfection’ doesn’t entirely represent what this book looks to me. Infinity + One is masterpiece with infinite number of perfections in every inch of it.
Infinity James Clyde only wanted one more chance on his hanging-on-the-thread life. One chance to start over and wipe clean the dark mist he was in. And God had he try hard to forget what had happened to him on the past six years. Clyde finally got a clean slate now, even though he always seemed to picture the worst end of everything. He knew it would not do him any good but for someone whose past as wrecked as his, he really had no choice other than being wary over people coming to his path. At least he didn’t feel that way toward number. Number was exact and definite. Numbers, formulas, equations, or just anything math-related could always numb his scared feeling and gave away a sweet escape because that’s the only thing he was great at as long as he could remember. When a friend offered him a job in Vegas, he was eager to welcome the new state with hope to start a new life. Perhaps, whatever in Vegas could give something only ‘number’ could give all along.
The second Infinity James Clyde saw the girl on the railing, he knew she was a trouble. And a hundred percent right, he was at that. The girl was like a trouble magnet and he had no idea why he got the urge to responsible of her on that first strange-meet. Was she probably a Clyde-magnet too? Maybe yes. Or maybe it was fate. He didn’t know how it’d happened but he soon found himself letting the girl to tag along and drove across the country with her instead of on his own. Clyde was almost sure that Bonnie was emotionally questioned because just minutes ago she was suicidal but now she looked so innocent and a little too talkative for a 21 years old girl. He should’ve hated her for all the troubles he was in ever since she ‘presented’ on his trip. But no, he did not. And God knows how much he frustrated and hated himself for that.
“You’re gonna have to make up your mind whether or not you hate me, Clyde.”
“I don’t hate you, Bonnie.”
(Chapter VII, Infinity + One)
Bonnie and Clyde. Two strangers on a trip with inexact destination. None of them ever imagined of meeting a stranger, went on a road trip across the states together, baring their souls in the process, letting fate do his trick, and fell in love on day three. None of them ever thought that they would meet someone whose name was like fated with theirs; resembling the names of a famous couple in history. And now it seemed that they would repeat their story, minus the criminal doings. Bonnie was quick to grow on Clyde. And so did him on her. None of them was willing to confess their truest feelings at first. They just wanted to stay free as bird, to go and go and had not worry about anything complicated between them.
“What’s infinity plus one?”
“It’s still infinity,” Finn said, sighing.
“Wrong. It’s two.”
“Oh yeah? How do you figure?”I pointed at Finn and said, “Infinity.” Then I pointed at myself and said, “Plus one. That’s two, genius.”(Bonnie; Chapter VIII, Infinity + One)
Bonnie soon couldn’t deny what she felt toward Clyde a.k.a. Finn. Never once she found someone who cared for her sincerely. She knew alright that she was a serious bomb of trouble and Clyde obviously disliked her. Yet he seemed to always come back for her. If that wasn’t a feeling mirrored hers, then what?
“Finn? I’m a twin. You’re a twin. […]. So what does that make us? Are we halves?”
(Bonnie; Chapter IX, Infinity + One)
Unfortunately, Clyde was so scared of being ruined once again. Little did she know that Clyde was already ruined the moment their eyes met. But his constant pushes were harsh. And she hated him to act like that because honestly she herself was scared as hell about the ending of Bonnie and Clyde remake story.
“Don’t worry, Infinity. Didn’t you tell me infinity plus one is still infinity? Without me, you’ll still be you.”
(Bonnie; Chapter XIX, Infinity + One)
What funny about love was the more you denied it the more it grew on you. Your heart, your mind, your moves, your words, right to the deepest part of your soul. Clyde was sure he was the one who’s going crazy soon in full force.
“You drive me crazy! You irritate the hell out of me. You make me want to pull my hair out, and every damn thing has gone wrong since the moment we met.
“But I still want you.”
(Clyde; Chapter XIII, Infinity + One)
Their trip lasted a week. A week of Bonnie bared her souls to Clyde to the extent that he did the same for her. Clyde was so lost at words of just how much the amount of his feeling for her. When what he feared finally happened to them in the end of the road, he was left contemplating his own issue alone. No Bonnie to trick him into caring for her. Just him and his wary and insecure feeling. His mouth could say out loud that Bonnie and Clyde had died long ago but could his heart repeat the same words? He could go on with his paradox but the answer was very simple. It was in his heart, hanging on his lips, ready to be said any moment.
“What’s Infinity plus one?” she whispered and kissed his unsmiling mouth, and he answered her from his heart and not his head.
“It’s not infinity after all. It’s not even two. It’s one, Bonnie Rae. Didn’t you tell me? You and me? We’re two halves of a whole. We’re one.”
(Chapter XXVIII, Infinity + One)
I so damn enjoyed writing a synopsis of Infinity + One above.
There was not even a single thing about this book that I didn’t like. Just like what I said earlier, this book had infinite number of perfections every inch of it. The plot was perfection. The writing style was perfection. The characters were perfection. And I could go on with the name of each element of this book but it would do no good to my review.
Ms. Harmon just officially topped my list of favorite authors. She actually is tied with Mia Sheridan. Though their genres are slightly different, but their writings give away the same contented feeling in my heart, mind, and soul.
What I loved so much about this book was how Ms. Harmon went on and on about philosophy of math and connected them with life and love smoothly. If I didn’t read the dedication or the acknowledge pages, I’d be sure that Ms. Harmon was actually a math teacher herself. I was so fascinated by how beautiful her word of choices. I fell in love with every damn sentence she wrote. This one below just stole my heart big time…
‘He kissed me soundly, a performance worthy of his thousand dollar suit, and then kissed me again, though we didn’t raise the curtain for the encore.’
(Bonnie; Chapter XXII, Infinity + One)
See? This sentence is just so darn beautiful I want to cry a river… ;__;
And this book got a plus point from me for the funny parts. I was so afraid that it’d be as depressed as A Different Blue (which masochist-me loved so much) but it was not. I laughed a lot and smiled a lot that my gum hurt it’s not even funny.
I love Bonnie and Clyde/Finn characters. Bonnie was not the heroine who’s too angelic or too bad-ass. She had right amount of both sides and she’s adorable because of that. She was reckless and made mistakes too much. But it was balanced with her kind heart. And I wanted to kidnap Clyde so bad and kiss him day and night all year for putting his belief and faith on her, on them. I loved it every time Clyde made a jerk move but in the end he would always go all jellyfish and say calming words for her every burst-out.
“We’re Bonnie and Clyde! Wanted and unwanted. Caged and cornered. We’re lost and we’re alone. We’re big, tangled mess. We’re a shot in the dark. We’re two people who have nowhere else, no one else, and yet, suddenly that feels like enough for me! I’m sorry if it’s not enough for you.”
“It’s more than enough for me, Bonnie Rae.”
(Chapter XV, Infinity + One)
And I laughed so much on the scene where he consciously turned into a yes-man repeatedly for Bonnie just by her calling a syllable of his name. God, this couple made me wants to marry my love tomorrow. Lol…
I’m not going to say more about the plot. The whole story is a myriad of surprises so you better go find out yourself. I have been so careful with my synopsis to not give away any spoilers so hopefully you’ll feel exactly what I felt about this book the first time I read it. Read it read it read it, okay? :)
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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