Summary of Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

A high-quality summary of Patricia Engel´s book Infinite Country, including chapter details and an analysis of the main themes of the original book.

About the original book:

Talia is being kept at a juvenile detention center in Colombia's forested mountains after performing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been justified. She needs to leave immediately and return to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States await her. She might miss her chance to be reunited with her family if she misses her flight.

Like the swirls of a kaleidoscope, the story of how one family came to occupy two distinct countries, two different universes, comes into focus. Mauro and Elena, Talia's parents, fell in love as teens in a market stall against the backdrop of civil war and societal instability. They leave Bogotá with their firstborn, Karina, in search of safety and opportunity in the United States on a temporary visa, and two more children, Nando and Talia, are born on American soil. We see the actions and indecisions that led to Mauro's deportation and the family's disintegration, as well as the expenses they've all had to bear since then.

Patricia Engel, an award-winning, an internationally acclaimed novelist who is also a dual citizen and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to all five family members as they navigate the specifics of their situations. Infinite Country is "as much an all-American story as it is a global one," as it is rich with Bogotá urban life, deep in Andean myth, and tension with the daily reality of the undocumented in America (Booklist, starred review).