I think I knew I would love this book from the very first page. From that very first page I didn't want to put it down. Its characters and plot lines occupied my mind even when I was away from them, and I did something with my reading of this book that I haven't done in a while. I dragged it out on purpose. I could easily have finished this book in a couple of days, possible in mere hours if I had been able to dedicate the uninterrupted time, but I didn't want to. I felt that if I were to take longer reading the book, the story would feel longer, and give me more time with it.
There were moments when I wanted to abandon my resolve to read the book this way, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The chunks I read each day became like a meditation. I had time to think on them, and pull back their layers.
The question "What are you?" that Rachel (the girl who fell from the sky) hears over and over is one that resonated with me, as it was a question I heard often while growing up as well. Rachel has a Danish mother and a Black father, so something about her appearance shouts "other" to people around her. But that question is also one that Rachel must sort through on her own post-fall, both inclusive of and separate from the way she looks. Who she is before the fall and after the fall are related, but distinctly different, and part of this amazing book explores that.
The story of how this little girl fell from the sky, the lives her falling touched, and her own life post fall are incredibly intricate and interwoven. Even with my deliberately drawn out reading of the story, I know that this book is one I will read again and again, finding new complexities each time.