Harley in the Sky

by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Harley Milano has dreamed of becoming a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. With parents who run a famous circus in Las Vegas, she spends almost every night in the big top watching their lead aerialist perform, wishing with all her heart and
soul that she would be up there herself one day.

After a huge fight with her parents, who continue to insist she go to school instead, Harley leaves home, betrays her family, and joins the rival traveling circus Maison du Mystere. There, she is thrust into a world that is both brutal and beautiful, where she learns the value of hard work, passion, and collaboration. At the same time, Harley must come to terms with the truth of her family and her past - and reckon with the sacrifices she made and the people she hurt in order to follow her dreams.

From award-winning Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, unforgettable examination of love, loyalty, and the hard choices we must make to find where we truly belong.

• ISBN10: 1534437134
• ISBN13: 9781534437135
• Publish Date: 6 April 2021 (first published 10 March 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Edition: Reprint ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

When I picked up Harley in the Sky, I definitely thought I was going to be getting a different kind of book. I must have missed all the chatter and conversation about it by the Street Team, which makes sense because I haven’t exactly been the most active on Twitter. I picked up this book so quickly because I love books about the circus.

But this isn’t a book about the circus. Not really.

In my opinion, this book is about living with untreated mental illness, and rising above it. And that is fine and good. Really. We’re not given Harley’s diagnosis, but it feels like something akin to manic depression. Nearly every chapter is a conversation about what it’s like to be Harley, trying to untangle her emotions and rise to her dreams. Some chapters are about her heritage and her family. A few chapters are about Vas and their blossoming relationship. What’s left… those chapters are about the circus.

It took me by surprise. I wish I had seen this book raised up more as a book discussing manic depression, or as a diverse book (Harley is part-Asian and spends some time discussing this in a few different places). Because everything I read was about Harley’s dream about being an aerialist, I went in ready for carnival magic akin to The Night Circus or Caraval. Because I was going into this one looking for a circus book as opposed to a rep-heavy contemporary, I think my takeaways were a bit muted.

Again, nothing wrong with a rep-heavy contemporary. They’re amazing! I just go into those with a different mindset. And I found myself getting impatient with chapter after chapter where Harley explains her life to others in convenient dialogue exchanges. These sections felt like huge info dumps and I was never able to immerse myself fully into Maison du Mystère. The atmosphere faltered under the weight of the conversation.

Then, there was Harley. I had a difficult time liking Harley, because she is so incredibly selfish. And I sort of feel like a terrible person for saying that, because the way her mental illness is discussed, it felt like that was used as a way to explain away her behavior. I empathize with Chloe, who tried to make Harley understand the consequences of her actions… and just gave up. Other characters are a little more likable – I liked Vas as first, but… I dunno. After a while I felt like we only skimmed the surface but that was all there was to him, a shell. Other performers at Maison had possibility as well – like Maggie! – but the story was so absorbed in Harley, everyone else disappeared behind her inflated sense of self-importance. We couldn’t spend too much time with the minor characters, because we had to spend all our time with Harley. And I didn’t like Harley? So that was a downer.

It worked for Harley’s personality, it really did. I just didn’t love it.

I can’t say this is a “bad book” – because it’s not! I think it accomplished what it set out to do – to provide a narrative for those who don’t have the support they need to find themselves in an oppressive world, and for those who struggle with mental illness but are not provided tools so they must build their own. For that message, Harley in the Sky was a success. But it wasn’t the circus book I was looking for, and I didn’t enjoy reading it.

And that’s okay! Not all books are for me. This one wasn’t. But it may be the perfect fit for someone else.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

I have to admit, I was on the fence about this one. While I really enjoyed the author's debut, I couldn't help but wonder if a book about a circus was really for me. Well, if you're feeling the same way, let me go ahead and stop you right there. This book is absolutely, unequivocally for you. And now, I shall explain why.

• • Harley is beyond relatable. And I think there are components of her that nearly everyone will be able to see themselves in. If nothing else, we at least all have (or will) come of age and need to figure out what we really want to do with our lives. I mean, I'm 37 and still have no idea, so frankly I was impressed that Harley knew what her dreams were. But she had a lot to overcome to get to her dreams, and part of it is finding out what your dreams will cost you. More on that later. But Harley exhibits such tremendous growth and self-actualization during the course at the story, which makes it not only relatable, but inspiring.



• • Family dynamics play a huge role in Harley's story. There are two things you need to know here. One, Harley's parents are fabulous and love her immensely. Two, they think they know what is best for her, and they don't think it's the circus. Harley also loves them a great deal, and has to come to terms with her dreams clashing with theirs for her. This too I found so incredibly relatable. Harley knows that her parents love her, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, and she also understands how much she relies on them. And they're all going to have to come to terms with the ever-changing dynamics of their relationship.



• • Also a huge focus on friendship. Harley has one really close best friend who she kind of doesn't always treat fabulously in her quest for circus stardom. And they too will have to navigate this new type of friendship where they won't always be in the same town- which is another huge, huge part of growing up that, frankly, sucks.



• • The circus camaraderie was everything! Look, I don't know a ton about circuses, but the cool nomadic lifestyle and the way they (well, mostly) treat each other as family was so great to see! Plus it was just fun to see the intricacies of their daily lives as a travelling circus!



• • A delightful romance! I absolutely will not ruin this for you, so I will just say that I enjoyed it, and thought it was a very sweet one that didn't take away from the focus of the book. Win.



• • Big focus on mental health, as well as a highlight on cultural responses to mental illness. This is something that the author also explored in her first book, and I was so pleased to see it again in this one! Obviously, many people still consider mental illness to have a stigma surrounding it, and even Harley had to come to terms with it internally. But there's also discussion of the cultural impact on seeking treatment, which I thought was fabulous.

Bottom Line: I fell in love with this book, and that's really all you need to know. Read it.