THE SKY ABOVE US

How many of your past lives do you remember?

Janie, Cass, and Izzy are there on the beach when the plane falls into the ocean. They’re girls with friends, brothers, and ex-boyfriends in common, but they’ll bond quickly in the days after the crash. Izzy knows intuitively that her twin brother, Israel, is in that plane, and it is soon confirmed that he was accompanied by Cass’ newly ex-boyfriend, Shane, and Janie’s neighbor-and-secret-friend-outside-of-school, Nate. But why were the boys flying? And was it by suicide or accident that they lost control? In alternating chapters (first-person accounts post-accident by the girls and third-person narration pre-accident for the boys), a bigger mystery unfolds, seemingly linked to Israel’s beliefs about the transmigration of souls and Izzy’s belief that he and his friends are now the dolphins she keeps seeing near the Texas Gulf Coast island on which they live. While the multiperspective construction makes narrative sense for a story where readers are expected to be mystified, it’s hard to keep track of whose chapter is whose when all the voices sound the same. As the book goes on, the prose becomes less purple, though it’s hard not to lose the feeling of woo-woo given the focus on reincarnation when no religion is invoked. Most characters default to White; Izzy and Israel are Venezuelan American.

A compelling premise that never quite shines.