Title: Under a Painted Sky Author: Stacey Lee
Published: March 17, 2015
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 374
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Missouri, 1849: Samantha dreams of moving back to New York to be a professional musician—not an easy thing if you’re a girl, and harder still if you’re Chinese. But a tragic accident dashes any hopes of fulfilling her dream, and instead, leaves her fearing for her life. With the help of a runaway slave named Annamae, Samantha flees town for the unknown frontier. But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls, so they disguise themselves as Sammy and Andy, two boys headed for the California gold rush. Sammy and Andy forge a powerful bond as they each search for a link to their past, and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. But when they cross paths with a band of cowboys, the light-hearted troupe turn out to be unexpected allies. With the law closing in on them and new setbacks coming each day, the girls quickly learn that there are not many places to hide on the open trail.
This beautifully written debut is an exciting adventure and heart-wrenching survival tale. But above all else, it’s a story about perseverance and trust that will restore your faith in the power of friendship.
This book was just a lot of fun! Two girl-fugitives dress up as boys and join a band of cowboys traveling the Oregon Trail—what a premise, and the author delivers on it. Under a Painted Sky is an adventure from start to finish, one that I found addictive and compelling. Author Stacey Lee is a talented, engaging storyteller, and I really liked the story of Sam and Andy and their friends.
For me, this book was entertaining, but not particularly deep reading. Which is fine—not every book I read has to be a heavy-hitter. Like I said, Under a Painted Sky was fun, full of outlaws and calamity and pranks and hijinks in the Wild West. The plot sometimes felt a little theatrical, and it was definitely easy to predict, yet the journey Lee takes her readers is on is so gripping those things don’t matter so much. I can see Under a Painted Sky making a great movie adaptation.
Plot aside, I was hugely happy with Sam and Andy, the novel’s two protagonists in disguise. Sam, the well-educated daughter of a Chinese immigrant, has dreams of being a violin teacher in a prestigious conservatory; and Andy (Annamae), a slave, wants to be reunited with the brother she hasn’t seen in years. Both of them have difficulty existing in 1849 society, made worse by their status as wanted criminals. Over the course of the story, both young women show unexpected strength and fortitude as they grow into their roles as cowboys, and they also forge a great sense of sisterhood between each other. This female friendship was absolutely one of the best things about Under a Painted Sky, in addition to their individual characterization.
I also enjoyed the romance(s) that made its appearance in the book. Obviously, being disguised as boys makes it hard for Sam and Andy to form any attachments, but that doesn’t stop, ahem, feelings from popping up in inappropriate and unexpected places. The love story in Under a Painted Sky is very much a slow, smoldering burn with lots of tension, and it’s done very well. I also liked how Lee completely avoided the seemingly inevitable “You were a girl this whole time?! OMG, you LIAR!” scene. With all the other stuff going on in this book, that’s one particular drama we really didn’t need, and I’m glad the author recognized that.
The only other point concerning the book, a negative one, is that it seemed to drag on unnecessarily in the middle/end sections. By this point, Sam and Andy are well established within their circle of cowboy compadres, and the author has put everything in place for the final, actiony, sequence of events. But several chapters pass with few plot developments, and it felt like the story, normally so fast-paced, stalled. The back-and-forth between Sam and Andy regarding whether or not they should strike out on their own and/or tell their friends the truth of their identities went on too long, though Lee was thankfully able to pick back up again once that moment of stagnancy was past.
Under the Painted Sky leaves its characters reunited and looking forward to the possibilities of the future, which is very fitting for the characters and their progression. After such a long, fraught journey, a pat Happily Ever After wouldn’t have been appropriate, and I thought Lee made a wise decision there. For my part, I enjoyed Sam and Andy’s adventures, and I thought this Frontier novel was absolutely worth the read.
