Infinite Country

Throughout the book, there is a pervasive atmosphere of uncertainty. At the beginning, as Talia leads a group of a dozen girls in an escape from a reformatory, there is great uncertainty about her ability to make it across the countryside to Bogotá, and even there it is unclear whether she will be safe. At the end, even though the family is finally united and at a happy point, it is uncertain whether they will remain intact or if some of them will be arrested and deported to Colombia. There is no real certainty for any of the characters in any part of their lives at any point in the book.

Engel uses this sense of uncertainty to convey the chronic unknowing that characterizes the lives of individuals and families experiencing the sort of unrooted existence of the immigrants described in Infinite Country. The author intends the reader to perceive this as a distinction between the lifestyle of ordinary US citizens and the characters in the story.

Along with the inescapable uncertainty, there is an unescapable sense of dread. The characters live each day shadowed by the awareness that their lives can be upended by ICE or the police at any moment.