Customer Reviews

Breath

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Donna Jo Napoli is known for standing fairy tales, myths and legends on their heads. She's taken on Rapunzel, the Sirens, Jack and his beanstalk, Pan, Beauty and Beast - always from a fresh perspective and with characters that jump off the page. Her work has a sensuality and passion that are overwhelming and at times frightening, and she takes no prisoners - always calling events and people as she sees them.

In Breath, she starts with the legend of the lame boy who is left behind when the Pied Piper attracts all the children of Hameln Town, and makes that almost an afterthought. Much of the book is devoted to the culture and mores of the time - the Church, the farmers, the townspeople, the way of life - so the book will serve as a great history lesson for those interested in medieval times.

The protagonist, who has cystic fibrosis (leave it to DJ to come up with this) is an immensely appealing and sensitive character who tells the tale through the eyes of a sickly young man whose spirit ultimately prevails.

Book Review of Breath By: Donna Jo Napoli

Set in medieval times, in the town of Hameln, Breath is a fantasy of madness and mystery. The main character, a young boy named Salz, has a disease that causes him to uncontrollably cough, stopping him from breathing. In order to stay alive, Salz has to join a coven, steer clear of beer, and stand on his hands to resume breathing.

One summer, the entire town gets trapped under a blanket of chaos that no one understands. On top of that, rats have infested everything, creeping around townsfolk houses and pestering everyone, except Salz. What's happening in the town of Hameln? How did it get this way... or who brought it here?

I want to congratulate Napoli for writing a magnificent book. It always kept me guessing; I never knew what was about to happen. The descriptions of the town and the lifestyles are so detailed, you feel as if you're living in Hameln.

Compared to other books in the fantasy genre, I thought Breath to be fresh and original. It's not the typical wizards, dwarfs, or heroic prince stories, and because of that, I greatly enjoyed reading this book. Anyone interested in the medieval times or fantasy, will fall in love with this frenzied, unsuspecting story.

Napoli has done an excellent job portraying a medieval town. The details of daily life in Hameln during the 13th century are fascinating, if grim. The story is narrated by a boy named Salz, who lives with his older brothers, father, and grandmother on a farm outside town. Grandmother taught him to stand on his hands to help him clear the congestion from his lungs when his frequent bouts of coughing overtake him. This year has the rainiest growing season in memory, and the most rats. First the grazing animals sicken, then the townspeople. As the frightened people try everything to rid themselves of this pestilence, Salz finds himself in danger - why hasn't he shown any of the symptoms? This book was interesting enough to finish, but not a page-turner. Recommended for history buffs and fans of the middle ages.

Breath

Donna Jo Napoli

The main character of the book's name is Salz. He lives in a town called Hameln. This story is set in medieval times and suspicious times. The townsfolk are terrified of a severe rat problem. People are going crazy, coughing, and dying. Salz has breathing problems and to avoid choking, he throws himself into a hand stand. His father and his brothers all ignore him and abuse him. Though they realize that he is unaffected by the plague of the rats, and say he is evil, and infected by the rats disease because he coughs all the time. The author has done a good job on this book and put quite a bit of work on the story board, and the attention to detail is obvious. The story is very realistic and precise with most of the stuff related to the suspicion, wrongful prosecution, and rumors that happened a long time ago, and then added the story of the piper and added a twist. I didn't like this book. I thought it was mostly a prequel of the folk tale of the piper. And I was kind of awed and sickened by the thought of some of the things described. I didn't enjoy the subject of the book, but I think the author did a good job.

As usual, Donna Jo Napoli lures you into the world within her pages in the most unassuming way. She paints grim scenes of the Medieval Days, and gives you a history lesson as well! You learn how people dressed and ate and worked: what kind of buildings they lived in and how they typically dealt with problems.

The main character in Breath is called Salz: S for the salvation of his soul, A for ability and action, L for loyalty, and Z for zeal (salz also means "salt" in Latin- or some such language). He's sweet and willful, tenacious, clever, brave... but Salz's one great weakness prevails over all of his more useful characteristics. Salz is sick quite often. He has a peculiar disease which makes him "salty" and which the townsfolk and farmers of Hameln regard as symbolic that he's from the devil. Besides that, there is an enemy inside him: the mucus that fills his lungs and stops the air he needs to breathe. Nevertheless, Salz is strong in the face of any opposition. He is zealous in his coven practices (yes- witches!)and faithful to Catholicism. When things start to go awry in Hameln town, Salz will need every ounce of his tenacity just to stay alive.

Breath is a pretty offbeat re-telling of the legendary Pied Piper of Hameln town. Throughout the book, rats infest houses and churches and barns: anywhere where they can sneak to get away from the incessant rain (there's something funny about that rain, TOO MUCH rain... that can't be good). When the whole town starts getting sick, starting with the cattle and the pigs, the people first turn blame upon the rats, those filthy animals known for spreading sicknesses that come from thickly populated Asia. Near the end of the tale, Salz remembers a piper whom he met (in the very first chapter) who could charm animals and who could possibly drive the rats away from Hameln. But are the rats REALLY the problem...

Read Breath to find out!

*Spoiler's below*

I was a tad disturbed by this book. I know that all fairy tales aren't happily ever afters but I was still hoping for some optimistic twist near the end.

Instead I found that every possible thing that could go wrong did. The story is tragic starting with the fact that the main character Salz (basically 'Salt') has cystic fibrosis a disease that makes it difficult for a person to breathe due to mucus accumulating in their lungs. That he survived into his teenage years during the medieval times is practically a miracle.

This affliction is not so bad in comparison to the rest of the plot but it makes the sorrows heaped upon Salz seem even more unbearable. Salz lives in the German hamlet of Hameln and during the spring the countryside suffered a rainy spring followed by a summer of dying livestock and an infestation of rats. Strange behavior by the townsfolk followed by disturbing symptoms makes the residents of Hameln think the rats are responsible for the disease. But despicable as the rats are, they are not spreading the plague. Desperate to relieve themselves of the disease the townsfolk seek out an end to the rats. At one point Salz is accused of witchcraft but manages to save himself. Eventually Salz recalls the strange piper that called the forest animals to him one day in the woods and somehow convinces the town to find this piper to lead away the rats. Thus the rest of the story is familiar. The piper is unpaid and leads the town's children (the only remaining healthy members) away leaving only Salz behind as he could not catch up due to his CF affliction.

As I stated before I kept hoping for some glimmer of hope but the story kept seeking out darker and sadder plotpoints. Salz's grandmother dies under a scythe meant for him and the little sister he had adopted and truly loved is taken from him by the piper. The illustrations on the front of the copy I read are disturbing at best and the naked death they display is a bit disturbing just like the story within.

This book is very interesting. The words catch you and make you want to keep on reading. It's about a town in 1284 who gets infested with rats. Later on they all become sick with different diseases. But a boy, (Salz)who narrates the book, doesn't get any of these diseases. (Because he didn't drink the beer that that included some poisen grains). So they try him for witchcraft. I really encourage you to pick up this book.

This story is a rough re-telling of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hameln, but with a lot of twists and turns that will definitely keep the reader interested.

Donna Jo Napoli paints a scary and realistic picture of Medieval Germany. The main character, "Salz" is a twelve year old boy, living in the town of Hameln, Germany in the year 1284. Salz is afflicted with a mysterious disease (actually cystic fibrosis) which hinders him a lot in his life. He is also a member of a papal coven, keeps a black cat as a "familiar", is prevented from a lot of childhood activities, and is shunned by most of his family. You will find yourself cheering for this poor child, right up to the very end.

A lot of this book actually focuses on Medieval culture, religious practices, traditions, food, farming, and family structures, etc. Anyone interested in Medieval history will find this book very entertaining. Some of the scarier activites include; selling children into slavery, excessive drinking, rat plagues, diseases, murder, heresy, religious hypocrisy, witchcraft, and strange, medievel "acid trips", to name a few!

This book is probably not for the squeamish, so be warned... but I highly recommend it as a must read for anyone who loves adventure and fairy tales with deeper meaning. Don't miss it!

Nearly almost all of Donna Jo Napoli's books are based around a simple formula: to take a well-known myth, legend or fairytale, and retell the story from the eyes of a certain character (often the villain, allowing them to defend their actions). It has been a technique that has worked brilliantly for several of her stories, such as (my personal favourites) Zel, Spinners and Beast.

In this case, "Breath" draws upon the German folktale of the Pied Piper of Hamilton, though it is not told by the Piper himself. Instead, our narrator is a twelve-year old boy named Saltz, a resistant of the town of Hameln (who is ultimately revealed to be the young boy who is left behind by the piper's music - though you probably guessed that from the start). Though we are not told this till the postscript, Saltz suffers from cystic fibrosis and is named after the sweat that often pours off his body; the "salt" as it were.

He is a perceptive and compassionate boy, a member of the local coven and a friend to the priests of the local churches, who likes to draw his own conclusions about Christianity and paganism, seeing both virtue and corruption in both of them. Living with the rest of his family on a small farm, he is often bullied by his oldest brother thanks to his inability to help with the heavy chores of the place, and so he usually keeps in the company of his grandmother who knows how to best deal with his affliction.

When the people around him begin to suffer under the effects of some mysterious disease, he is the only one to try and rationally understand what might be causing it. Superstition and witchcraft runs rampant, and despite Saltz's best efforts to rid the town of rats and help the townsfolk, those around him cannot help but be suspicious when he is the only one not affected.

The story itself is a little choppy; the blurb would have you believe that the accusation and trial of Saltz on charges of witchcraft is the climax of the story, though in reality this portion of the book amounts to very little. Instead it is more a story of endurance through illness and despair, spotted through with little moments of illumination and hope.

It all accumulates in the famous charming of the children (and in this case, the adults as well) of Hameln, as the vengeful Piper spirits them away into the hills. I couldn't help but feel, when Saltz prepares himself to follow in their footsteps and attempt to find his adoptive sister, that this is where the story should have *started*. The Piper himself, his methods and his destination are left a mystery (something that Napoli generally attempts to unwind in her other novels).

Napoli is very good - almost too good - at describing the effects of the disease that ravages the town: the swollen feet, blackened limbs, the insatiable sexual urges, the terrifying hallucinations; and often there are some rather grisly episode - a baby who has its fingers chewed off by rats, a toad that is eaten alive, the bloody murder of a person with a scythe as the murder weapon. After reading this book, I felt like taking a long walk in the sunshine.

As usual, Napoli paints a vivid picture of a time and place unfamiliar to our own; it is hardly a pleasant book to read. (Of course, the counter-argument to this is that it obviously isn't *supposed* to be, but just be warned that this isn't a light bit of holiday reading). Although a postscript tells us what the true cause of the malady was, it hardly alleviates the horrors we've just experienced.

I can't fault Napoli for her atmosphere: it's grim, confusing, terrifying but ultimately (even though despair holds sway in Hameln town) Saltz's character provides a glimmer of hope. Is this a good book book? Yes. Is it an enjoyable one? Not really.

This was a very interesting book indeed. Set in a medieval town called Hameln in 1284, this book is about a boy named Salz who has cystic fibrosis (although they didn't call it that at that time) and has to do all kinds of crazy things just to stay alive. He has to avoid beer, stand on his head, and belong to a coven to name a few. As the story progresses the town becomes infested with rats and a very strange disease. Eventually the whole village is plunged into madness and Salz is accused of witchcraft. This story---which is based on the pied piper legends---would be ideal for the history buff in your family and would make an excellent Christmas gift!