Customer Reviews

Breathless

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

So, Breathless is a good read. I found it to be a compelling look at an extemely dysfunctional family that was well written and well thought out. I found myself staying up late to see what happened to Katie- she is a character that was easy to care about. Her efforts to break away from her family, most notably her brother, had the ring of truthfulness to them that made her character very believable.

This is not a light hearted story about boarding school and a girl who gets caught up in a circle of lies or "omissions". There's alot of heartache here. I found this book to be incredibly depressing. Katie's mother is a drunk, her father is mostly absent from her life, her brother is insane and she gets shipped off to boarding school where she attempts to carve a life for herself among people that she considers "friends" but admits that she doesn't like very much. There's lots of drug use, underage drinking and sexual situations in this book. For me, all the alcohol overwhelms the story at some points. Some of her friends at school are not believable at all; Estella is really over the top and Drew comes across as a caricature at times.


This is a well written book, but not one I'm prone to recommend just because it is so overwhelmingly bleak.

Katie Kitrell is your average fifteen-year-old girl--with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Nothing is about her, or for her. She lives to keep safe (and stay loyal to) her older brother, whose (in)sanity challenges him at every turn and threatens the safety of the entire family. In addition, she is the product of, in Warman's words, "an apparition" of a father and a "semiconscious" mother. However, Katie is talented in the water. She's bound to swim places. When her parents gift her with a position at a private boarding school, which isn't really given in her best interests, as much as for a half-solution to family's biggest problem, she grasps at a chance to live a better life.

Filled with poignant, real-life situations, and characters that practically breathe, Warman's debut novel will grasp you by the heart and squeeze you so tightly, you won't be free of it, even after you read the last word. This is an amazing study of teen years, hitting on all pertinent problems in teenaged society...and the world. While BREATHLESS is marketed toward the latter spectrum of young adult readers, this is mainstream at its best. Men and women of all ages, and teens of both genders, will identify with this profound masterpiece. I will be pre-ordering Warman's next book (reportedly entitled NOBODY'S BABIES,) and can hardly wait for its release.

What an enthralling read, Ms. Warman!

While I thought it was impossible that I would enjoy young adult fiction, it ends up that I couldn't put this book down. Jessica Warman's first novel took me back to what it was like to be a teenager, when all was felt with such intensity. The story is gripping and the prose refreshing. You'll learn to love these characters and find a bit of yourself in each of them - Katie, Mazzie, Will, Drew. Warman covers topics that we all know are out there, but that we aren't always comfortable talking about. This book could possibly help facilitate some tough conversations between parents and their teens. But most of all, it's so much fun to read!

First off, I love this cover! I don't know what it is about them, but I love pictures taken under water - they're creepy and beautiful at the same time. However, I was somewhat disappointed by the actual book.

What carries Breathless, in my opinion, is the writing. Jessica Warman's prose is beautiful, lush; insightful without being melodramatic.

The rest of the novel, however, did not live up to the writing. I didn't really like the characters. While I felt for Katie during her time at home and her problems with her family, she really annoyed me when she's at boarding school. The way she treats other people at school doesn't fit to the way she acts at home. I was annoyed by how conceited she is, thinking she'll get into Yale for sure and always saying she's the fastest swimmer. I also disliked how much Katie smoked and drank without those topics ever really being addressed.

While I liked that the author gave all of the secondary characters unique personalities, I didn't really get their relationships with Katie. I didn't get why Estella, the most popular girl at school, would befriend Katie when she doesn't even get along that well with her most of the time. Drew's relationship with Katie is boring, but I can't really criticize that, since that's the way it's supposed to be. Mazzie is probably my favorite character. She's complex and dynamic, and I like that she had her own problems but was still there for Katie. How close the two are, though, is accentuated a little too much to be realistic.

I'm split on what to say about the family-storyline. It was interesting for me to read about Will's schizophrenia and his episodes seem realistic, but I don't know anything about that kind of thing so I can't really judge that. One thing I do know is that the descriptions of Will are scary, and that makes them seem real. I also liked how the family dynamics and Katie's relationship with her parents changes over the course of the novel. What I didn't like, though, is the explanation for Will's mental illness. Katie repeatedly says that it's their town's fault for making him ill, and that the entire town hated them because they're rich. That, to me, doesn't make sense - they're living in a poor town where people hate them, and they have money, so why wouldn't they move away? I also would have liked to read more about the time between Will's episodes, which the reader doesn't get to see because Katie's at boarding school. That made it hard for me to understand the developments in Will's schizophrenia.

I did not like the ending at all. Maybe it's a personal preference, but I have a problem with epilogues taking place ten years after the rest of the story. I can't really explain why, but they're almost always corny, and that's the case in Breathless, too. I really would have preferred the resolution to take place right after the rest of the story.

I know, I said almost only negative things in this review, but I still think Breathless is a pretty good read. Despite the issues I had with this novel, the descriptions of Will's mental illness and the family dynamics are great, the writing is beautiul and the characters are fully-developed. I didn't really like the characters, so if you need to connect to the main character to really enjoy the book, like I do, maybe this one isn't for you, but if the topic interests you, it's worth a read.

It's the details that make this story shine. When Katie feels second-class at boarding school because she's the only one whose name tag doesn't have three or four names like the well-pedigreed girls, her teenage self-consciousness will make any reader squirm. As she muddles her way through the last years of high school, you'll find yourself rooting for her to make it safely through her heartache and confusion. The the characters and relationships in this story are so well-developed and complex, it's easy to forget that they're not people you once knew.

Ms. Warman is clearly not just a good study of human nature, but someone who remembers acutely the pressures of being a teenager. It's stories like this that let teenagers--and the teenage remnants in all of us--know that we're not alone. Ms. Warman dared to tell the truth about the lives many teens are leading, and I can't wait to read her next book.

This is a gripping novel that is fitting for Young Adult readers and Adult readers alike. I read this for a recent book club, and we were all enthralled with the novel... it is true, fresh, and honest. Jessica Warman does an excellent job at capturing a teen through the struggles of high school while dealing with the dramas of family life.

Our book club of about 15 women, ages 27-32, loved this book and we discussed and raved about it all night. I highly recommend.

I Highly Recommend Breathless, by Jessica Warman. I am thirty seven, and have three children. My reason for choosing to read this book was that on many levels the characters, places and events parallel my own life as a teenager, and my own childrens' reality in the present.

My education, apparently much tlike the author's, began at a semi-rural high school and I ended up finishing the final three years at a very nice college preporatory boarding school about an hour or so from my home. This was a choice my parents made out of concern for my future academic sucess in college. I was a mainstream, high achieving type of kid, no probation, no red flag behavior problems that would set me apart. I was a cheerleader.

ANY parent who deludes themselves to belive that thier kids are not exposed to MUCH worse among thier peers in thier school enviornment, has thier head in the sand.
Your babies won't be shocked, or inspired to misbehave or accept terrible behavior by this book. That's already behind them. If nothing else, the rawness and brilliantly written scenerios will help them think through and realize consequenses, possibly avoiding some real life trouble themselve.

I mentioned my three children. My oldest, a boy, now fourteen, is unfortunalately living much of Will's nightmare as it begun. My husband and I are doing all we can to thwart the outcome for him and our family. I am not sure jsut how much of Jessica Warman's book is semi-autographical. It would be interesting to find out if her father is really a psychiatrist. I can only think that must be true. She amazingly accurateis as to what tragedy befalls many of our brightest young people before they even reach adulthood.

Our society does not reward differances. My son is gifted. He has been ostricised and bullied unmercilessly by both peers and adults, in our neghborhood and at school. We worry about him and are doing all we can to help him. Much of it, though, is beyond our scope as parents. It has been said that "we share our children with the world". We do, and often the world is not a good place.

My own focus professionally has required me to become informed on the subject of drug abuse among adolescents. The reasons kids take drugs can be summed up for the most part due to a few simple reasons: peer pressure, self medication, and emulating those they admire ( ex.: celebrities). Again, Warman knowledgably, with brilliant writing, gets that point across. Will was troubled, yes, but she does make it very clear that the bullying came first. Self-medication was his method of coping and with horrifyingly tragic results. Young people should be REQUIRED to read this book. Adults OWE IT TO THEMSELVES to read this book if they have any desire to contribute to our evolution as a society and NOT continue to loose our brightest and best!

I loved this book. It ran close to my heart. I was a little worried because i'm a 30yr old reading a teenagers book. But it reminded me sooo much of high school. The mean popular girl, the girl who always followers her, the parties,alchol,and drugs.I loved that the author did not sugar coat any of it. Katie's brother reminds me alot of my brother. My brother was sucidal when I was younger then at 25 he was high on drugs and he also murdered someone. to end this review here is my favoride quote."to have diffulty breathing again-I can't relax knowing that he's all alone somewhere,probably scared and confused, and even if he isn't the brother I knew, there will always be a part of him who's still my brother, somehow,in some way."

As an adult reading this book I really enjoyed it. I found myself trying to find moments to just read a few more pages. I am going to buy some of her other books soon.

I very much enjoyed reading Breathless & found myself thinking about it during the day. The characters are nicely developed & I felt invested in their individual stories.