Alex Flinn

Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father

Breathing underwater

Don’t miss this timely contemporary young adult novel from Alex Flinn, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly, about a teenage boy’s struggle to break free from the cycle of abuse. “Gripping.” —Publishers Weekly Intelligent, popular, handsome, and wealthy, sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas is pretty much perfect—on the outside, at least. What no one knows—not even his best friend—is the terror and anger that Nick faces every time he is alone with his father. Then he and Caitlin fall in love, and Nick thinks his problems are over. Caitlin is the one person he can confide in, the only person who understands him. But when Nick’s anger and jealousy overtake him, things begin to spiral out of control and Nick realizes that he’s more his father’s son than he wants to be. Now Nick must confront his inner demons to stop the history of violence from repeating itself. Winner of the Black-Eyed Susan Award An ALA Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults An International Reading Association Young Adult Choices List Pick A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age Pick

Breathing Underwater

Cortnie

This book was a hard one to read. Its heavy subject of abuse and anger made it hard to read sometimes, but I feel as if it was so important. Abuse is a terrible, heartbreaking cycle that cycles through generations. Never in a million years would I ever say it's justifiable, but it is important to look where those abusive tendencies started in order to understand a person.

Breathing Underwater follows a boy named Nicholas Andreas who is abused by his father, who was abused by his own father. Perhaps it's this cycle that really starts everything for Nick who winds up assaulting his own girlfriend - with both fists and words. After being charged with a restraining order and given the requirement to attend anger management classes and write a journal, Nick finally starts to see what was truly wrong about himself and his behavior with her.

This book does a wonderful job of not glamorizing an abusive relationship. The characters are multifaceted and while it drives the point home of not liking Nick, it also gives us plenty of insight into his character. The character development of it was phenomenal and it was fantastic to see how Nick saw the error of his ways and started to grow from it.

I was an emotional mess as I can to the end of this novel. It touches on a subject that is incredibly close to my heart and many tears were shed. It did a fine job of reminding me that we are all human and while we make terrible, grievous mistakes, we can learn from them and move forward. I would like to end this review by sharing a quote from the book.

 “You can’t respect yourself if you’re letting someone beat you up—inside or out. What you learned here is only half the equation. The other half is self-respect.”

Breathing underwater

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