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.”