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Jump to navigationJump to searchBreathing Underwater by Julia Green (view source)
Revision as of 12:14, 28 August 2020
, 12:14, 28 August 2020no edit summary
The island setting, with its wild nature and heightened sounds and colours, acts as a metaphor for the emotional processes going on and there's a real romantic animism about the book that will appeal greatly to teenage girls - and middle-aged reviewers, but sshh about that. Flashes of magic realism run throughout the book, as Freya sees Joe and he speaks to her - is he real? Is it her mind? Is it his ghost? These were convincing and hugely sympathetic until the climax, which I thought was much less convincing and I'd have preferred a slightly more realistic conclusion. But this is just a nit pick.
Grief is an inevitable part of life, but for teenagers , it's even more difficult than it is for the rest of us. Those on the cusp of new beginnings find it hard to deal with endings. The more this subject is explored in books for young people, the better I like it. As the press sheet says, ''Breathing Underwater'' is both thought-provoking and reassuring, and it comes very much recommended by me.
My thanks to the nice people at Bloomsbury for sending the book.
Other lovely books about grief include [[The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen]], [[Last Kiss of the Butterfly by Jill Hucklesby]], and for younger readers, [[Eggs by Jerry Spinelli]]. We also loved [[To the Edge of the World by Julia Green]].
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