review: Breathing Underwater

YUM.
Do you guys have an Einstein's near your house? We have one on campus, and I'm completely addicted now. My friend suggested I try the Cookies & Creme Frap, and it's like a mouthful of heaven every time you take a sip... highly recommended!
And now, onto the review.




Breathing Underwater

Author: Alex Flinn
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: 1 October 2002
Pages: 263

  
Like father,
like son
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 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 who he can confide in. But when things start to spiral out of control, Nick must face the fact that he's gotten more from his father than green eyes and money.


Luna's Take:

First thing: DON'T be repelled by this book solely because it was first published over 8 years ago and thus considered "ancient" in the ever-progressing bloggosphere. I had read something else of Flinn's, Beastly, over the summer, and I really liked her storyline, so I decided to try out another of her works.

Let me just say, it's a decision I definitely don't regret. Upon the first 50 pages or so, I really thought Nick was a fairly average guy, albeit one with some serious anger management issues. We find that his ex-girlfriend Caitlin put a restraining order on him because he allegedly treated her poorly, although we don't find exactly what that entails until nearly the end of the novel. However, throughout journal entries that Nick writes, I initially deduced that all that happened was him hitting Caitlin. Once.

Not to say I support abusive relationships, because I am 110% against them. It's just that with all that Nick's been through, I sort of understood where his anger came from. He shouldn't have hit his girlfriend, sure, but he really didn't know how to ask for help, who to tell, and so on and so forth. If you think I'm crazy though, don't feel afraid to disagree!

As I read on, I realized there was a bucketload of things readers weren't privy to from the get-go. I personally did not like Caitlin as a character. To me, she seems kind of weak and meager for the majority of the book, someone who can't really speak up for herself when it counts. 

All in all, I suggest picking up a copy of Breathing Underwater for an intense ride.

Rating: 4/5