Book Review: Breathing Under Water by Sophie Hardcastle
Breathing Under Water by Sophie Hardcastle
Pages: 320
Publish date: July 11 2016
Publisher: Hatchette Australia
ISBN: 9780733634857
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon AU – Dymocks
Ben and Grace Walker are twins. Growing up in a sleepy coastal town it was inevitable they’d surf. Always close, they hung out more than most brothers and sisters, surfing together for hours as the sun melted into the sea. At seventeen, Ben is a rising surf star, the golden son and the boy all the girls fall in love with. Beside him, Grace feels like she is a mere reflection of his light. In their last year of school, the world beckons, full of possibility. For Grace, finishing exams and kissing Harley Matthews is just the beginning.
Then, one day, the unthinkable. The sun sets at noon and suddenly everything that was safe and predictable is lost. And everything unravels
Breathing Under Water:
I received an e-arc of Breathing Under Water by Sophie Hardcastle from Hatchette via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about this book.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I read Breathing Under Water and I am still now sure how I feel about it. There were parts that I liked and intrigued by, but then there were parts that just got on my nerves. It’s that weird feeling that you get, what you have no idea what you are thinking. The likes don’t override the dislikes, and the dislikes don’t override the likes, I am in the middle.
Breathing Under Water follows protagonist Grace, twin to Ben Walker. They are closer than most brothers and sisters, they would hang out with their friends, they would go surfing together and just being there for each other. But Grace is always a shadow to Ben, but then the unthinkable happens, Grace’s life falls apart.
I don’t know how I feel about Grace, I felt that she just moved along with the rest of the characters and until the unthinkable happens, we don’t really know her as a person and then again, the person that we do get to know is full of grief and doing things that she would never do.
However, I loved seeing Grace grow throughout the novel. We get to see her find out who she is without Ben, it’s a hard road and some people may find it hard to read, but I thought it was done exquisitely.
It’s hard to comment on Grace’s family simply because of the situation that they were put through. They go through a hell of a lot, but grief changes people and sometimes not for the better. In the moment that they should all be there for each other they drift away.
The friendships in Breathing Under Water are hard to explain as well and again it’s because of grief. Everyone deals with it in different ways and sometimes that divides friendships. In saying that, I liked how it all panned out.
A problem that I had with Breathing Under Water was that I didn’t know what age Grace was without reading the synopsis. I felt the writing a little too young to be seventeen and that kind of hinder thoughts I had about the book.
I also felt the writing was a little too flowery at times, and I just wanted to be told in a simpler way. Then at other times it was beautiful and left me heartbroken. The writing and storyline are powerful and I was left in tears quite a couple of times.
Overall, I enjoyed Breathing Under Water. I was on a ride with Grace, I was pulled along with the grief of the family, of everyone in the book. I liked how everyone reacted differently and how it showed, just how hard it is when someone close does die, way before their time.
Breathing Under Water is an emotional rollercoster of a story. You are on a ride of grief and how it affects people differently, family and how at times you have to stick together, and friendship and how it can break when everything falls apart.
Have you read Breathing Under Water? Did you like it? Are you going to read it? Let’s chat!
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