Review: The Air We Breathe

Air We Breathe, The

About the Book:

Seventeen-year-old Molly Fisk does not go outside. She's ruled by anxiety and only feels safe in the tiny tourist-town museum she and her mother run and call home. Yearning to live free but unable to overcome deep wounds from her past, she stays hidden away. Then the chance arrival of a woman Molly knew six years ago changes everything. 

Six years ago, newly single Claire Rodriguez was an empty shell. Only in the unique friendship she strikes up with a young girl--a silent girl who'll only talk to Claire--does she see the possibility of healing. But one day the girl and her mother vanish, their house abandoned. What happened that drove them away? And how can Claire now offer Molly the same chance at finding a life anew?

My Comments:

Sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I'm going to be grown-up enough to admit that may be what happened to this book.  I just finished another book (which will be reviewed in February) that had what I considered gratuitous anti-Catholicism and I only knocked it down a couple of notches for it; this one I'm giving up on after 50 pages.  Probably had I read it first, the rankings would be reversed.  In short, for apparently no reason (and perhaps there is a reason that would become apparent if I read the whole book) one of the teen characters mentions to another that his family is Catholic and just doesn't get him, the good Bible-reading Baptist that he is.  Why does Christa Parrish make his family Catholic?  Somehow I doubt this book is about him  returning to the faith of his birth, or about him bringing her to Catholicism.  If the publisher or author wants to tell me I'm wrong about this, I'll be glad to finish the book at that point.

The book has chapters titled by the names of characters and moves between 2002 and 2009.  I really liked the writing style and I'm sure there are those who will enjoy the book.  DNF

I' d like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy.  It should be obvious that I am not obligated to write a positive review.