Breathing Underwater

I read this book as required reading in HS back in 06-07, the message has never left me in all this time. So when my daughter got a independent reading assignment and couldn't settle on a book I knew she needed to read this one. This story should be read by all teens and young adults, sometimes watching the slow escalation of someone else's mistakes and toxic relationships can make their own so much more clear.

Nick has been summoned to a courtroom...and Nick doesn't really grasp why he's there. Sure, he hit his girlfriend, but it was just one slap, one measly little slap and suddenly, his girlfriend, Caitlin, blows everything out of proportion by acquiring a restraining order against him. Why would she do that? After all, he said he was sorry. So why couldn't she let it go and move on like all the other times he's won her back?The answer is quite simple.Nick is not telling the whole story.Sixteen year old Nick thinks that everyone is overreacting. They don't know the whole story between him and Caitlin. According to him, what went on between them wasn't anyone's business, including that counselor and the room of freaks he's been told to sit with everyday of the week. But it is through these counseling sessions where he tries to become invisible, and the journal in which he's required to write, that Nick finally reveals himself. It's a slow journey for him, but I'm proud to say that he finally, FINALLY gets it.It's not often that an author tells a story like this from the male's perspective. I'm quite sure there are plenty of books like this, maybe even written better, however. This was my first and I could definitely relate to it. Not to say I felt sorry for the character; I just empathized with him. Everyone has their secrets and, sooner or later, the secrets you keep wound up exploding in your face. Teenage love is a strange thing but, when it's all you want, it can be very scary.Nice, quick read; I did it in one sitting.If you're the squeamish type, or the type that gets mad when a book doesn't go the way you want it to, then this is not the book for you.If you're everyone else, give it a try.

Alex Flinn takes you on a roller coaster in this coming of age tale of a boy with a lot of pent up frustration. In "Breathing Underwater", Nick Andreas is an average rich white kid living in Key Biscayne, except for one thing: he has violent tendencies. The story takes you all over the Keys, but it takes place prominently at Key Biscayne High School and the anger management class. The story starts off with Nick in court getting a restraining order put on him by his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. He is sentenced to take a class on anger management and write his version of the story in a journal every day. Nick encounters many obstacles along the way. One of which is trying to get Caitlin back because he still loves her. Another is dealing with his best friend Tom deserting him. He also has to deal with the anger management classes including the teacher, his peers and himself. All of these things he must deal with while constantly living in fear and loathing of his abusive, uncaring, disapproving father. Along the way Nick's perspective is changed. Through the use of the journal to observe exactly how he is, and interacting and observing with his peers both from school and anger management classes, Nick is finally able to see where he has gone wrong and how he can make things right. This book is truly one to remember and I would strongly recommend it to anyone, but I would especially suggest it to young guys who feel overwhelmed by their lives, anyone with anger issues, and those who struggle to cope with everyday life. This book is not for the weak hearted as some very controversial subjects are addressed in the novel. I look forward to reading more books from this author and more books like "Breathing Underwater".

I've been reading this with my students for years. They love it! Plus, it brings up topics of abuse, friendship, bullying, acceptance, anger management, counseling, isolation, just to name a few. Discussions are great and it opens the doors for parents to address these issues when their teens go home and talk about it.

My high school YA students really like this book & so did I! The perspective of abuse coming from the abuse is intriguing and surprising.

Alex Flinn helped me to see into the mind of a young man who was controlling, suspicious of his girlfriend and at times violent to her. It takes great skill to create a character who behaves in such a repulsive manner and yet you can see how his outlook and experiences cause him to feel as if he is "breathing underwater", due to the violence and lack of love in his own family. You feel a great anguish for the young man but also a great sense of relief when his girlfriend moves away from him, unlike another young woman in the story who fatally returns to her violent boyfriend. You also get an insight into what drives a young woman to put up with the boyfriend from hell. I wish all young people would read this story so that they don't waste precious time and energy in the wrong relationships.

I read this book because my team of English teachers are responsible for teaching a teen dating violence curriculum to our high school students. As part of a modified curriculum, we utilized a passage from this book to demonstrate the cycle of violence. I am one of those teachers who feels that I must read everything I present to my class prior to its presentation, and this was no diffierent. I found that once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I was angry with Nick, but at the same time, I understood the things he went through. I was annoyed with Caitlin...why didn't she walk away? I applauded when she did, but at the same time, I felt Nick's pain. There are some graphic scenes in here (told through Nick's journal of memories), but the book is well written. I recommend it highly.

Breathing Underwater begins with Nick going to court. His ex-girlfriend Caitlin is taking the stand against him, accusing him of hitting her, and after being found guilty, he is sentenced to family violence classes and must write 500 words a week in a journal. Flinn wastes no time in getting right to it in this book. Nick comes across as an arrogant, full of himself teenager who doesn't want to admit that he has done something wrong which is why he ends up having to write a journal. To begin with, I didn't like Nick at all and I wasn't sure that I was ever going to considering what his attitude in general was like.However, Breathing Underwater is narrated through Nick's voice and through the use of his journal which means we get to understand the events in both the present and the past. I really enjoyed the way Flinn told the story as it meant that my opinions about Nick constantly changed. Although not a reason for hitting someone, we get to see how Nick's home life affects him and his decisions. His father is a violent man and Nick never blames him for his own actions although he does begin to realise that certain genes are hereditary.Reading Nick's journal entries made it possible to see how he went from being completely in love with Caitlin, worshipping her, to being verbally and physically abuse towards her. He beings to get possessive, not wanting her to be friends with certain people, not wanting her to dress in particular clothes and pretty much wanting her to do everything he says. We get to see just how horrible Nick is to Caitlin and how he never sees what he is doing to her. Even when friends tell him he's being horrible to her, he shrugs it off and ignores them.These journal entries are mixed in with Nick's time at his violence classes. The teacher there, Mario, was a fantastic character and one who spoke a lot of sense. Along with Nick, there are plenty of other guys in the class and over time, they have to learn to differences between right and wrong and to accept the way that they have behaved. The whole moral of this novel is to take responsibility for your actions and Flinn expresses that strongly. The classes and the journal take Nick out of his old situation and force him to look at what went wrong and what he could do to change his life.Overall, Breathing Underwater is a pretty emotional book and one which is quite hard to stomach at times. However, I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to more from Alex Flinn.

I know there's a follow-up of sorts, detailing where Caitlin headed, but I thought she was the less interesting character (i.e. I wouldn't call it a sequel to this book, which really stands alone). And I wouldn't call this a difficult read, in the least. Violence is kept to a minimum; the dialogue is accurate but it doesn't dwarf the plot. I know lots of teen girls are into those romance type novels so that's fine, but this book is something else - it raises important questions on a difficult subject. We wonder when we reach the end how much of Nick's journal we can trust - we've scarcely touched on his personality. This is a book you read to gain a foothold on a difficult subject and stimulate your imagination. Put yourself in Caitlin's shoes, and fall in love with both of them for different reasons. I think Nick's character will appeal to others as he did to me - it's evident in the book that he is multi-layered as anybody is - he isn't just the anger under the iceberg but is capable of other passionate emotions; a kid, maybe, who needs more guidance than he's been privy to. With a little forethought we can see why Caitlin loved him.

Insight into the other side of the story. . Feel so sorry for cat. Sad to know this is all too common

Great buy

In brilliant condition! Looks untouched! Thank you very much