Scan barcode
elisabethian's review against another edition
3.0
i may have been swayed by amazon reviews a bit, but i do agree that the book had no key plot. or rather, it had too many. but it did feel like a true story of girlhood, told through the use of two girl’s diaries. the feeling of the book was also very homey
melissa_bee's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. How does a legend start? With a dead bird. With a sleeping girl. With a desperate man. With one family created and another falling apart. In an insulated island community where everyone knows everything about everybody, and nobody knows each other at all. This book is one of the best depictions I’ve read of the sort of complicated friendships girls sometimes form in their teens. I adored it.
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
3.0
Readman has a compelling, sensitive prose style that captures the attention and keeps this story flowing. Set in the late 50s and early 60s on an unnamed Scottish island, the novel focuses on Lorrie and Sylvie, neighbouring children. Lorrie is brave, happy to fit in and to make friends, while Sylvia is shy and struggles with an overbearing and censorious mother. I enjoyed reading this, but it's not a story with many incidents, and at the end I was left with a feeling of, "So what?" I wish it succeeded better in aspects other than the prose style: if only one of the main characters was given proper depth; if only the portrait of the island felt real and lived in; if only Readman achieved a sense of tension or resolution. That being said, I would read more of her work.
betweenbookends's review against another edition
3.5/5
This was one of those quietly, brilliant coming-of-age novels that just snuck up on me and completely enamoured me. Set in a remote Scottish island, the novel follows two young girls, socially adept Lorrie and painfully shy Sylvie as they navigate the pressures of growing up in this intimately small town where everyone knows everyone. Angela Readman creates a beautifully nuanced portrait of girlhood and friendship, the pitfalls and highs, in alternating points of view, between Lorrie and Sylvie.
As the novel unfolds, the families of the two girls and various inhabitants of this town come into sharp focus through the lens of Lorrie and Sylvie. Lorrie’s meticulous understanding of people is journaled in as evaluations of their ‘nose’, ‘palate’ and ‘finish’ which I found incredibly clever. As a reader, there’s more that you can infer by reading between the lines than Lorrie seems to allude. Sylvie captures your heart as a precocious, innocent girl with a mysterious secret. As the story progresses, aspects of Sylvie that continue to befuddle Lorrie, become far more clear to you as a reader. The story meanders in the mundane but gathers momentum as it progresses.
What begins as blurry outlines are moulded into definite contours as the girls progress into their teenage years and are shaped by the judgement of peers and adults alike. Secret love interests, hidden agendas, yearnings for comfort, friendship, acceptance and being understood, all punctuate the landscape they navigate. Readman writes with such stunning clarity, maintaining a sense of small-town intrigue while never straying too far from the narrative. Something Like Breathing is an astute observation of growing up while being burdened by a gift. A gift that is wonderful but is made to believe as something dark.
This was one of those quietly, brilliant coming-of-age novels that just snuck up on me and completely enamoured me. Set in a remote Scottish island, the novel follows two young girls, socially adept Lorrie and painfully shy Sylvie as they navigate the pressures of growing up in this intimately small town where everyone knows everyone. Angela Readman creates a beautifully nuanced portrait of girlhood and friendship, the pitfalls and highs, in alternating points of view, between Lorrie and Sylvie.
As the novel unfolds, the families of the two girls and various inhabitants of this town come into sharp focus through the lens of Lorrie and Sylvie. Lorrie’s meticulous understanding of people is journaled in as evaluations of their ‘nose’, ‘palate’ and ‘finish’ which I found incredibly clever. As a reader, there’s more that you can infer by reading between the lines than Lorrie seems to allude. Sylvie captures your heart as a precocious, innocent girl with a mysterious secret. As the story progresses, aspects of Sylvie that continue to befuddle Lorrie, become far more clear to you as a reader. The story meanders in the mundane but gathers momentum as it progresses.
What begins as blurry outlines are moulded into definite contours as the girls progress into their teenage years and are shaped by the judgement of peers and adults alike. Secret love interests, hidden agendas, yearnings for comfort, friendship, acceptance and being understood, all punctuate the landscape they navigate. Readman writes with such stunning clarity, maintaining a sense of small-town intrigue while never straying too far from the narrative. Something Like Breathing is an astute observation of growing up while being burdened by a gift. A gift that is wonderful but is made to believe as something dark.
terese_utan_h's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reneelizabeth_'s review against another edition
2.0
This book was so underwhelming, beautifully written, yet underwhelming - and still I wanted more.
I'm not normally a judge a book by the cover kind of girl, but when I came across this book in my local bookshop, I thought the cover, the title and the blurb all sounded and looked so beautiful and right up my alley! Turns out, this was a book I had to trudge through.
I ended up downloading the audiobook and Eilidh Beaton's narration brought it to life a little more. I began listening to the audiobook around page 75, and I think the story started to pick up around page 90. In my opinion, this book could definitely have started at page 90 and continued on from Sylvie’s essay on her hobby of collecting kisses, this part is catching, insightful and quirky, enough that it kept me trudging through the rest of the book.
I don’t know much of Readmans’ work, but I have heard she is a short story writer, and that it where I think this makes more sense. The second half of the book works brilliantly as a short story. It’s more fast paced, unanswered questions etc. However, as a novel, I’m not sure this was good enough. There were so many storylines that were beautiful, yet completely unfinished (e.g. Zach and Lorries romance, Blaire’s accident and Cal blackmailing Lorrie, Lorries Dad and bakery). There are too many forgotten loose ends – not just purposeful loose ends, but they felt like they were just forgotten.
But I do have to give Readman props on her beautiful writing style, character creation and narrative voice, just lovely and poetic. Some of her lines and metaphors etc. were just stunning, and the technique that Lorrie uses to describe people (like the way her grumps describes his whisky - also love the nickname grumps) was a beautiful characterizing touch. My favourite characters were definitely Lorrie, Grumps, Rook Cutler and Joe Clark. There was great potential for characters like Zack and Seth, yet they felt like they really didn’t get their moment. Readman introduces me to these amazing characters then doesn’t really let me into their lives.
I think Bunny and Sylvie were meant to be the two most interesting parts of this novel, yet I felt I wasn’t fed enough information to really want to know them and their struggles. However, I want to commend Readman on the plotline of Lorries father, he was such a miniscule part of this novel and yet I was so moved by her descriptions and narration of his struggles with depression. Just breath-taking.
This book was a bit of a mess, yet entirely beautiful. To me, the beginning of this book could have been deleted and the space could have been used to tie up some of those plotlines that I mentioned earlier. The potential and the storyline were truly beautiful, I’m just not sure what was set out to be achieved really was.
Overall, I would recommend, but only if you have the patience and motivation to get through 90 or so pages until it gets really good.
I'm not normally a judge a book by the cover kind of girl, but when I came across this book in my local bookshop, I thought the cover, the title and the blurb all sounded and looked so beautiful and right up my alley! Turns out, this was a book I had to trudge through.
I ended up downloading the audiobook and Eilidh Beaton's narration brought it to life a little more. I began listening to the audiobook around page 75, and I think the story started to pick up around page 90. In my opinion, this book could definitely have started at page 90 and continued on from Sylvie’s essay on her hobby of collecting kisses, this part is catching, insightful and quirky, enough that it kept me trudging through the rest of the book.
I don’t know much of Readmans’ work, but I have heard she is a short story writer, and that it where I think this makes more sense. The second half of the book works brilliantly as a short story. It’s more fast paced, unanswered questions etc. However, as a novel, I’m not sure this was good enough. There were so many storylines that were beautiful, yet completely unfinished (e.g. Zach and Lorries romance, Blaire’s accident and Cal blackmailing Lorrie, Lorries Dad and bakery). There are too many forgotten loose ends – not just purposeful loose ends, but they felt like they were just forgotten.
But I do have to give Readman props on her beautiful writing style, character creation and narrative voice, just lovely and poetic. Some of her lines and metaphors etc. were just stunning, and the technique that Lorrie uses to describe people (like the way her grumps describes his whisky - also love the nickname grumps) was a beautiful characterizing touch. My favourite characters were definitely Lorrie, Grumps, Rook Cutler and Joe Clark. There was great potential for characters like Zack and Seth, yet they felt like they really didn’t get their moment. Readman introduces me to these amazing characters then doesn’t really let me into their lives.
I think Bunny and Sylvie were meant to be the two most interesting parts of this novel, yet I felt I wasn’t fed enough information to really want to know them and their struggles. However, I want to commend Readman on the plotline of Lorries father, he was such a miniscule part of this novel and yet I was so moved by her descriptions and narration of his struggles with depression. Just breath-taking.
This book was a bit of a mess, yet entirely beautiful. To me, the beginning of this book could have been deleted and the space could have been used to tie up some of those plotlines that I mentioned earlier. The potential and the storyline were truly beautiful, I’m just not sure what was set out to be achieved really was.
Overall, I would recommend, but only if you have the patience and motivation to get through 90 or so pages until it gets really good.
gemmalewis1110's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
chris_davies's review against another edition
4.0
What if you couldn't kiss anyone? Ever? Not in the way that the rest of the world can.
A bit of a slow burner, this one. Far more conventional in tone than Readman's brilliant short story collection 'Don't Try This At Home', in that the supernatural element to the story is tamped down, the story takes a while to get going. Half way through I was thinking it was okay but unspectacular. But the final third of this book, where all of the carefully laid threads are gathered together, is astonishing. When I found myself asking the question at the top of this review, I realised that there was so much more to this book than originally met the eye. And that's just one of the issues addressed - loneliness, coming of age, mental health and the vicissitudes of small town life all get an airing. It's all written in a nice, clear style with wonderful poetic flourishes (but not too much, thankfully).
One to stick with and to think about long after you've turned the final page.
A bit of a slow burner, this one. Far more conventional in tone than Readman's brilliant short story collection 'Don't Try This At Home', in that the supernatural element to the story is tamped down, the story takes a while to get going. Half way through I was thinking it was okay but unspectacular. But the final third of this book, where all of the carefully laid threads are gathered together, is astonishing. When I found myself asking the question at the top of this review, I realised that there was so much more to this book than originally met the eye. And that's just one of the issues addressed - loneliness, coming of age, mental health and the vicissitudes of small town life all get an airing. It's all written in a nice, clear style with wonderful poetic flourishes (but not too much, thankfully).
One to stick with and to think about long after you've turned the final page.
andrea_is_reading's review against another edition
DNF, 20%. I couldn't get interested in the characters, though I enjoyed the Scottish setting.
lamusadelils's review against another edition
2.0
Hay algo simpático en la forma en que está escrito. Y algo chocante en lo realista que parece el chismorreo de pueblo. Sin embargo, realmente la historia parece no avanzar y se vuelve muy aburrida. Aunque aprecio la personalidad de las dos protagonistas, casi siempre detesto la narración en primera persona y ésta no fue una de las pocas excepciones.