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A review by audreychamaine
Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
3.0
When rich, handsome Nick Andros sees Caitlin McCourt after she returns from fat camp with a new fit body, he falls head over heels for her. As they start dating, though, Nick can’t help but want her with him at all times. He makes her page him whenever they aren’t together, and fears that if he doesn’t she’ll leave him. Nick’s friends warn him that he’s become too controlling of Caitlin, but it isn’t until he hits her and she gets a restraining order against him that he begins to realize how he’s treated her.
This book tells the story of domestic violence from the point of view of the abuser. Readers see Nick’s growing realization that he has hurt somebody he loved and is likely to do it again as he writes the back-story of the events leading to his restraining order. The story carries two main messages. The first is that we learn to abuse from our past experiences, just as Nick learned how to abuse others from his father’s treatment of him. The second message is that getting better takes time. Nick first needs to acknowledge that he has a problem to face it, and then must put in years of serious effort to break the cycle of abuse.
This book tells the story of domestic violence from the point of view of the abuser. Readers see Nick’s growing realization that he has hurt somebody he loved and is likely to do it again as he writes the back-story of the events leading to his restraining order. The story carries two main messages. The first is that we learn to abuse from our past experiences, just as Nick learned how to abuse others from his father’s treatment of him. The second message is that getting better takes time. Nick first needs to acknowledge that he has a problem to face it, and then must put in years of serious effort to break the cycle of abuse.