Title Breathing Underwater
Author Lu Vickers
Vickers recieved her Ph.D. in English from Florida State University, where she is still living. She has won many awards for her writing and is also the author of Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids.
ISBN 9781555839642
Publisher Alyson Books
Copyright Date 2007
Reading Level/Interest Age 15+
Genre Issues: Sexual Identity; LGBT Fiction; Contemporary Life
Plot Summary
Breathing Underwater is the story of Lily, a young girl living in Chattahoochee, Florida who has a fair number of issues to deal with. Her mother who works at the mental hospital in town is herself mentally unbalanced. Lily believes that she almost allowed her to drown one day when the family went out fishing and this incident haunts Lily and her relationship with her mother for the rest of her life. Her father, though well-meaning, enables her mother’s outbursts and is unable to shield Lily and her brother and sister from her mother’s increasingly erratic and violent behavior. And to top it all off, Lily is struggling with her own sexuality in a small town where queer people are shunned and the subject of scorn. Will Lily be able to figure things out when there is so much going wrong in her life? Or will she succumb to her mother’s anger and guilt?
Critical Evaluation
Lu Vickers is a very talented writer, capturing the fear and pain of Lily’s life in lyrical prose and vivid, sometimes excruciating detail. The issue of Lily’s increasing awareness of her own sexuality is really a sub-plot to the larger issue of the unraveling of her family in the shadow of her mother’s insanity. But the fear of trying to be gay in the south and the fact that her mother seems to blame her inability to love Lily on her sexual orientation are poignant reminders that the struggles of LGBT youth are real and complex and frightening. Lily is a sympathetic character, but her narration seems to be deliberately unreliable – as a child and then a young teenager, can she really see what is happening or is she unable to interpret things as they truly are? This novel is depressing to say the least and does not fully resolve many of the subplots in a way that feels satisfactory, though the story feels honest and raw. A good read for mature teenagers who are tired of the somewhat happy-go-lucky fare of many LGBT teen reads and looking for something just a little more realistic and fresh.
Reader’s Annotation
Ever since her mom almost let her drown, Lily feels as if she’s breathing underwater.
Curriculum Ties Could be tied into lessons about LGBT issues, tolerance and prejudice.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Do a first-person narration of the drowning incident, first from the mom’s perspective and then from Lily’s.
Challenge Issues
Please see "Controversy & LGBT Teen Collections"
Why did I include this book?
Rainbow Book Starred Pick (2008, ALA); I wanted to include at least one adult crossover title.
Author Lu Vickers
Vickers recieved her Ph.D. in English from Florida State University, where she is still living. She has won many awards for her writing and is also the author of Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids.
ISBN 9781555839642
Publisher Alyson Books
Copyright Date 2007
Reading Level/Interest Age 15+
Genre Issues: Sexual Identity; LGBT Fiction; Contemporary Life
Plot Summary
Breathing Underwater is the story of Lily, a young girl living in Chattahoochee, Florida who has a fair number of issues to deal with. Her mother who works at the mental hospital in town is herself mentally unbalanced. Lily believes that she almost allowed her to drown one day when the family went out fishing and this incident haunts Lily and her relationship with her mother for the rest of her life. Her father, though well-meaning, enables her mother’s outbursts and is unable to shield Lily and her brother and sister from her mother’s increasingly erratic and violent behavior. And to top it all off, Lily is struggling with her own sexuality in a small town where queer people are shunned and the subject of scorn. Will Lily be able to figure things out when there is so much going wrong in her life? Or will she succumb to her mother’s anger and guilt?
Critical Evaluation
Lu Vickers is a very talented writer, capturing the fear and pain of Lily’s life in lyrical prose and vivid, sometimes excruciating detail. The issue of Lily’s increasing awareness of her own sexuality is really a sub-plot to the larger issue of the unraveling of her family in the shadow of her mother’s insanity. But the fear of trying to be gay in the south and the fact that her mother seems to blame her inability to love Lily on her sexual orientation are poignant reminders that the struggles of LGBT youth are real and complex and frightening. Lily is a sympathetic character, but her narration seems to be deliberately unreliable – as a child and then a young teenager, can she really see what is happening or is she unable to interpret things as they truly are? This novel is depressing to say the least and does not fully resolve many of the subplots in a way that feels satisfactory, though the story feels honest and raw. A good read for mature teenagers who are tired of the somewhat happy-go-lucky fare of many LGBT teen reads and looking for something just a little more realistic and fresh.
Reader’s Annotation
Ever since her mom almost let her drown, Lily feels as if she’s breathing underwater.
Curriculum Ties Could be tied into lessons about LGBT issues, tolerance and prejudice.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Do a first-person narration of the drowning incident, first from the mom’s perspective and then from Lily’s.
Challenge Issues
Please see "Controversy & LGBT Teen Collections"
Why did I include this book?
Rainbow Book Starred Pick (2008, ALA); I wanted to include at least one adult crossover title.
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