Author: An Na
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 3 Stars
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Sixteen-year-old Grace is in a race against time—and in a race for her life—even if she doesn’t realize it yet…
She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared—fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace’s father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world’s top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed.
Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough…and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t?
She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared—fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace’s father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world’s top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed.
Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough…and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t?
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Originally, I was going to rate this book 2 stars, but upped it to 3 because I think the disjointed feel to the writing works well for this book.
The Place Between Breaths is about 16 year old Grace King, who fears that she, like her mother, may have schizophrenia. The book alternates between different seasons and between the present and flashbacks to the past. Throughout the book, we get a look at different times in Grace's life that lead her to believe she may have the same mental illness that caused her mother to walk out on Grace and her dad. I don't want to give too much away about the book, because I have a feeling many people have this on their TBR piles, so let's just jump right into thoughts.
Like I said, the novel skips around between the past and present, and different seasons (actual seasons: Spring, Winter, etc). This skipping around can give the book a sort of disjointed feeling, but considering the novel deals with schizophrenia, I think the disjointed feeling works. It can help give a little insight into what may go on in the mind of someone with schizophrenia.
I appreciated that this novel tackles a pretty intense mental illness - there are not a lot of novels (that I know of) with schizophrenia as the core topic of the book. But this mental illness affects a lot of people, and so having books or novels with representation of those people is important.
I like that the book gets us into the fragmented world Grace is experiencing: wondering if she is like her mother, having delusions and worrying about what is causing them, having trouble with distinguishing between reality and her delusions. The author really does well at tackling those issues.
The one thing I didn't like was the implication that because Grace's mom had schizophrenia, that means Grace will have it too. Yes, mental illness can be genetic, but that doesn't mean it *will* be genetic. One person having X mental illness in a family does not automatically mean their offspring or other close relatives will have X mental illness.
One more thing before ending: The book is recommended for all teen readers, but personally I would say that it is best read by readers 16 and older who are a bit more mature and able to understand the subject matter a little better. (That's just my 2 cents though - really y'all can make up your own minds. Have fun reading!)
If you've read The Place Between Breaths - drop a comment below and let me know what you thought!
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