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Monday 14 April 2014

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Breathe (Breathe, #1)RATING:1.5/5

I am extremely sad to say that BREATHE did not live up to my expectation whatsoever. I remember Breathe being one of my most anticipated releases of last year. Needless to say, I’m not disappointed that I waited this long before I finally got around to reading it.


The world has gone through an extremely rough time. Trees all over the world have  been dying off and now
there isn't enough oxygen left for the worlds population to live on. So, the government put its people through “The Switch.” Putting up domes in major cities around the world, the government found a way to manufacture the oxygen that we need to breathe. 

Bea is a lowly “auxiliary,” forced to walk only three miles per hour (unless she wants a fine) and her family can only afford powdered and chemically manufactured food. Bea’s best friend Quinn lives a much nicer life-style. Being a Premium, his family can afford all the oxygen they need and then some. They’re able to exercise, do the dance with no pants, and anything else that requires a high amount of oxygen consumption. Quinn has a new crush at school, Alina. From what Quinn can see she’s smokin’ hot, but Alina doesn’t want anything to do with him.

One day, Quinn decides to take Bea outside the dome on a camping trip since neither of them have ever been. So they load up with oxygen tanks and set out. But just before they reach border patrol, they run into Alina and she desperately needs her help. Quinn, having this massive crush on her, decides to help her with no questions asked. Little does he know that she’s running away to re-join the resistance. It’s no longer safe for her within the dome of Breathe.

From here, things take off and Quinn and Bea are introduced to the resistance pretty much right off the bat because there was NO DOUBT that Quinn and Bea would betray Alina and the resistance. Why wouldn’t they betray them, you ask? Because they LOOK like they would make good members. Alina TRUSTS them. She thinks they’re GOOD PEOPLE. Well, miss Alina. I think you SHOULD have been expelled from the resistance because you clearly don’t take this thing seriously enough. It was SO easy for Quinn and Bea to convince Alina to let them into the resistance, even though she pretty much met them for the first time at border patrol. Alina literally claims that they’re all best friends by the end of this EVEN THOUGH SHE HARDLY SPENT ANY TIME WITH QUINN AT ALL.

All of the relationships between any of the characters felt so 2D and fake and forced. This might have been because all of the characters were also so 2D and fake and forced. Nothing felt real, there was no real depth to ANYTHING in this book. GAH! IT JUST MAKES ME SO FRUSTRATED.

The plot is pretty much what held this book together for me. This whole idea of having to buy our oxygen and then having a resistance trying to re-plant trees and things (which would never actually work out considering how long it takes for a tree to grow) sounds so COOL. But because the characters were so flat, because the relationships were so forced, because it was so easy to get into the resistance I wasn’t really able to fully enjoy the plot since I was busy being mad by almost every other element in this book.

Needless to say (unfortunately), I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’ve been reading for a while. I have no doubt it will frustrate you on some level as well. Although, I do think this would make a good starting book for people who are just starting to get into reading because it's not a very huge book to process.

1 comment:

  1. Being honest with you I so much more like to read books that people don't recommend than that they recommend. Because I like to check if I will agree with them. ^^ And most of the bestsellers and popular books that are recommended are just so bad.. Thanks for sharing. I will check this book and see if I fell the same.

    lilianndehn.blogspot.com

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