Breathing+Underwater


 * Use this page to comment on Alex Flinn's //Breathing Underwater//, if that was the book you read.**

First of all I would like to recommend to everyone because it has an amazing plot. This book is about a character named Nick he is the popular guy with green eyes that all the girls follow and goes to parties. It starts of with nick and his father at a court house because nicks girlfriend filled a restraining order against him. From there he gets involved in an anger management class that will help control himself. He is also asked to write 500 words about how he meets Catalina each week for the judge so she can figure out how it all started. As he starts writing in this journal he starts figuring out why all his friends hate him and how all of a sudden he snapped and was forced to hit his girlfriend. He is also learning of his anger management problems by hanging out with some friend from the group and he realizes what kind of jerk he was and this taught him that he could maybe try to change. He tries everything from breaking the restraining order to talk to her or just by giving her things and leaving them in her locker. At the end he realizes that its not worth it any more and that he should give up but his old friend realizes that maybe they could work something out and they do. 1201442729hre

I also recommend this book! I honestly started reading Sunday thinking I can just skim this but I started it and I really wanted to finish it! I really liked how the plot was laid as you saw both stories. The first story and the after effect. You saw the climaxes at the same times and you say Nicks honest opioion. You see him grow with himself at the same time you are learning of the struggles with his father and him hitting rock bottom and then learning the all around lesson in life...

" It's about doing the right thing even if you don't want to do it. About taking responsibility for your actions, like you always told us. It's about letting go when you really, really want to hold on so bad." - Nick at the end of the book.

After you see him fall into the pit of hitting Caitlin, which is when the book began, you learn that he has grown. That he accepts what he did and he isn't going to let himself fall for one mistake he made. He then goes home and finally stand up to his father, who had been hitting because anger. This book is a coming- of- age novel that all of us are going through. At a piont in our lives we will hit the bottom and have to recover all the doubt and gather our courage to truly become a man or women. I believe the books lesson is COURAGE AND STRENGTH. To get through life we will have to gather our strength at the times when we don't know we have any. 1201557672epa1

I haven't read this book, but it seems as if everyone in my literature class did. And after finding this out, I really wanted to read this book as well. Everyone seemed to have positive remarks and opinions in regards to this book, and when I heard them that is when I became highly interested in the book and considered buying it. I sort of got a prewview of what the main conflict or plot of the story might've been. It was something along the lines of an abusivve relationship. It's not that I don't find these type of situations amusing in any way, but it's something that is strongly happening in our country today. I'm sure that it's something many people could relate to if they've been in this type of relationship, whether it be emotional or physical abuse. 1201635085

I would like to just say that Breathing Underwater was an amazing book to read and it kept my attention the whole time, and that right there is saying something because i am not the easiest to keep focused and interested. At first I thought that i would just go onto sparknotes and just get all the answers from there, but once i picked that book up i could not stop reading it. This book is about this popular guy named nick and he had to get a restraining order because he hit this girl named Catalina who nickname was Cat. This book is about a normal guy who has anger management problems and realizes that he needs help and he actually puts forth an effort to get better. Again i would like to say how amazing this book was and i really recomend this book to the other students. 1201660170

Breathing Underwater is an excellent book with an excellent truth within the entriguing plot. This book is about a 16 year old, teenage boy. His name is Nick, and he is everything anyone wants to be. He is athletic, smart, popular, and attractive. He meets this girl named Caitlin; and the two of them become quite serious. The book starts off with Nick in the courtroom, and within the first couple pages, the reader is informed of why Nick is there. The judge sentences Nick to a family violence class, where he is to keep a journal where he writes about the first day he met Caitlin to his hearing in court. From then on, the story takes place within the family violence class, and as a "twist," the reader recieves more in-depth information about Caitlin and her relationship with Nick. During his duration in the family violence class, Nick opens up his heart, mind, and soul to his teacher and his fellow groupmates. Nick and the other young boys inside of the classroom learn that their anger comes from negative impacts or influences that other people [usually family members] have had on them. In the end, Mario, Nicks mentor throughout this long period of time shares with the class of a "falling out" he had encountered with his family. After hearing this story, Nick asks to re-take the course so he can become a better person for himself, for his father, and for others. 1201826972

Another thing, the title breathing underwater is explained in the story. Mario explains is within the classroom. He says "have you ever been in a violent, abusive situation where you have felt like someone is holding your head underwater, and how you are dieing to come up for air, to breathe; to catch your breath?" The boys react to this as "what in God's name is he talking about?!" Mario goes into deeper explanation, and says that before taking your anger out on someone or something for that matter, take a minute to catch your breath, to breathe before you take the plunge **downward** //under// "water." I take this title, and this story as a life lesson. Life is too short to be controlling of other people, to get angry at the little things. If we waste our time being abusive toward other people, other things, or even ourselves we are forgetting the purpose of what __LIFE__ really is. If we don't take the time to //breathe//, and take our heads out from underwater, we will miss all of the oppertunities life has for us.. 1201827299

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn is by far the best book I have ever read. It explains Nick's relationship with his girlfriend, Caitlin. The two start out great but slowly things change as Nick starts hitting Caitlin. Months go by until Caitlin files a battery charge against Nick for hitting her serveral times. The judge tells Nick that he has to go to a violence class for teens. Nick starts out not caring about the class because he doesn't think he did anything wrong, but eventually he realizes the crime he had made. In addition to the class he has to keep a journal starting with the first time he met Caitlin. As Nick's journal story goes on you see him becoming more and more obsessive, abusive, and controlling towards Caitlin. Then everything starts to tie together on why Nick is abusive. Turns out Nick's father abused his mother until she left and he had hit Nick, too.

I also thought this book gave some real-life clues on how you can tell if someone is or will be abusive. user:KCaKCa

I liked this book sooooo much. To me it was kind of like a wakeup call, where I have to be aware of everyone I meet because there are abusive people out there. It was interesting to read the story from Nick's (the abuser/boyfriend/main character) point of view because we got to see his thought process behind all of his actions. It was scary to think that he really thought that he did nothing wrong...that Caitlin just "pushed him over the egde" and so he slapped her. Half the time Nick wouldn't even admit that he HIT Caitlin, just because his hand was open. It's so weird...it's like a hit is a hit buddy.

This book I would recommend to any teens, boy or girl. It's a good read and although it's fiction it has realisic situations.1202393322

I also really enjoyed this book, its actually one of the best books I have ever read. I think the part I liked the most about it was how it was almost three stories combined into one book. The first part was about what was currently happening in the main character Nick's life. This part told about his life at home with his dad and also about his life at school. It described how what happened to him in his past was affecting him now. For example his friends like Saint and Tom weren't talking him and Cat his ex-girlfriend wouldn't talk to him or even be around him. The second part of the book was also what was currently going on his life. Although this was a different part of his life, this was about his anger managements classes. This part told about how every Saturday he had to go to classes because of him abusing Cat and then getting a restraining order from her. These two sections, although they were happening at the same time were completely different. I think its because he was like i different person between the two. Also there were a whole different set of characters in the second part like the teacher Mario, and the fellow students like AJ and Tiny. Finally the third part of the book was the journal that Nick was writing in, this explained Nick's whole past and how he had gotten to where he was now. It told about his and Caitlins relationship from the very begining and how things had changed. I think that overall this was an amazing book and even though it was confusing sometimes because of how there were different parts in the end it came together and really made the book worth reading!! 1202962234