Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
Katie and her older brother, Will, were like two peas in a pod growing up. At first, their family is poor as their father struggles through medical school and their mother tries to become a successful artist. As their fortune changes, the family finds themselves the richest in their southwestern Pennsylvania town of Hillsburg. The rich are usually the elite of a community, but in Hillsburg, they never quite fit in.
To make matters worse, as time goes by, Will begins to change. He's not quite right and begins short stays in a mental hospital. It isn't until the start of her sophomore year in high school that Will physically hurts himself. To remove Katie from the situation, her parents ship her off to boarding school in West Virginia.
Katie is far from boarding school material, but soon, Woodsdale Academy becomes more of a home to her than the house in Hillsburg. She is befriended by Estella and Lindsey almost from the first moment she arrives. Estella is the most popular girl on campus and is intrigued by Katie.
What Katie starts as a small omission about her family soon turns into a lie she feels is too great to reveal. She's told her fellow students that her brother is dead. She can't confess the fact that he is absolutely crazy. Estella already jokingly calls Katie white trash. She'd never live it down if the full impact of the truth was revealed.
As the story progresses, Katie develops a strange bond with her mysterious roommate, Mazzie Moon. And the gorgeous boy that hangs out with Estella's boyfriend, Stetson, is soon paired up with Katie for swimming practice. Swimming is all Katie is good at, and the only time the jumbled thoughts in her head are quieted. Drew becomes her boyfriend, and all is right at Woodsdale. But as time goes by, Katie questions things around her and wants more for herself.
BREATHLESS is the kind of story that I had hoped Curtis Sittenfeld's PREP was going to be. The main character actually evolves and grows as the story unfolds. Katie is far more likeable than Lee ever becomes in PREP. By the end of the novel, the reader can actually close the story, satisfied that a proper ending was achieved.
Katie starts off as one of the crowd, going with the flow, but she eventually learns to be her own person and do what she needs to for herself, not what is expected of her by others.
Katie and her older brother, Will, were like two peas in a pod growing up. At first, their family is poor as their father struggles through medical school and their mother tries to become a successful artist. As their fortune changes, the family finds themselves the richest in their southwestern Pennsylvania town of Hillsburg. The rich are usually the elite of a community, but in Hillsburg, they never quite fit in.
To make matters worse, as time goes by, Will begins to change. He's not quite right and begins short stays in a mental hospital. It isn't until the start of her sophomore year in high school that Will physically hurts himself. To remove Katie from the situation, her parents ship her off to boarding school in West Virginia.
Katie is far from boarding school material, but soon, Woodsdale Academy becomes more of a home to her than the house in Hillsburg. She is befriended by Estella and Lindsey almost from the first moment she arrives. Estella is the most popular girl on campus and is intrigued by Katie.
What Katie starts as a small omission about her family soon turns into a lie she feels is too great to reveal. She's told her fellow students that her brother is dead. She can't confess the fact that he is absolutely crazy. Estella already jokingly calls Katie white trash. She'd never live it down if the full impact of the truth was revealed.
As the story progresses, Katie develops a strange bond with her mysterious roommate, Mazzie Moon. And the gorgeous boy that hangs out with Estella's boyfriend, Stetson, is soon paired up with Katie for swimming practice. Swimming is all Katie is good at, and the only time the jumbled thoughts in her head are quieted. Drew becomes her boyfriend, and all is right at Woodsdale. But as time goes by, Katie questions things around her and wants more for herself.
BREATHLESS is the kind of story that I had hoped Curtis Sittenfeld's PREP was going to be. The main character actually evolves and grows as the story unfolds. Katie is far more likeable than Lee ever becomes in PREP. By the end of the novel, the reader can actually close the story, satisfied that a proper ending was achieved.
Katie starts off as one of the crowd, going with the flow, but she eventually learns to be her own person and do what she needs to for herself, not what is expected of her by others.
