Julie Orringer: How to Breathe Underwater

The Coventry and Leamington Reading group were shortlisted for the Penguin/Orange Reading Group Prize 2004. Click here to find out more about the group. Here they give us some comments on How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer.

'The stories in the collection were much liked and admired for their debunking of the myth of childhood as a time of rosy innocence. So powerful are they that many of the group felt that they had to take a breathing space between the stories, recovery time from the pain, before starting with enthusiasm on the next story.

We also commented on:

· The analytical detachment of tone
· Layered and insinuating nature of many of the stories
· The powerful portrayal of an insecure, unsettling, unsafe world
· Her masterly use of viewpoint and perspective
· Jacqueline Rose’s premise that children are interested in “origins, sex and death” was certainly presented here
· The themes of being locked in/enclosed were explored
· The non-judgemental nature of the writing: powerful events are simply laid out for the reader to examine
· The feeling that she is exorcising adult feelings by putting them into stories about childhood: spite, bitterness, anxiety, fear, vulnerability are all more accessibly explored if seen from child or young adult perspective
· The use of vivid and telling detail, every word carefully chosen as many of the characters are trapped in immobility
· Many of the stories could be melodramatic but her light touch is deadly
· The chilling element of children’s “dark play” so expertly dealt with in its cruel detail

There was a lot more in a lively enthusiastic discussion which had us all engrossed. Thanks to Penguin for the opportunity to read this.