Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This was a lovely read, so sweet, emotional, it tackled difficult topics sensitively and with great care.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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Breathe Deep & Swim
by Jenna Marcus (Goodreads Author)
3.26 47 ratings 40 reviews
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Perfect for fans of We Are Okay and The Thing about Jellyfish, this witty and achingly beautiful coming of age story will tackle what it means to be alive, loved, and trusting in a world gone mad...

All 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Thomas want... More
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Average rating3.26 · 47 ratings · 40 reviews

English ‎(40)
Reading_ Tamishly
Reading_ Tamishly rated it really liked it
11 months ago
It turned out to be quite emotional for me. This naturally happens when I read about broken families and neglectful parents.

I feel so bad and protective towards the teen characters who just became orphans at the beginning of the story.

They do not know the reason why their mother left them. They have no emotions towards their problematic father.

Wolfgang and his older brother, Van Gogh, try to run away before the authorities discover their dad's dead body for the fear of getting separated and put in foster homes. They are trying to find their mum as the last chance of being together.

And the run continues.

This story made me quite anxious and uncomfortable regarding the way things turned out leaving the vulnerable teens in various life-threatening conditions. Especially because the teens took matters into their own hands endangering their own lives.

Regarding the writing, it's thoroughly engaging. The characters are developed well and good. They act thier age but then the adult characters seem to be merely present throughout whatsoever.

The plot needed to be more convincing for me. It involves some mystery to solve in two books left behind by their mother. This part becomes really interesting as the story goes on.

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However, all opinions are of my own.
I love how fast paced this one was and that it really was emotional. It is set in the middle of the pandemic which is relevant and it follows two brothers trying to find their mother who abandoned them 11 years ago.
Really enjoyed.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have given Breathe Deep & Swim by Jenna Marcus two out of five stars ⭐️⭐️

We follow two brothers; Wolfgang and Van Gogh, who end up on the road after they discover their father has died from the coronavirus. Not wanting to go into foster care they decide to quickly pack up everything they can muster and venture out to look for their mother who had abandoned them. Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. Reading about the coronavirus in a book was a little too soon for me and I thought that there wasn’t much of a point to this story overall. I couldn’t fully escape into this book due to the mentioning of the coronavirus as it is still very present at this moment in time.

I found that I didn’t mesh well with the some of the words written from Wolfgang’s perspective; as I thought the language used didn’t fit his supposed fourteen year old self. He was either whining like a young child or he was using words which made him sound a lot older than fourteen years old. Also, I found it difficult to really connect with the characters and feel anything towards them until the last part of the book where the author included quite a few emotional scenes.

Grappling with a traumatic situation is never easy.

But as Breathe Deep & Swim from Jenna Marcus explores with quiet intensity and a real sense of belonging, there is a power that comes from going through something so challenging with someone you love solidly and unswervingly by your side.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Thomas is a 14-year-old teenager in Florida whose trauma has long, shared roots.

Abandoned by his mother when he was only a few years old, and living with a father who seems to regard parenthood, especially of two artistically talented sons, to be a burden in his wholly blue collar world, Wolfgang or Wolf as he is often called (he prefers the former), has a lot on his young plate.

He finds considerable salvation in reading, his starkly empty bedroom’s main adornment being a cluttered bookcase full of the many paperback books he has acquired over the years, the most important ones annotated with his insights which he has written in over many years. (Breathe Deep & Swim functions, in part, as a love letter to books and the majesty and transformative power of storytelling in literature.)

But his emotional mainstay, without any question, is his older, 16-year-old brother, Van Gogh, who, apart from always being there for his sibling, exhibits a fearlessness and a plunge-in-and-see-what-happens attitude to life that Wolfgang demonstrably lacks.

Together, these brothers somehow manage to find a way to get through life in a world that doesn’t much seem to care if they are there or not, with a father who openly mocks Wolfgang’s proclivity for reading wherever and whenever he can (Wolf isn’t even remotely musical like his namesake) and Van Gogh’s talent for painting (he, at least, is proof of some form of nominative determinism).

If all of that lingering, longstanding trauma isn’t enough, Wolfgang discovers his dad dead from coronavirus one day in the small green house they share, yet another victim of a pandemic that, in the United States alone, saw at least 600,000 people fatally succumb to this virulent disease.

While neither boy is gripped by immense sadness for their dad’s passing – sadly, there was just too much trauma attached to a man who seemed to resent their existence on a daily basis – it soon dawns on Van Gogh that if they are found in the house with their dad, they’ll be forced into state care and not have any opportunity to try and find their mother who left the family years earlier and might have returned home to The Bronx, New York City.

As the first novel this reviewer has read set in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which has come to define the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, Marcus does an exemplary job of referencing the omnipresence of the disease without being defined by it.

She is also savvy enough to address some issues that may come from the boys taking flight from a home in which someone has died from COVID and potentially spreading it to people around them.

Wolfgang, being more timid and careful and in need of clearly defined reassurance than his brother, is hesitant to go rushing from the home as Van Gogh is demanding they do but acquiesces when his brother explains that they must go or their lives may be forever altered by being split apart by a system that won’t recognise how pivotal they are to each other’s lives.

Their willingness, masks firmly in place and social distancing clearly observed, to head out in a world full of the virus from a home rife with it, is driven by trauma and the need to escape it and forge a better future – Van Gogh reasons their mother will be more likely to take them in if they appear on her doorstep – and Breathe Deep & Swim draws on their desperate impelling need to explain why they undertake so perilous a journey at a time when breathing itself seems to be an act of danger and defiance all by itself.

It’s this willingness to hit the road and hope for the best, admittedly more of a Van Gogh imperative than something Wolfgang happily embraces, that informs the enduring theme of the book which is about the power of tenacity to hold you aloft when everything around you seems to want to sink you.

In less capable hands, Breathe Deep & Swim might have seemed like a twee exercise in inspirationally pushing forward but Marcus draws the boys richly and fully and sculpts a narrative that gives their desperate act a muscularity and an intense necessity that underscores how for some people, learning to hang in there is something they must do, no other options provided, simply to survive.

Wolfgang doesn’t want to rush out of the house but he does. He doesn’t want to go on the road without the certainty of an assured outcome but he does. He only really does it because Van Gogh says it will be fine, and he trusts his brother implicitly – the bond between the brothers is heartwarming and one of the main emotional drivers of an already emotionally powerfully YA novel – but partly because his mother’s catchphrase (“Breathe deep and swim”), one of the few things he remembers about her, gives him enough strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

As Van and Wolf, as people including their dad liked to refer to them, forge an obstacle-strewn path to New York City, Wolfgang comes to understand learns salient lessons about what it is to be tenacious, driven home by a number of cards and photos they discover in a combination-locked box which go someway to documenting who their mother was, though they leave as many questions unaddressed as they actually answer.

Breathe Deep & Swim is one of those immersively rich novels which takes a hard and sustained look at trauma, both lifelong and immediate, and asks how anyone can possibly survive all that.

The answer, and there is nothing simplistic about Marcus’s nuanced and layered storytelling and rich, affecting charactaerisation, is that while hanging in there has a great deal to do with it, driven by a hope that is less Disney-esque than robustly able to withstand all kinds of assaults, it is the people who stand in the corner with you who make all the difference.

While Wolfgang is definitely the centre of the story in Breathe Deep & Swim, it is his enduring bond with his brother, one forged in trauma and expressed through love, care and mutual support, both at home and on the road, that defines this sweet but intensely moving novel.

No one wants to ever be in a place where their lives are wholly on the line and in the hands of someone else, but if you are, and Marcus acknowledges it won’t be easy or pretty, then there is nothing you need more than someone special by your side, and a recurring mantra than urges you on, all evidence to the contrary.

I went into this so ready to care and yet I just...didn't. I think it was partly because of the sheer amount of telling instead of showing, and partly because we were so wrapped up in Wolfgang's POV. I wish we had been able to see the world outside of that.

Wow! This book touched many difficult topics, but it did it very well. It was a great example of what life has been like recently, but it was tastefully done. This is a book that could be analyzed through its' layers and would be great for discussions.

Really sweet, slightly heart in mouth, story about two brothers with ridiculous names, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Van Gogh Vincent, who run away from home in order to find their long lost mother after their father dies from Covid. They have quite the adventure with some heart stopping moments all seen through Wolfgang's POV, I enjoyed the way that he engaged with the world, especially as he reads so many books. A brave reflection of current times.

With thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.

This book is set in our time where there is Covid-19. So we follow Van Gogh and Wolfgang journey from country side to NY after their father died from Covid and both of them are on the run to their only known relatives, who is their mom and living in NY. Losing contact with their mom after so many years and now she become their only hope so that both of them won't end up in an orphanage and get separated. While on their way, the brothers able to learned a things or two about their relatives and also faced hardships.
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2/3 of book was a bit slow for me but i was still able to enjoy them. The writing was beautiful and was really easy for me to read. The plot was for me okay and i was not expecting that plot twist nearing the end.

This book is only in Van Gogh's pov and i'm really interested in Wolfgang's pov since he does endured quite a lot of harsh trials in the book. But nevertheless Van Gogh's character growth was clear and really enjoyable for me to read and his thoughts always intrigued me. Their brotherly bond is very touching to read.

I would say for a short book, we do have quite a lot of characters and in this one we only get to know few of them briefly. Though in this book it do makes sense but i would to know more about the other characters' story, esp their mom.

Towards the end of the book, i have a feeling that it was quite rushed and i would really live if its was little bit longer esp for the last chapter.

All in all, an enjoyable read and would totally recommending to those who is wanting a fast, emotional and hopeful read.

Breathe Deep and Swim by Jenna Marcus is a story of COVID-19, of grief and loss and identity and belonging, or not.

A great premise, but the overly-sophisticated language and unnecessary synonyms meant I just couldn't fully connect with it. Do we really need 'however' at the start of every other sentence?! For me, the language made it all feel unnatural. This and the abundance of telling rather than showing, and too-convenient plot points, made it all feel rather rushed, which given the subject matter, perhaps it was.

I liked the general plot idea, themes, and aspects of Wolfang, Van Gogh and Janelle, but the convoluted language and unnatural dialogue brought it down somewhat. A good, quick read but too forced for me.

The first book I read about the pandemic and I'm left feeling.... meh? Like I just didn't care and I couldn't get past their names and I just... I couldn't. Like this was not what I wanted and I was really hopeful about this.This book just made me outright uncomfortable.

This is a book about two brothers who are free of their abusive father who died from Covid. Yes, it is set during the pandemic. I believe that the heaviness of life and death is something we can all relate to in the book. The two brothers set off on a road trip to find their birth mother in New York. But there is a catch, they must not be caught by social services since they are not of legal age thus they require a guardian to take care of them.

It is a heartwarming story amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic yet like reality, it shows us that suffering will not come to an end easily and one must toughen up to endure the storm. Breath deep and swim. There is a special meaning behind the book cover that I can't wait for readers to discover in the book. The heaviness of the book reflects all too well in the current state of the world, it is sad to see that even after a year of Covid, nothing much has changed. This will not be an easy read, grief and sadness catches you in the pages.

I hope you will give this book a try and who knows> Maybe you will find your strength to swim.

The title threw me off a bit. I thought it was about swimming so I almost didn't pick it up. What a mistake that would have been!
I loved this book. It is about two brothers, their relationship, and how they rely on each other. It is set during COVID which really brings back the reality of the pandemic. You don't need to know more. Just pick it up and start reading. You won't regret it.

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for giving me a chance to review this title honestly!

this book follows Wolfgang and Van Gogh trying to find their absent mother in New York after losing their father to Covid-19, and started out okay with some pretty promising plot lines and characters!! however, i felt what followed was mostly unrealistic which made it hard to be invested in, and a lot of topics which could have been really great were barely explored as well as they could have been. this was the first book i’d read that handled the covid-19 pandemic, and it wasn’t handled fantastically but i suppose it could have been worse as the author did address some of those big Covid concerns. there were some parts of this book i did enjoy (hence the three star rating) but it overall just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the copy of this ARC!

Breathe Deep & Swim focuses on two brothers, Wolfgang and Van Gogh (yes, I’m serious) and how they handle the sudden death of their (less than stellar) father from Covid-19. Knowing that they have no family around to take them in with their father gone, the boys decide to make a run for New York, where their estranged mother grew up, on the off chance that she might have gone back. The book focuses on them trying to get to New York to see if their mom is still there and hoping she’ll take them in so they don’t have to go through the foster system.

This book was just not for me. The writing wasn’t bad, at all, but it felt very rushed and like it only touched the surface on a lot of topics that could have been so good if there had just been a little more to it..

The brothers felt a little too codependent for me, but I get that it was to impart the idea of family over everything.

I also wasn’t a fan of Janelle, who is black, telling Van Gogh they couldn’t be together because he was willing to cut off his racist father just to be with her. A racist father is still a racist, and I would want nothing to do with him, so I thought that was odd even if the *idea* was coming from a well intentioned place.

Overall, it was a quick read that I just didn’t connect with.

First of all, I want to thank Netgalley for giving this book in exchange of my review, and remember that this is MY opinion, and everyone can think differently of the book.

*THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Breath Deep & Swim tells us the story of two brothers, Wolfgang and Van Gohg that after the death of their father, they decide to runaway to find a place where they can live together and safely during the pandemic.

I am about to be honest, this book was fast paced, everything was good at the start, the plot was so interesting and I wanted to see how it would be developed in the book, but I didn't feel like it was good at all, it felt like pieces were missing and the development was off, it wouldn't have even mattered if the book was longer but with more content that is missing.

The theme of the pandemic was barely treated well, I felt that something that the author would have done is explained how Van was treated or anything else but it was like he went sick with a deadly and contagious disease and magically with no explanation was cured.

Another point I want to talk about is that the book is supposed to be placed where the technology is needed for almost everything, and when the brothers wanted to go to their mom they went blindly for her instead of looking in the internet for her to know where specifically her whereabouts.

I don't want to keep going on how unrealistic this was sometimes, but I liked it a little bit, and that's why I am giving it some 3 stars, but I have a lot of complaints about it, I hope my review was for your help and again thanks for this book.

When I read the blurb for this book, I was intrigued. I liked how close and loyal the two brothers were towards each other. Their situation is messy but still well portrayed by the author. There was a questionable moment when the train conductor did not remove them from the train despite suspecting that the elder brother has contracted COVID-19. Furthermore, the ending felt rushed.

Overall, I think a 4-star review is appropriate as there were some great and emotional moments in the story. If you've been waiting to read a book about:
1) COVID-19
2) Siblings loyalty
3) Adventure
then you might want to consider getting this book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Wolfgang and Van Gogh are brothers who have not had an easy time of it. Living with their father after their mother disappears with no word was a tough existence. Especially with a father who was not present for them emotionally or quite often physically.

The one thing I really liked about the story was the relationship the two brothers had. I could imagine most of the scenes with them as being realistic for two boys who had to depend upon one another.

This is the first book I have read that has Covid-19 as a major part of the story and I was curious how it would be handled. I did not love the book --it seemed like the plot was a little thin and unbelievable but kudos to the author for writing a book that addressed some of the fears that Covid-19 threw at us all.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free copy for my honest review.

The story starts after the boys discover their dad’s dead body. They decide to search for their mom who abandoned them so they aren’t given for adoption.

The first chapter was really chaotic in a sense that it seemed like the author wanted us to now everything about the two boys, Wolfgang and Van Gogh; their habits, anecdotes, and such, to a point that you start losing the main story. Also, for having seen their dad dead they seemed calm, they didn’t shed a tear and in that situation I would expect anyone to not know how to react even after hours.

They leave the house after taking some useful items, like food, to probably never return and at that point there’s a scene where Wolfgang has to decide which books he wants to bring and which one leave behind. Which it would be really difficult for me, as I have too many favourites. But if I had to… I’d choose The Lost Book of the White, Six of Crows, Pride and Prejudice, Annie on my Mind, The Tearling trilogy + Beneath the Keep and Attack on titan: No Regrets (the coloured edition).

We see the story unfold through Wolfgang’s point of view, we know what his thoughts are, what he is feeling every moment of the story, etc. He’s a fourteen year old boy (at first I thought he was twelve?) but he sometimes uses words and concepts that a fourteen year old wouldn’t know so it was a bit unbelievable at times.

There were moments where they made illogical decisions but I guess when you a teen you tend to not think logically and I kind of understand even though I don’t agree with how they acted.

I found that as I got more immersed into the book I began caring about them more and cared whether or not they succeeded meeting their mom.

I expected to be shown why the boys had that kind of names but it doesn’t really give an explanation, or at least not an entire one.

Something that made me laugh is the following quote:
“I once heard that, when rolling dice, you have one in six chances of rolling your desired number. As we drove toward New York, we had a one in six shot of our mom accepting the two sons, [...]”

I don’t know if it was made on purpose, Wolfgang is a child and probably hasn’t been taught it, but if you roll a dice you have a one in six chances of getting, for example, 1 or any other number that is on the dice; THAT’S BECAUSE there are six numbers on the dice (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), so yes it would be a 1/6 chance. BUT in the situation where they go to meet their mom, the possible scenarios there are would be: either their mom says yes or their mom says no; there are only TWO possible outcomes so they have one out of two (1/2) chances, not 1/6 chances as Wolfgang thinks.


Other quotes I highlighted and found important:

“This may seem harsh, but I doubted either of us would associate with Dad if he weren’t related to us”

“Our dad provided us with a dwelling, food, and clothing -but that was pretty much it”

I once watched a video where fathers got asked about their kids. They got asked a series of questions like when was their birthday, who were their best friends, and such. Some fathers didn’t know the answers to those questions. I was shocked. How can some parents not know when their own child was born? I looked to the comment section of the video and there were some people arguing that if the father takes care of them financially and provides them with a house, food and other essentials it was enough.
But that is not being a parent at all! It is not enough to provide for them, you need to talk to them and know things about them.