Enjoyed most of the stories, they were well written and had engaging characters and interesting enough plots, but on the whole there was nothing really memorable or spectacular about the collection. Liked how the focus on each story was on young girls/women and the various issues they faced. Wasn't impressed with all the female hating going on though, most of the main characters hated other girls or had to deal with over the top bitchy females. It was a bit much.When She Is Old and I Am Famous,

Yikes, I finally made my way through this fairly slender book of short stories.And I didn't like them.The characters in these stories all inhabit a rather bleak landscape - not the external environment, mind you, but the one inside them, their interior selves. Bleak, bleak, bleak. They are passive, bystanders, poor decision-makers, or they don't make decisions at all. They allow others to make them. They watch as awful things are done to them, or to others, and they just stand there. When one ch...

Wow. This is an incredible collection and I loved each story. Read this!!

I can’t really express how much this book affected me. I was thinking I might just skip the review thingy and just leave it as ‘holy shit’ and be done with it. Of course, I can’t do that. It’s been 3 days since I finished it and I find myself going back and rereading lines and calling up scenes. Why? Because these characters are better than me and I live in retrospect. These stories pull at my gut and bring me back to times where ‘shoulda’ and ‘maybe if’ exist even though I know I can never go b...

Read as part of the Summer 2016 LTWF group readI was hugely impressed by just how skillfully crafted and well balanced this collection is. Too often short story collections can feel uneven and disconnected, but this collection felt very well thought out, structured around deeply personal and devastating issues faced by girls during childhood and young adulthood, such as death and illness, guilt, loss, jealousy, peer pressure and finding one's identity. Of course I had my favourites, and then a f...

There's a certain breed of writing peculiar to the contemporary white United States that demands almost no critical thought from its target white United States audience. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't so frequently marketed as 'literary fiction' to the point that it finds itself on the sort of high-falutin lists that I still find myself perusing in these aged days of mine. Now, considering how much I ended up liking Orringer's The Invisible Bridge, I thought I would be safe with this w...

***NO SPOILERS***How to Breathe Underwater or, Feeling Like a Fish Out of Water. That’s what Julie Orringer has done most successfully in this collection of nine pensive short stories that concern girls and young women--captured what it feels like to be out of one’s comfort zone. In one story, a girl feels awkward in an unfamiliar family’s home during an unconventional Thanksgiving. In another, an insecure young woman feels constant discomfort in the presence of her model cousin. In yet another,...

I first read this in about 2005 as a library book, before I'd ever thought about being a writer myself, and I absolutely loved it. It was one of those books that made me want to see if I could write (not sure that I'll ever achieve this though). Since then I've often looked for it bookshops but never found it, and then a month or so ago I decided to order it from my local indie bookshop, and although I have two other books on the go, I had to start it as soon as it arrived. And I still love it j...

Thick, THICK description, very tangible scenes that she puts you in and really makes you see and feel and smell, etc. Great writing. Subject matter of some a bit wearying, in that dramatic life's-just-oh-so-tragic short story kind of way, but that might just be me and my personal hangups. I'm so tired of everyone and their literary fucking drug addictions and fatal car crashes and dead parents and what have you! But then, what is it I want people to be writing about instead? I have no idea. Winn...

46. How to Breathe Underwater : Stories by Julie Orringerpublished: 2003format: 226 page trade paperbackacquired: borrowed from library read: July 10, 20-23rating: 4 stars (side note: This was my second consecutive book by a South Florida author. They grew up both in time and place very close to where I did, and in a world very similar to mine. I like to think that affected my response.)Let's not jump to conclusions. This collection has a lot to offer, if you let it. It was a great experience fo...

Are you looking for a collection of short stories about the trials and tribulations of growing up that's ultimately inspirational and uplifting? You won't find it here in this book which maybe should have been titled "How to Read Underwater." This is because I felt I was drowning in misery nearly the entire time I was reading it, often needing breaks to surface and inhale. That's not to say that the stories aren't well written since they are, or that they aren't realistic since most of them are

Orringer writes with confidence, but without much passion. These nine stories are perfectly constructed, and the author has a keen ear for natural dialogue, but with few exceptions, I was not moved by the characters or their dilemmas. In each, whether the voice is first or third person (even, in the case of Note to Sixth-Grade Self, second person), the protagonist is a young girl or a coming of age adolescent. Each faces a significant loss- either of a loved one or of innocence. Very high marks

[4+] Orringer captures the essence of girls growing up in this remarkable collection of stories. Each story unearths a dark, defining event in the narrator's life that feels so true, I found myself thinking about my own childhood - wondering about what I have forgotten, buried deep inside.

As I was reading this book, I kept thinking that I would rate this book a 3, but when I finished I realized that would not be fair. I loved these stories, usually in short stories you like some, dislike some, but in this book I liked them all. All young women, different ages, different life circumstances, but all facing challenges that they need to find their way through and without parental involvement. The first story, "Pilgrims" was chilling and gave off a Lord of the Flies type of vibe. "Iso...

Though I find a lot of short story collections uneven, with some stories being much stronger and carrying the collection, that was not the case for How To Breathe Underwater. Before reading it, I was familiar only with "Pilgrims," which almost literally knocked me off my feet when I read it in Best New American Voices years ago. (I actually did have to sit down.) I don't know why I waited to long to pick up Julie's collection, but now that I have it, I'm stunned by how powerful, moving, and well...

Collection of lovely short stories about children and adolescents. Very dark themes. They brought up a lot of emotions for me. Long after reading this book, I found myself thinking of certain of the stories. Each story is complete; she really knows how to write short stories well.

4.5 stars.This to me was a near perfect short story collection, and that is a lot coming from me because I usually find short story collections a mixed bag - particularly when the stories are by an author I've never read before. I am so glad I picked up this collection by Julie Orringer, as not only is it a beautiful book but I also enjoyed almost every story in it.The stories in this collection are told from the point of view of young girls or young women, and they touch on a range of subjects

So. The overarching themes of this book seem to be: - Children should be listened to and paid attention to. Children are adults' links to the real world; a grounding force that is there to stabilize adults if they bother to involve themselves in their children's lives and pay attention to the details of children's existence. - Males are at worst rapists and sexual predators, and at best clumsy and inept. - People in general are cruel, unfeeling jerks. - If you are not a helicopter parent who mon...

Orringer knows how to tackle serious issues with just the right tact: The Invisible Bridge was a favorite of mine and this book of short stories was a lovely read. I love when short story collections have a similar thread. All the characters in this book are making their way from childhood to adolescence and they are trying to breathe underwater. The stories have death or impending death as underlying themes, but they're not all dark because there is a buoyancy that accompanies each theme and ch...