Breathe

Rating:
Summary: terrific insightful tale
Review: Nineteen year old Charlene Boher has been in prison for two years now for murder. Everyone seems to need to know whether she feels any remorse for killing, but Charlene feels nothing inside except the loneliness that has eaten at her for most of her life. With so much time, she decides to write an autobiography to explain why she feels no regret and there for must be inhuman.

Reflecting back to her lonely preadolescence Charlene remembers her room was her sunny castle until school when she met Vanessa, but that friendship ended when Vanessa's family moved; her room once again became the castle of Charlene the hermit. The fights between her parents when she was seven consequently led to the destruction of her family. Charlene feels all alone until as a teen she met Sarah, who shockingly befriended her. Four years later, they meet Maxime leading to an argument and homicide.

BREATHE is a fabulous work of fiction that enables the audience to observe the range of negative emotions that obsessed individuals emit. Charlene is an incredible character as she serves as the poster teen of what could go wrong when a family and a community fail a child. She gives no excuses or blame for her actions, as taking a life is ho hum. Charlene never received any positives until Sarah so a friendship obsession is no stretch. This terrific insightful tale will encourage readers to ponder what we are doing to the next generations.

Harriet Klausner