The world of the nine stories in this astonishing debut collection is one of beauty and longing….[These stories] are astounding in their ability to capture young people in all their simple agonies and joys.
Wondrous. . . . Not one of her stories leaves you unaffected; often, your heart aches from sustained and painful empathy. And yet you’re left exhilarated, too, by their sheer energetic artistry. . . . [Orringer] seems to remember childhood events as if it were last week. All her stories have unexpected settings and events, yet ring so true you practically feel you’re there somewhere yourself, sitting unobserved in the landscape observing your struggling fellow humans.
Julie Orringer is the real thing, a breathtaking chronicler of the secrets and cruelties underneath the surface of middle-class American life. These are terrific stories — wise, compassionate and haunting.
These stories will remind you of all the lovably flawed girls you ever knew . . . or were.
How to Breathe Underwater is an outstanding collection. Orringer writes about the things that everyone writes about — youth, friendship, death, grief, etc. — but her narrative settings are fresh and wonderfully knotty. So while her themes are as solid and recognizable as oak trees, the stuff growing on the bark you’ve never seen before. . . .The moment I finished it I bought myself a first edition, and then another. It’s that sort of book.
A fiercely beautiful debut….Orringer delves into the harrowing rip tides of emotion and circumstance that disturb lives yet enhance survival. Her tales are tough, transcendent and so richly imagined you won’t want to get out.
Fair Warning: Once you start reading Julie Orringer’s debut collection of short stories, How to Breathe Underwater, you may find yourself unable to stop. . . . Orringer’s work has a glorious maturity and burnished grace. . . . Each story delivers the satisfying details and emotional heft of a novel.
A major new talent…How to Breathe Underwater is a dark and beautiful book.