How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

In Orringer's world, we are forced to remember that time in our lives when we had to tolerate mystery and meaningless, because, to the child in each of us, the world is still a murky-and potentially magical place.' -'Ms. She writes with penetrating intelligence and remarkable self-possession.' -'The Boston Globe 'How to Breathe Underwater is unbelievably good: the humiliations and cruelties and passions of childhood, sparkling fresh prose, a writer with a big heart and an acute sense of the small things that loom large in our lives.' -Monica Ali, 'The Guardian 'Absolutely magnificent. Orringer endows her situations and her characters-adults as well as children-with complexity and humor. Haunting.' -'Miami Herald 'Unclouded by sentimentality. Orringer sifts the inexorable sparks of sexual awakening and unearths moments of brittle surprise and bitter triumph. But what does with those hazards in her stories is something altogether magical.'-'The Seattle Times 'Eloquent. the passage through childhood and puberty is strewn with dangers and roadblocks. More so than any debut author in recent years, Orringer proves that the kids are all right, even when they're not.' -'The Austin Chronicle 'Utterly authentic. It's impossible not to feel for the pained and alienated young women in Orringer's stories, and impossible not to be stunned and moved by their quests for redemption. Even the grimmest of these stories conveys, along with anguish, a child's spark of mystery and wonder.' -'The New York Times 'Beautiful, so wise and vital. Just when you think they will stop-and lesser writers would stop-they keep going with inexorable momentum.' -'Ploughshare 'The harsh landscape in which Orringer's characters dwell corresponds to the fierce beauty of her writing.

Orringer limns the ordinary, terrifying time between childhood and maturity so skillfully.' -'San Francisco Chronicle 'Pure gems, rollicking along with scintillating prose and surety. This, Orringer's first book, is breathtakingly good, truly felt and beautifully delivered.' -'The Guardian 'Orringer's engaging wit, her eye for social detail, her ear for patterns of speech and thought, and her insights into human nature proclaim her a writer to be reckoned with.' -'Los Angeles Times ' 'Captivating. Even her most bitter characters have a gift, the sharp wit of envy. 'A major new talent.' How to Breathe Underwater' is a dark and beautiful book.' -'The New York Times Book Review 'These stories are without exception clear-eyed, compassionate and deeply moving.

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer