A heartfelt story that couldn’t be more timely.
Wolfgang and his older brother have never had things easy. With a disinterested father and an absent mother, they’ve only ever had each other to rely on. As COVID-19 lights the globe on fire, the disease takes no mercy on the Thomas family. The father dies at home, leaving the boys truly alone. “Van Gogh and I were each other’s home. Nevertheless, we could not live on brotherhood alone.” Worried that the authorities will separate the 14 and 16-year-olds if their status as orphans is discovered and they become wards of the state, the brothers set off to reconnect with a mother that abandoned them years before. Armed with a thousand dollars, a backpack full of books and a box of long-forgotten mementos, Wolfgang and Van Gogh don’t even take the time to mourn their father before setting off on a road trip that will define their future. These two boys will face dangers at every turn, and their confidence in each other will be put to the ultimate test.
Ominous and somber in tone, Breathe Deep & Swim is a contemporary novel about the strongest ties that bind. Like looking in a funhouse mirror, Jenna Marcus urges readers to reflect on the fears, horrors and distortions associated with coronavirus, especially as it was just beginning to cause alarm in America. The two brothers are complicated characters. Wolfgang is unusually introspective, living with his nose in a book as often as possible. Van Gogh, still a boy himself, embraces the role as protector to his younger brother and always manages to have a plan. And while the father is more of a stereotype than a real person with his racist, anti-mask, pro-Trump views, other characters, like the extraordinarily discerning Janelle, add a bright spot to an otherwise dark story. Softened for young adult readers, Marcus has written a heartfelt story that couldn’t be more timely. Less an escape from reality than a dramatized version of it, Breathe Deep & Swim is a moving story about commitment and difficult choices.
