Breathe

By Blair R. Poole

Book Overview

Set against the backdrop of contemporary city life and hip-hop culture, Breathe is a realistic portrayal of the isolation, angst, and mental turmoil of a young African-American male coping with his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977181200
• ISBN13: 9780977181209
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Burrow Publishing, LLC
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Excellent

Breathe! This book was excellent. To see what a DL brother has to go thru hits right home. Being from a small town in the bible belt lets me feel where this brother is coming from. My heart fell when everything he tried to protect came crashing down but I also drew strength from him when he refused to be broken by most of his family and so-called friends. Then to meet the love of his life gave hope to everyone who has had to endure what we all that have been "outed" or chose to come out of the closet have endured. It is a wonderfully written and very inspiring book. I could read it a thousand times and my emotions would still run high. R.M.C.

impressed

As a seventeen year old black male who hardly finds time to read,i was very impressed by this book. This book is worth every penny. Some may say steriotycal, but i belive it hit every issue about comeing out as a young black man. From issues with family and friends, to issues in todays society, this book covers everything. I highly recommend this book to young black men dealing with sexual identity.(for someone who never reads, it took me two and a half hours to read this book)

Eye Opening

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel "Breathe" by Blair R. Poole. I was so entrenched in reading the book that I finished it in one day. I couldn't put it down. Beginning with page one to the final page. The topics and issues highlighted in the book are commonplace in our society today - that is why many young men choose to hide who they really are - and in a sense suffocate by trying to be someone other than their true selves. They are not allowed to breathe because of prejudices and ignorance.

great read

This was a really good book. I recived it yeserday and finished it today. It was really intresting and was hard to put down. It talks about the struggles of a young teen growing up and dealing with his sexuality. He goes through hard times and later on finds out who truley cares for him. It gives the story of a young homosexual coming out to the world and shows the reactions of the people around him and shows how difficult the lifestyle can truley be.

A Heartbreaking, Triumphant First Novel

As a person who has sons and who is very interested in sports, I was intrigued when I first saw the book Breathe. When I found out the material was gay-oriented, I was somewhat taken aback and didn't want to read it. But I picked it up again, and continued to read it, and I came to the conclusion that Breathe was not a gay story. It is a human story. Blair R. Poole has done a good job of writing about Nafiq, a teenage high school basketball star who struggles with questions of sexual identity. But he has also portrayed a middle-class African American family whose struggles with Nafiq's emerging identity are just as anguished as the teen's own. There is much tension and conflict in this book, and as in real life, much of it never gets resolved. This is a great first novel, or novella, as the author has dubbed it.