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Breathing Underwaterby Lu Vickers
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Mama jumped into the lake next to me and sank beneath the surface, facing me, her eyes wide open. That was the last I saw of her before everything went black. I floated backward through space, twitching like Maisey's worm, sinking, a voice whirling through my head, wish I'd never had you. Â In 1970s Chattahoochee, Florida, where the main employer is a mental institution, it's sink or swim for Lily. Â When her mama, a former beauty queen who once dreamt of being Miss Florida, takes Lily and her siblings fishing one morning, Lily nearly drowns while her mother looks on, "weighing her gains against her losses." Â Lily proves to be a survivor, which she will need to prove again and again, as she struggles to stay afloat amidst her mother's slow mental deterioration, her first love, and her quest to come to terms with who she is and what she wants from this crazy world. Â With lyrical prose, Lu Vickers gives voice to Lily's inner soul, and in turn reveals how universal our needs and desires are. Â Lu Vickersreceived her PhD in English from Florida State University, where she was a Kingsbury Fellow. She has twice been awarded Florida's Individual Artist grants for fiction, and she received an Astraea Award for fiction. Vickers'short stories, essays, and poetry have appeared widely. She is an associate professor at Tallahassee Community College, and she lives with her partner of eleven years and their three sons. Review:"Coming out young is tough enough, but poor Lily has the misfortune of doing it in a setting as gothic and claustrophobic as anything Faulkner could have dreamed up: Chattahoochee, Fla., where the largest employer is a mental institution. Her family is classically dysfunctional: an emotionally distant father and a failed beauty queen mother who believes her children ruined her life. Lily's mother is especially toxic — she watches while Lily nearly drowns early in the book — and grows more demented as the narrative progresses. Lily's preteen undercurrent of awareness that she is not like the other girls prompts her to determine that she's in love with her friend Rae; the two practice kissing one another with Rae's caveat that one has to pretend to be a boy. Lily keeps her lesbian yearnings mostly under wraps, but an encounter with another young woman gets her in trouble with her off-the-rocker mother, and her father's attempts to keep the family together can only do so much. The plotting in this debut novel is by-the-numbers, but Vickers's prose is polished and the characters are sharply drawn." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:A gracefully crafted Southern coming-of-age novel from an award-winning debut author
Synopsis:"A hilarious and daring portrait of growing up gay in the American South. One roots for Lily as one does for Huck Finn. This beautifully written debut novel explores the fragile links between a girl's growing awareness of her sexuality and the far-reaching effects this has upon her family."-Pamela Ball, author of Lavaand The Floating City "Lu Vickers is an exquisite writer. Her work can be, at once, poetic, sharp, hilarious, and relentlessly moving. In Breathing Underwater, she investigates, with keen insight, the legacies of guilt, the intricacies of the mother-daughter relationship, and the complexities of budding sexuality. A stunning, rich, and haunting debut." --Julianna Baggott, best-selling author of Girl Talk, The Madam,and Lizzie Borden in Love In 1970s Chattahoochee, Florida, where the main employer is a mental institution, it's sink or swim for Lily. When her mama, a former beauty queen who once dreamt of being Miss Florida, takes Lily and her siblings fishing one morning, Lily nearly drowns while her mother looks on, "weighing her gains against her losses."Lily proves to be a survivor, which she will need to prove again and again, as she struggles to stay afloat amidst her mother's slow mental deterioration, her first love, and her quest to come to terms with who she is and what she wants from this crazy world. With lyrical prose, Lu Vickers gives voice to Lily's inner soul, and in turn reveals how universal our needs and desires are. About the AuthorLu Vickers received her Ph.D. in English from Florida State University, where she was a Kingsbury Fellow. She has twice been awarded Florida's Individual Artist Grants for fiction, and received a $10,000 Astrea Award for fiction. Her short stories and essays have been published in many journals, including the Apalachee Review and Salon.com. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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