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Loading... The Air We Breathe: A Novelby Andrea Barrett
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  hickmanmc | Nov 17, 2009 |  The Air We Breathe is an historical novel about a group of individuals confined to a tuberculosis hospital in the Adirondacks during World War I. The story isn't really about historical events or the circumstances in which these people find themselves as it is about human conflict both large and small being fed by virtuous and selfish passions. Barrett uses all sorts of clever plot devices and narrative voice to create an almost claustrophobic narrative that weaves together science, history, politics, and social policy. It's a beautiful contemporary novel. Have you ever gone for a walk or been sitting outside, listening to music far off in the distance, music you can only just hear, that sounds really familiar and strangely comforting? That's the feeling I got from this book, i.e., eerily familiar and subtle throughout. (  )1  Voracious_Reader | Nov 10, 2009 | Reviewed by Mrs. Grupe (Social Studies) This was a great airplane read; not too difficult to read and very easy to become enmeshed in the story and characters. I read it in seven hours and it was a wonderful way to pass the flight time. The setting is an upstate New York small town which has become a haven for the wealthy and not so wealthy who have contracted TB in 1917-1918. There is a complicated love story, a WWI element, a socialist/ capitalist conflict and a thread which details the struggle of three women to rise above the conventions of a stifling society to follow their dreams. I love stories with many layers which are set deeply in a specific historical context and I love stories about topics I don't know much about. This is a book both men and women will enjoy and I would imagine would see much differently. ( ) HHS-Staff | Oct 20, 2009 | I like andrea barrett's novels, she has a nice mixture of ideas, science, and a people. she in that regard a lot like richard powers, this novel also had a historical novel feel. the story of america entering ww 1 also studied how we deal with grief. (  ) michaelbartley | Oct 10, 2009 | Uncharacteristically for one of Barrett's book, it was not until three-quarters of the way through the story that I suddenly was drawn in emotionally. Prior to that I was thinking, "the pace is slow - I am not enamored with this book." As a physician, much of the book was fascinating from a clinical and scientific perspective. Barrett's ability to do so is one of the many dimensions of pleasure I experience in her writing, but that wasn't enough to carry the day. In the end, however, its emotional power finally emerged. The ultimate political and social insights evoked a disturbing realization that felt all too real, all too recent, despite the setting of close to 100 years ago. It was at that point my opinion changed. I would not hesitate to recommend this book, though I would give the advice to be patient. It significantly pays off by the last page. ( )1 Griff | Sep 27, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English
From Follett -- Conflict and resentments break out in a small Adirondack town in the fall of 1916 when Miles Fairchild, a wealthy resident living in a "cure cottage" while being treated for tuberculosis, decides to start a discussion group with patients--mostly poor European immigrants--confined in the state-run sanitorium.
This book is one of the finalists for Columbia's One Read. It does cover the historical period in an interesting way (through the stories of the patients and workers at the sanatorium). It probably would not be of interest to most high school students. I found myself not that invested in any of the characters. Although that might have been because I read it quickly. (