All 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Thomas wants is normalcy. But a global pandemic prevents him from having anything close to a typical teenager’s life. When Wolfgang discovers his father dead in bed from the coronavirus, his world is thrust into even more turmoil and chaos. Wolfgang and his 16-year-old brother, Van Gogh, know that they must do everything they can to stay together and avoid foster care. In a cross-country road trip, they hit the road in their father’s Pontiac to find their only hope: the mother who abandoned them a decade ago. As they journey for answers to their mother’s whereabouts, they uncover devastating mysteries about her that they never could have imagined. Just as they near their destination, tragedy strikes once more. Wolfgang is drowning in fear and pain, but he must pull it together or lose his family for good. Can this broken adolescent find the strength and courage to Breathe Deep & Swim?
Firstly, I finished this book in a day – actually a few hours – This work compels you to set other things aside and keep turning the pages as, from the beginning, you feel invested in the main characters; almost certainly seeing relatable aspects of yourself within at least one, if not both of them.
The greatest success that the author achieved with this story is that the reader can easily imagine being in the shoes of Wolfgang & Van Gogh within our time; faced with harsh realities, fears and trying to find a light at the end of the tunnel within a deepening darkness. She also doesn’t shy away from touching from topics such as covid 19 and the ripple effect that this disease has caused through believers, non-believers and the indifferent, secrets and their long-term effects, racism, the destruction that broken hearts can bring and the inner struggles that every human has.
The novel is so well written that at times I had to remind myself that this is in fact a work of YA fiction and not a memoir of a young person living through the pandemic.
I cannot recommend this book enough please pick it up and divulge in this 5 star read
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