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Breathe (Oates novel)

Breathe is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates published in 2021 by Ecco Press.

Contents

Part I: The Vigil<br> 1. A Voice Out of a Fever Cloud<br> 2. The Vigil<br> 3. Post-Mortem<br> 4. Time-Out-of-Time<br>5. Unthinkable<br> 6. A Rare Parasite<br> 7. The Man Who Never Dreams<br> 8. Respite<br> 9. Wait<br> 10. Spinoza<br> 11. Bed of Serpents<br> 12. The Vigil II<br> 13. Urgent Care<br> 14. Respite II<br> 15. Secret Cache<br> 16. A Theory Pre-Post-Mortem<br> 17. Lonely Wife<br> 18. "Please Let Us Help You"<br> 19. The Vigil III<br> 20. The Experiment<br> 21. Orpheus, Eurydice<br> 22. The Vigil: Night<br> 23. Prosopagnosia<br> 24. Hospice/Honeymoon<br> 25. The Unbearable<br> 26. Canceled<br> 27. "Good News"<br> 28. Breathe<br> 29. Death Certificate<br> Part II: Post-Mortem<br> 30. The Wound<br> 31. Post-Mortem<br> 32. "Widow"<br> 33. Skli<br> 34. Grief-Vise<br> 35. Chapel of Chimes<br> 36. The Instructions<br> 37. Hylpe Mi Plz Hylppe Mie<br> 38. Voice Mail Message!<br> 39. "No One Can Reach Him"<br> 40. Missing<br> 41. Seven Pounds, Two Ounces<br> 42. Café Luz de la Luna<br> 43. Clinic<br> 44. Grief Counselor<br> 45. Demon-Goddess<br> 46. Blindsight<br> 47. Dawn<br> 48. The Good Widow<br> 49. "Save Yourself" 50. The Examination<br> 51. "Take Me Home"<br> 52. The Lonely<br> 53. Revelation in the Form of a Dove<br> 54. "Thank You for Changing My Life"<br> 55. Half-Life<br> 56. The Adulteress<br> 57. The Approach<br> 58. Bell Tower at San Gabriel<br> 59. Rio de Piedras<br> 60. The Departure<br> 61. A Voice Out of a Fever Cloud

Plot

Reception

Calling the novel "an allegory of grief," New York Times critic Joshua Henkin writes:

Henkin adds: "Oates lands the book's wonderful ending...both surprising and inevitable." Library Journal reviewer Christine DeZelar-Tiedman writes:

Mark Athitakis at The Washington Post observes: "Oates makes Michaela cartoonish in the novel's latter stages. No rationality can reach her.... In its best moments, Breathe shows how that makes a kind of sense; so many relationships are made of the stories we tell each other. But it's also a novel that falls in love with its portrait of paranoia–and that's not a healthy relationship for anybody."

Footnotes

Sources

  • Athitakis, Mark. 2021. "Joyce Carol Oates captures the wobbly reality of widowhood in Breathe." Washington Post, August 23, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/joyce-carol-oates-captures-the-wobbly-reality-of-widowhood-in-breathe/2021/08/06/959902ae-e570-11eb-8aa5-5662858b696e_story.html Accessed 25 March 2025.
  • DeZelar-Tiedman, Christine. 2021. "Breathe" Library Journal, July 23, 2021. https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/breathe-1784301 Accessed 23 March 2025.
  • Henkin, Joshua. 2021. "Joyce Carol Oates Explores the Cruel Course of Grief" New York Times, August 3, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/books/review/breathe-joyce-carol-oates.html Accessed 20 March 2025.
  • Oates, Joyce Carol. 2021. Breathe. Ecco Press, New York.