Book Review: The Air You Breathe

Author: Frances De Pontes Peebles

Publication Date: August 21, 2018

Publisher: Riverhead Books

"Echoes of Elena Ferrante resound in this sumptuous saga."--O, The Oprah Magazine

"Enveloping...Peebles understands the shifting currents of female friendship, and she writes so vividly about samba that you close the book certain its heroine's voices must exist beyond the page." -People

The story of an intense female friendship fueled by affection, envy and pride--and each woman's fear that she would be nothing without the other.

Some friendships, like romance, have the feeling of fate.

Skinny, nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graça, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty, and thrillingly ill behaved. Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graça quickly bond over shared mischief, and then, on a deeper level, over music. 

One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and for each, the only way out of the life to which each was born. But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes--and haunt their memories.

Traveling from Brazil's inland sugar plantations to the rowdy streets of Rio de Janeiro's famous Lapa neighborhood, from Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood back to the irresistible drumbeat of home, The Air You Breathe unfurls a moving portrait of a lifelong friendship--its unparalleled rewards and lasting losses--and considers what we owe to the relationships that shape our lives.

One of my favorite genres to read is historical fiction; I often say that I was meant for another time and place. This book took me to 1930’s Brazil on a sugar plantation where our main character, Dores, grew up. The Air You Breatheexplores the fractious relationship between Graça, a Brazilian samba singer, and her childhood friend Dores. The culture of Brazil and the bountiful theme of female friendship were my absolute favorite parts about the writing of this novel. These women suffer jealously, love, and loss together. This was such a refreshing take on what, just ten years ago, would have been just another “love story”. I am so glad that authors are moving from the cliché romance stories of days past and are focusing on the theme of female friendships in all their fierceness and glory. Don’t get me wrong, this is not about a perfect relationship. Like all friendships, these women have their downfalls, but reading and following them as they navigate life together is the most beautiful part of the journey that is this novel.

But life isn’t as orderly as a story or a song; it does not always begin and end at compelling points.

I survived my own birth, a true feat in 1920 if you were born to a dirt-poor mother living on a sugar plantation. The midwife who delivered me told everyone how surprised she was that such a hearty girl could’ve come from my mother’s tired womb. I was her fifth and final child. Most women who worked on the plantation had ten or twelve or even eighteen children, so my mother’s womb was fresher and younger than most. But she was not married and never had been. All of my long-lost brothers and myself – I was the only girl in our lot – had different fathers. This made my mother worse than a puta in my people’s minds, because at least a puta had the sense to charge for her services.

Beyond that kitchen and those cane fields was world of possibilities that I couldn’t fathom, but wanted to. I was awed by the avarice of that cane fire. It was beautiful in its constant need, in its unbridled hunger. I watched it burn, its heat pounding against my skin, and knew that we were alike, that fire and me. We wanted more than we’d been given, and we always would.

Some reviews might say this story is slow, and to some readers, there might be parts that seem slower than others. However, I am an avid lover of historical fiction. If you, too, like me, love a great historical fiction novel, then you are sure to love this gem. It is rich and fabulous in its unraveling; I will be sure to pick up more by Frances De Pontes Peebles.

***I was provided a free copy of this book by Riverhead Books in exchange for my honest review***