A review by valealle23
The Selfless Act of Breathing by J.J. Bola

challenging dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

i had much higher hopes for this book but they just did not fall through with this one. it might’ve been the flowery language (it feels as if it’s been combed through with a thesaurus) or just the lack of connection to the protagonist, but i really just didn’t enjoy this novel as much as i expected. i didn’t love how the novel jumps in tenses either, for example, or how unrealistically emotional michael seems. he goes from 0 to 100 in real life with no emotional buildup, but not in a way that seems even remotely human. the ending seemed dragged out, and with the exception of the funeral and suicide, neither of which were as good of a plot twist as they could’ve been, this book just really fell flat. idk, it’s hard to verbalize exactly what went wrong with this book, but i just know that i didn’t enjoy reading it