Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel

From the Publisher

What is the toughest request anyone can be asked to fulfill?

Travis Morrison is a champion diver and one of the most popular kids at school. On the first day of summer vacation, while boating on the lake with his friends, Travis attempts a silly stunt dive that goes wrong. He fears he has broken his leg. Instead, his trip to the hospital reveals he has a rare form of cancer, and to save him, the doctors tell his parents they must amputate. In an instant, Travis’s life and the lives of everyone around him are forever changed.

Travis is determined that he and only he should decide the course of his life. He has a plan, but he can’t carry it out alone. Will he convince one of his friends to fulfill his most important request?

Lurlene McDaniel tackles a controversial subject, probing the issues of personal choice and quality of life.

Children's Literature

Travis Morrison is a high school athlete on the rise. He is an excellent diver, and his whole high school team is counting on him to help them win the state championship next year. Travis is looking forward to the competition too; in the meantime, though, he plans on enjoying summer. He loves being in the water and often wonders if he is part fish. On the first day of summer vacation, he goes out to the lake with his girlfriend Darla, his best friend Cooper, and his kid sister Emily. It is a beautiful day, and the water is perfect. Travis decides to do a diving stunt because he cannot stand being near water and not diving. His friends and sister do not think it is a good idea, but Travis is fearless. When he takes the dive, something goes very wrong. In an instant, Travis's life changes forever. This is the story of a young man, his friends and his parents doing everything they think is right in a very difficult situation, dealing with horrible news, and finding themselves at odds with each other. This is a story of courage, pain, struggle, death, suicide, and victory. The story is presented in chapters told from each character's point of view. Unfortunately, although Travis's parents are referred to in the book, neither gets a first-person chapter to express their fear, frustration, and sense of loss. Their struggle about doing what they think is best for Travis can only be guessed at, although that information could have only made the book richer. Still, this is a book that does back away from the hard questions about life and death. It is a book that will tug at readers' hearts. It will render them incapable of putting it down until the last page. Reviewer: Laura J. Brown

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up

Travis, a champion diver about to start his junior year of high school, is hanging out with his friends and sister on the first day of summer vacation. The cliffs over the lake call to him, and he climbs up to dive from them, only to hear his leg snap when he jumps. Still in the hospital days later, Travis finally hears the diagnosis: bone cancer. Facing amputation and chemotherapy, he knows he'll never get back to the life he had. As Travis gets sicker, his only comfort is his research into death-with-dignity and right-to-die groups, and his only hope is that his friends will help him once he can no longer help himself. The narrative rotates among four teens: Travis, his sister, his girlfriend, and his best friend. Each voice is distinct and shows a different perspective on Travis's life since his diagnosis. The ending is heavily telegraphed from the beginning (the book opens on an unnamed character who admits that "right and wrong dissolved into what I knew I had to do"), but this does not diminish the impact of the final chapters. This is a heartstrings-tugging read that retains the central character's dignity and peace in the face of insurmountable odds. A sensitive book on a delicate topic.-Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA

Kirkus Reviews

The prolific author's latest novel features her signature pull at teen readers' hearts. In the slim volume, four distinct voices describe Travis Morrison's terrible health situation. Travis is a champion high-school diver until his femur snaps while cliff diving at a rural Alabama lake. It's bone cancer. In alternating chapters, the fragile emotions of his best friend Cooper, his girlfriend Darla and little sister Emily come forth. Travis's health deteriorates after his leg is amputated and he bounces between chemo treatments and false remission over the next year and a half. But there are other story lines. Cooper's mother is an alcoholic prostitute, Darla is labeled the school slut and Emily is the kid sister in love with her brother's friend. The pages drip with angst as Travis's health fades to a point where he pressures the other teenagers to help him commit suicide. Melodramatic scenes, stock characters and stiff phrasing blemish this work. Despite-or perhaps because of-these formula-wrought flaws, McDaniel's fans, who seemingly read with tissues in hand, will snatch it off the shelves. (Fiction. YA)

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