Coming Up for Air

ByPatti Callahan Henry

Release Date: 2011-08-16
Genre: Fiction & Literature

Score: 4

From 89 Ratings

Description

Patti Callahan Henry's Coming Up For Air is "a beautiful exploration of the deepest mysteries of the human heart." (Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author)

Ellie Calvin is caught in a dying marriage, and she knows this. With her beloved daughter away at college and a growing gap between her and her husband, she doesn't quite seem to fit into her own life. But everything changes when her controlling mother, Lillian, passes away. Ellie sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at the funeral, and learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved Lillian before her death – and he wants answers to questions that Ellie's not sure she can face.

As Ellie and Hutch start digging into Lillian's history, and speaking for the first time in years, Ellie's closed heart slowly begins to open. Using both a hidden diary that Ellie found in her mother's things, and a trip to the Summer House, a mysterious and seductive bayside home, they gamble that they can work together and not fall in love again. But in piecing together a decades-old unrequited-love story, they just might uncover the secrets in their own hearts…

Reviews

Ugh
2
By Martagirl39
This book is boring. Nothing of interest happens. The characters are so dramatic in the way they speak of love. It feels trumped up and a bit silly. However, I can see someone else enjoying it, the kind of person who likes a good musical may also enjoy this book. Perhaps I'm just not the right audience.
Best read ever
5
By ash bee girl
The author provides an engaging story with beautifully written prose. Several times while reading, I had to stop and write down lines from the book that were so meaningful and poignant. I'm not sure I have ever connected with a book like I did with this one. My husband even read it, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a must read!
Coming up for air
4
By Kris8780
Loved it!! Loved the balance of romance with identity and a hint of historical mystery. Especially those of us from the south can understand.
The description gives the book too much credit
1
By Longtime Apple Fan Girl
I purchased the audiobook after a friend of mine read the hardcover book; she had stayed up all night to finish it, said it helped her better understand her own overbearing mother.

I wasn't far into the book when all I wanted to do was put it down. But, my friend had raved so much, so I hung in there, thinking surely it would improve. Sadly, it did not.

I just never found anything compelling about the narrator, and I just didn't care at all what happened to her. I was bored.