{"product_id":"deep-breath-9781646222681","title":"Deep Breath","description":"\u003cb\u003eA visceral and stirring novel exploring free will, memory, faith, and constructions of reality and the self, following a woman faced with the question of whether her marriage is abusive, and the life-altering decision of ending it\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen we meet Vera, her body and mind are on a precipice. She's just left her marital home to live with her father after her husband's violent outbursts reach a breaking point. She's experiencing sudden losses of consciousness, spells of insomnia and difficulty eating. Over the course of the year that follows, she reignites a high school romance, looks to her divorced parents for guidance, attempts couples therapy, struggles to mother two young daughters, develops a brief cocaine dependency, and tries to rekindle her artistic practice--all while questioning, in Hal?sz's immediate, intimate prose, the infinite number of choices that led her to this difficult moment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTowards the end of the novel, we follow Vera into a surreal funhouse mirror of a courtroom scene, equally comical and horrifying, where she must confront the many conflicting narratives of her marriage and separation and decide which one rings true. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith the emotional precision and formal elegance reminiscent of Natalia Ginzburg and Elena Ferrante, Hal?sz offers a meditation on agency, subjectivity, motherhood, and the artistic vocation with an ultimately optimistic conclusion: life consists of forward movement, in which the biggest challenge--and privilege--is choice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Catapult\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/27\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781646222681\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/31\/2025\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Rita Hal?sz","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45234821234869,"sku":"9781646222681","price":22.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_88f6346b-827d-4ae3-ba5f-66be478d7945.jpg?v=1743518937","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/deep-breath-9781646222681","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}