I wanted to like this book... but I'm not sure how I feel about a mental illness being used as the basis of a mystery. I guess I don't feel good about it, and that overshadows how I feel about the rest of the book.

Grace’s mother suffered from schizophrenia and walked out on her and her dad a long time ago. Her father has spent many years searching for a cure for the disease that robbed him of his wife. Grace is still in high school but she works at the same lab where her dad recruited the brightest researchers.

What is happening to Grace is difficult to read. Her mind slips in and out of focus, wondering if she too will succumb to the same fate as her mom. The chapters flow in and out of reality mixing memories, illusions and real events. It’s hard to grasp what is true and what is illusory – both in her mind and in the reader’s understanding of what is really going on. This mixture adds some confusion to the story.

What is stunningly conveyed is the sense of confusion and fear that goes through the mind of a person with mental illness. Grace’s memories of her mother’s hallucinations and strange behavior are intermingled with Grace’s own confusion. The writing is beautiful and the concept is amazing. Unfortunately Na may have tried too hard to bring Grace’s confusion and mental illness to readers. Her book may be a little too complicated to follow the twists and turns of Grace’s damaged mind and fully grasp what’s happening.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading An Na’s latest book, The Place Between Breaths. It sounded like it might be a cerebral thriller, which it was. But it was so much more than that, too.

Throughout the novel we get to know Grace, who saw her mother deteriorate in the grips of schizophrenia, and then ultimately disappear from her life. Her mother has never been found, which has led Grace’s father on a desperate quest to find a cure for this debilitating illness. Grace interns at the lab where her father works. He is a headhunter, bringing in the top scientists from around the world to join forces in search of the key that will unlock a cure for Grace’s mother—the love of his life—if only they could find her.

This is a non-linear novel that uses the seasons of the year to anchor you in the story. Na is a master of imagery and it felt to me that her arresting descriptions of the weather coincided with Grace’s moods and mental state. I could be reading too much into it, but nothing in this book felt accidental.

In addition to jumping back and forth between the seasons and around in the story, the reader is also left to parse between reality and delusion. This made for an intriguing and gut-wrenching, but unenjoyable read. Though, I would argue that “enjoyable” was not the goal, and for this I was glad.

Though a novel, this did not read like an attempt to make schizophrenia into entertainment. This felt like a deft effort to bring understanding to an illness that continues to be misunderstood, despite decades of research. The portrayal of this mental illness and how it breaks the mind apart from the inside out was honest and elegant. It does not glorify the disease but rather exposes it in all its gruesome tragedy.

It held my attention the whole way through in the same way autobiographies on other mental illnesses have in the past. I’m thinking specifically of An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison and Wasted by Marya Hornbacher, which explore bipolar disorder and anorexia/bulimia, respectively.

Though I had a good idea where Na was leading the reader with the various characters in The Place Between Breaths, I didn’t feel satisfied with the conclusions or explanations for their presence, which was perhaps the point. The novel is purposely confusing, which lends itself well to an honest exploration of schizophrenia, but creates a problematic novel.

This was definitely worth the read, and I believe an important work for helping people understand what schizophrenia looks like from the inside out. But I think a casual reader may turn the last page feeling disappointed and confused. And maybe that’s fine. It’s a confusing illness, and to wrap up the story with a neat little bow would have been disingenuous. In the end, I appreciated the beauty and tragedy and clarity and confusion Na wove together to create this novel. I hadn’t read any of her works before, but I will be adding them to my reading list now.

If you want a book that will take you on a true roller coaster ride of delirious emotions, The Place Between Breaths if for you. Told in a non-linear manner and delves into the raw complexity, horror, and grief surrounding Schizophrenia. Although all the jumping around might be off-putting to some readers, I found it intriguing - as if I were exploring the world the way a fractured mind would and I loved that, at times, I was confused. I know that's strange to say, but I enjoyed it's ambiguous tone riddled with dream and longing.

I would recommend 100%

This book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am having lots of mixed reactions to the book. Very intriguing. I am not sure it’s right for my 14/15 year olds who are a bit vulnerable, but I can see some students who are into thrillers enjoying this. Feels like it should sit on the same shelf as Challenger Deep.

Terrifying. This book is non-linear and confusing, and I'm not even sure what really happened in the end, but it immerses you in the dread and uncertainty of schizophrenia in a way that is chilling. I'm going to remember this book for a long time.