Review | INVISIBLE AS AIR by Zoe Fishman

INVISIBLE AS AIR by Zoe Fishman
Genre: Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
Published by William Morrow
Publication Date: September 24, 2019
ISBN-10: 0062838237
ISBN-13: 978-0062838230
Pages: 416
Review Copy From: William Morrow
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 4

Synopsis (via GR)

A provocative and timely new novel by the author of Inheriting Edith, one that will haunt you long after the final page is turned…

Sylvie Snow knows the pressures of expectations: a woman is supposed to work hard, but never be tired; age gracefully, but always be beautiful; fix the family problems, but always be carefree. Sylvie does the grocery shopping, the laundry, the scheduling, the schlepping and the PTA-ing, while planning her son’s Bar Mitzvah and cheerfully tending her husband, Paul, who’s been lying on the sofa with a broken ankle. She’s also secretly addicted to the Oxycontin intended for her husband.

For three years, Sylvie has repressed her grief about the heartbreaking stillbirth of her newborn daughter, Delilah. On the morning of the anniversary of her death, when she just can’t face doing one…more…thing: she takes one—just one—of her husband’s discarded pain pills. And suddenly she feels patient, kinder, and miraculously relaxed. She tells herself that the pills are temporary, just a gift, and that when the supply runs out she’ll go back to her regularly scheduled programming.

But days turn into weeks, and Sylvie slips slowly into a nightmare. At first, Paul and Teddy are completely unaware, but this changes quickly as her desperate choices reveal her desperate state. As the Bar Mitzvah nears, all three of them must face the void within themselves, both alone and together.

My Thoughts

This is the first book that I have read by this author and hope to read more of her work in the future.

An emotional story of today’s current problem about opiate addiction and the havoc it plays on families.

Sylvie Snow wakes up, with dread and profound sadness on the third anniversary of her daughter Delilah’s stillborn date. Her husband Paul, recently injured his ankle and was prescribed OxyContin but refused to take them because of the way it made him feel. Sylvie decides she will just take one pill to help her get her through this painful day that she doesn’t want to deal with the pain in her heart and mind.

Just one!!! And it helps.

A loss that, she, her husband and 12-year-old son, Teddy, have not dealt with either as a family or independently.

Liking how it makes her feel, she continues to take the pills and finds in some situations, why not take another? Until it is too late, and she is totally addicted. And will do things that she never thought possible just to be able to have those pills.

As Teddy comes upon his Bah Mitzvah and the rite of becoming a man, it is his wisdom that may just pull this family together.

The narrative alternates between Sylvie, Paul, and Teddy.

The author does an outstanding job of allowing the reader to truly understand and feel the emotions of all three characters. A story that will stay with a reader long after the last word.

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

REVIEW DISCLAIMER

  • This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.
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