A Mouthful of Air

By: Amy Koppelman

Narrated by: Julia Atwood

Now a major motion picture starring Amanda Seyfried and Finn Wittrock

A Mouthful of Air is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of Julie Davis, a young wife and mother torn between the love she feels for her family and the voice in her head that insists they’d be better off without her.

We meet Julie several weeks after her suicide attempt, on the eve of her son’s first birthday. Grateful to be alive, Julie tries her best to appreciate every moment — “this tree, that passing car, the pretzel guy up ahead on the corner. She has, for whatever reason, been given a second chance” — but her emotional demons are unrelenting, and she is slowly and quietly losing the battle.

Within the narrative of A Mouthful of Air is an argument about the nature of depression — its causes, cures, and the price it exacts from its victims. With spare, elegant prose, this brutally honest portrayal of family and self illuminates the power and complexity of the human psyche.

Originally published in 2003, A Mouthful of Air now includes an afterword by author Adrienne Miller.

©2003 Amy Koppelman (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Hard to hear, but we’ll done

As a mom of 4, this was a difficult read. However, just because it is hard to swallow doesn’t diminish the writing which was amazing.

Loss for Words

I really don’t even know how to review this book. On one hand it was interesting and insightful- on the other, I just didn’t I understand the point or where they were going with it. Probably wouldn’t recommend.

Not for light entertainment

This book is HEAVY, and very, very, dark. It's not a fun little-read. I do think it is an important book for the mental health landscape, and it's definitely a feminist cautionary tale. You'll feel depleted and so, so, sad after. But it's about depression, so, there you go!

Important book

I felt an urge to read it after watching the movie. Impressed. Deeply troubled by the ending, by the ambiguity of its possible meaning. However, this story couldn’t have had a better ending.

A Mouthful of Air

I had a feeling how this was going to end. this book is an excellent write about a topic that people need to realize the severity of.

Heart wrenching yet so honest

The film motivated me to listen to this book as I needed to get a better glimpse on the thought process of this young mother yet I am none the wiser. The author brilliantly sketches the deep but “empty” thought process of this young mother suffering from Post Natal Depression in its severest form.
Yet I somehow thinks that her condition was forming during early childhood trauma and she looses trust in the main figure in her life..her father and then eventually her loving, caring husband. It is such an endearing book and the author manages to get in her characters head and emotions. Avery brave book and besides the sadness, a brilliant book. The narrators voice Is filled with empathy and could not have been a better choice.

Could have been an A, but I give it a B

This is a story you really have to pay ATTENTION to, but it's worth reading.
Ever chapter except the last, this author was very wordy, describing scenes, feelings etc to the max, (almost too much) but at the end it was a quick
" oh this happened..." I was left wishing there was LESS during the beginning and the middle, but needing more info, feelings at the end.

difficult

Great look into mental health and the dangers of PPD. It's hard and real. Trigger warning for suicide.

Very difficult to listen to but worth it

It is rare to find books that depict the silent way in which depression creeps into a life especially when there are no apparent reasons. Such is the story in A Mouth Full of Air.

Story okay!

Very difficult for me to rate this one.
The storyline was great and the topic needs to be discussed but I don't think it was executed very well.
The narration is very flat and emotionless