Invisible as Air by Zoe Fishman ~ a Review

 by Susan Roberts

"She unscrewed the cap, took out one of the tiny, white discs and placed it on her tongue. With a grimace, she swallowed it whole, turned off the light and began her day." (p 5)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2019; William Morrow; 978-0062838230
audio, ebook, print (416 pages); southern fiction

46-year-old Sylvie Snow is a person that we all know. She could be your neighbor, your best friend or a family member. She is a hardworking wife and mother with a career and a myriad of stresses on her every day. As the novel begins, it's the three year anniversary of her daughter's stillbirth - something that she feels her husband doesn't care about even though it's a very painful day for her. On top of that, her husband is recuperating from a broken ankle and isn't able to help at all with cleaning or shopping plus she has to take care of him, along with everyone and everything else. When she is getting ready to start her day, she finds the bottle of pain pills that were prescribed for her husband that he had never taken and after mentally reviewing her life, she decides that she'll take one pill - just one and then she'll quit - to make this day more bearable. She tells herself that one pill won't matter and that she needs help getting through this day. But one pill quickly becomes two and then even more until she realizes that she needs the pills to survive. As she is heading for the bottom of her family life, her job and basically her sanity, she realizes that she has become addicted and the pills have become the only important thing in her life.

The story is told by Sylvie, her husband Paul and her almost 13-year-old son Teddy. It soon becomes apparent that Sylvie isn't the only one in the family with secrets. Paul has covered up his grief with exercise and has a shopping addiction. Any time he is stressed, he wants to buy a new piece of exercise equipment and his basement and garage are already full. Teddy doesn't have any friends at school but has just gotten a girlfriend that he keeps secret from his parents.

This family could be any family in upper-class America. Addicts aren't just young people but the drug epidemic is rampant at all ages and all classes - it is happening everywhere. I found this book interesting because it looked at addiction in a 40 something female who appeared to have the money to help her and her family have a good life together.

This was an interesting, well-written book about a family in trouble who didn't share their thoughts and feelings with each other. Will they be able to learn to trust each other and become a family again?

Buy Invisible as Air at Amazon

About the Author

Zoe Fishman is the critically acclaimed author of the bestselling Inheriting Edith, (Morrow, October '16), Driving Lessons (Morrow, April '14), Saving Ruth (Morrow, May '12) and Balancing Acts (Harper, March '10).

Author Links: Website, Twitter, and Facebook

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

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