Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
149 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Breathing Lessons
 
See larger image 

See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Breathing Lessons (Paperback)

by Anne Tyler (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, July 14? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
21 new from £2.95 123 used from £0.01 5 collectible from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (Lrg) 6 used & new from £2.41
Paperback (New edition) 5 used & new from £5.00
Mass Market Paperback (Reissue) 9 used & new from £6.04
School & Library Binding 4 used & new from £4.32
Audio CD Order it used
Audio Cassette Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Breathing Lessons + Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant + The Clock Winder
Price For All Three: £17.57

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

by Anne Tyler
4.6 out of 5 stars (9)  £5.59
The Clock Winder

The Clock Winder

by Anne Tyler
4.4 out of 5 stars (7)  £5.99
Ladder of Years

Ladder of Years

by Anne Tyler
3.9 out of 5 stars (8)  £5.99
The Accidental Tourist

The Accidental Tourist

by Anne Tyler
3.8 out of 5 stars (19)  £5.99
Saint Maybe

Saint Maybe

by Anne Tyler
4.3 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.99
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Jan 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099201410
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099201410
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.4 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 52,550 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #11 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > T > Tyler, Anne

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review
`her writing style is superb...there is humour...the dialogue both external and internal is fantastic'
--Savidge Reads...Books, Books, and Possibly More Books

Product Description
"Breathing Lessons" covers the events of a day in the life of Maggie Moran, nearing fifty, married to Ira and with two children. Her eternal optimism and her inexhaustible passion for sorting out other people's lives and willing them to fall in love is severely tested one hot summer day. Maggie and Ira drive from Baltimore to Deer Lick to attend the funeral of the husband of Serena, Maggie's childhood friend. During the course of the journey, with its several unexpected detours - into the lives of old friends and grown children - Anne Tyler shows us all there is to know about a marriage: the expectations; the disappointments; the way children can create storms in a family; the way the wife and husband can fall in love all over again; the way that everything - and nothing - changes.

See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Breathing Lessons
71% buy the item featured on this page:
Breathing Lessons 4.0 out of 5 stars (14)
£5.99
The Clock Winder
8% buy
The Clock Winder 4.4 out of 5 stars (7)
£5.99
Ladder of Years
8% buy
Ladder of Years 3.9 out of 5 stars (8)
£5.99
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
7% buy
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant 4.6 out of 5 stars (9)
£5.59
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The EXTRA-Ordinary Maggie, 14 Nov 2002
By Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Let me tell you why I liked this book. It gave me a different perspective. Although many people (both readers and characters in the book) have criticised her for being one-dimensional I found her to be quite extraordinary. Her sensitivity and sense of place within her family is touching. The reason why her image radiates ordinariness is because everyone has labelled her that way. I found this to be true in the way that people often create labels for others and then the label is accepted as some kind of truth. Maggie may not be a likeable person or even a realistic person you can picture in your life, but certainly everyone can empathise with the tendency people have to suffocate other people with images they have created for them. I don't think Maggie is that simple. If she were than she could never imagine a life outside of her own. But, when she and Ira get in a fight in the car and she demands to be let out she imagines a completely different life for herself. This is the imaginary flight that is carried out in actuality in Ladder of Years. You could say that this is the off-handed daydream of a flat character because it is just as immediately forgotten as it is conjured. However, I think this suggests a more complex state of mind. One which can envision other states of being but consciously rejects them. Incidentally this is a very ordinary trait, one that I imagine many people can sympathise with. In some ways she is more ordinary than most people because she is always actively trying to normalise other people. She is not only suppressed by other people's images of her, but she is trying to mould everyone into the image she wants them to be. Her intentions are always positive. She wants them to be better people and fulfil their potential, but at the same time she is stifling their sense of individual identity by imaging them to inhabit an image that isn't realistic. This is a common difficulty with people who are "well-wishers". A major reason for why I appreciated this novel so much is because of its comic perspective. While dealing with the difficult relations between people, especially family, it is able to not take itself too seriously. There are incredibly comic moments such as the car accident and when Maggie and Ira are caught making out in the friend's bedroom. Anne Tyler is able to balance the serious and the comic while making shrewd observations about human nature. She shows us we all have the ability to be just like everyone else and wholly our own person at the same time.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguingly absorbing, 20 Sep 2001
This is a book which you finish and feel that whilst you couldnt retell the tale, you know that you have enjoyed it and it takes some thought to pinpoint what kept you involved. The opening pages allow the reader direct access into Maggies mind, and its airy fairy female workings. Whilst denting the newly fixed car is unimportant, obsessing over the long since failed relationship of her son and his wife, or the anguish she may have unthinkingly caused a fellow motorist are paramount in Maggies mind. The abyss of misunderstanding that lies between herself and her husband Ira stems blatantly from the different machinations of their minds, although both have the capacity to feel passionately, over their given preoccupation. As a female reader you feel that Anne Tyler has in some way exposed what lies within a womans head, and further illustrated the tolerances that exist within a successful relationship that allow for these contrasting modes of thought to exist. Read this because it is well written and adds to our understanding of human nature.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, 7 Sep 1999
By A Customer
This is the best of Anne Tyler's books. It is very funny and moving at the same time and all its characters are totally believable. I truly cared about them and felt sad when the book was over.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Anne Tyler's Turkey?
I love many of Anne Tyler's books,but this one, to me, was plain unreadable. I couldn't become remotely engaged in the story or care less about the characters and the writing had... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G. Brooks

4.0 out of 5 stars And Breathe...
Anne Tyler won The Pulitzer Prize in 1989 and twenty years on you can still see why, her writing style is superb. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

3.0 out of 5 stars I actually prefer her other novels...
This was actually the first of many Anne Tyler books I read, and oddly did not live up to my mild expectations. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lulushka8

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Joy
This novel is an absolute joy - and I can see why it won a purlitzer prize. Beautifully crafted it brilliantly illustrates the way people are with each other - the way in which... Read more
Published 18 months ago by A. Hope

4.0 out of 5 stars Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons is a giant of a book, a giant because of the way in which it gently wraps you into its character's world and allows you to feel their lives being... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Philip Spires

3.0 out of 5 stars A day in the life...
A day in the life of Maggie - who is rather naïve and interfering (albeit for the right reasons) - and her husband of 25 years, Ira. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2006 by maria1971

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Battles with Reality in Humorous Ways
Most people love a lover. Also, most of us would like more love in our lives. If you read nonfiction books on the subject, they tell you to be more loving to others to receive... Read more
Published on 20 Jul 2004 by Professor Donald Mitchell

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read!
I wasn't too much of a reader untill a friend gave me this book as a birthday present 6 years ago... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars The EXTRA-Ordinary Maggie
Let me tell you why I liked this book. It gave me a different perspective. Although many people (both readers and characters in the book) have criticised her for being... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, evocative and thought provoking
As Tyler so often does, the ordinary lives of her characters become extraordinary, and the reader immerses him/herself in the storyline. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 1998

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

  

More From Anne Tyler

Digging to America

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

`Another treat for fans of this superb storyteller... a terrific read.' Read more
£7.99 £5.99

 

A Close Shave

Philips Nivea Coolskin HS8060 Moisturizing Rotary Shaving System
For all types of hair removal, stay smooth with Amazon.co.uk.

›Discover Shaving & Hair Removal

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (72)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (460)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (162)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (80)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates