The Space Between Breaths is a mystery, but not any mystery. The story is centered around a character named Dr. Lylarose Gentry, or Lyla. As the story begins, Lyla is in the hospital in a coma. She may have tried to kill a prison inmate, and may have murdered two security guards—not a typical action from a renowned Buddhist teacher.

By Dana Gornall

As a kid, I was a complete book worm.

Ask anyone in my family, I had my nose in a book almost constantly and my shelves were stacked with books from authors like, Judy Blume, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, Shel Silverstein, Paula Danziger, Julie Campbell Tatham and more. Riding in the car to any vacation or one tank trip, I would be reading the entire way and I’d complain once we got there that I had to put the book down. My dad would comment something about how most kids would be happy to finally be at this fun place we were exploring, but his kid would rather be reading.

Adulthood has been a bit hectic (understatement), and I can no longer have my nose constantly in a book (or Kindle). The cocktail of perimenopause and ADHD has also afforded me even less mental endurance to read like I once did. But regardless of all of that, regardless of the constant flow of doom scrolling and headlines flashing in my face, falling into a really great read is still something I crave and make time for.

When Kellie Schorr messaged me asking if I would review her upcoming book, The Space Between Breaths, I was not only grateful, I was chomping at the bit.

You may know that I am the main (sometimes sole) editor here at TTB, so I read a lot of Kellie’s writing and I love everything she writes. Hell yes, I am down to review this book.

The Space Between Breaths is a mystery, but not just any mystery.

The book is centered around a character named Dr. Lylarose Gentry, or Lyla. As the story begins, Lyla is in the hospital in a coma. While no one seems to know exactly what happened, she may have tried to kill a prison inmate—Keith Allen—and murdered two security guards. Actions such as these are not typical of a renowned Buddhist teacher. Her student and friend, a well known self help author named Penelope Fine, sits at her bedside around the clock waiting for her to wake up. While keeping vigil, she also tries to solve the mystery of what actually happened that day.

We also get a deeper look at Lylarose’s childhood—a mother whose attention falls firmly on Lyla’s older brother, even though he no longer lives at home, and a father who cares deeply for his daughter and wife, but struggles with controlling his emotions (namely, anger).

But interestingly, we also learn about how Lyla perceives the world, which is much differently than most people do, and how that perception gets flattened time and time again, so much that she learns to bury it.

A Space Between Breaths dives into the theme of masking oneself to fit in to society’s expectations, while staying true to themselves.

This not only is portrayed in Lylarose’s empathic abilities, but in the way she approaches her students, her friends and life partner, Marian, and even a murderer that stole the life of someone she loved so deeply. Weaving important talking points throughout the book, Kellie Schorr delves into what’s becoming a very commonplace and hot button topic—the manosphere, or incel thinking, with the antagonist character, Keith Allen.

Ms. Schorr’s talent of slowly folding out each part of the story and writing with brilliant imagery left me wanting to know more about all of her characters. She explores and addresses not only the idea of the challenges you face going against the mainstream, but sexual assault, the complexities and layers of familial abuse, grief and more.

If you like mystery, if you enjoy a little drama, if you like a touch of humor sprinkled in, if you like a book that digs into ethics and shows all sides of life—both dark and light—you will love this book. Even better, it highlights a bit of Buddhist principle as well (wink).

 

Photo: publisher

 

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