Major Lesson from One Breath Away
by Heather Gudenkauf
Learn to balance fact-finding with making a decision and taking action.
Self-Mentoring Strategy
To get the most from this SummaReview of One Breath Away, after you have read the book review/summary, reflectively answer the following questions:
- What can you learn from the ideas in the SummaReview?
- What is one action that you can take as a result of reading this SummaReview?
- What are five takeaways from the SummaReview?
- What has made an impression on you while reading?
- Is there a framework that you can use in your life and work?
- How do the concepts in the SummaReview relate to what you already know?
- How can you combine key ideas from the profile to what you already know to create a new idea?
- Is this a book you’d like to read for yourself? Why? Why not?
What is One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf About?
When I first saw the promotional piece for One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf, I immediately thought, “I have to read this book.” Now that I have read it, I’m thinking it’s a “book with potential.” The book is well written, I kept on turning the page wanting to know what happened next, but I’m not completely satisfied – for me the book doesn’t quite deliver on its promise. The issue could entirely be with me because I read so many books that I may have unrealistic expectations. Some of the children in One Breath Away, especially Augie Baker, and teacher, Evelyn Oliver are more courageous than the adults.
The story is told from the points of view of five characters: Holly Baker, 13 year old Augie Baker, Evelyn Oliver a school teacher, police officer Meg Barrett, and Will Thwaite, a farmer and Holly’s father. The story is set in Broken Branch a small town, and the central story is children being held hostage at the school. There are separate stories of the lives of the main characters and how they interact with their families.
Holly is in the hospital suffering from severe burns. She is not healing as quickly as expected and is getting infections. Her mother is staying with her while her two children are at Broken Branch with her father. Holly left home when she was 17 years old and was estranged from her family. While growing up, she hated living on a farm and couldn’t wait to leave home and the small community in which she lived in. Something happened when she was a tween and the reader is not told what, but her personality changes and she becomes very promiscuous.
She talks negatively about her parents to her daughter Augie, and son PJ. When the children finally meet their grandparents Augie is standoffish but PJ takes to farm life. The way the story is written, you get to know Augie, who she is as a person and how she feels about life, and members in her family.
Meg Barrett left her husband Tim because she believes that he cheated on her, although he has always denied he did any such thing. They have a six year old daughter Maria. One day while out skiing with her daughter she meets Stuart an acclaimed journalist. They start a very short-lived relationship. Stuart gave Meg the impression that he is a free man but she soon finds out that he is married. Meg has unknowingly done what she accused Tim of doing.
Will Thwaite is having a hard time with Augie who is just like his daughter Holly, but when he learns of the hostage situation, he wonders if he is failing his daughter for a second time. You see his point of view of the relationship between he and his daughter and he is not quite certain what went wrong.
Mrs Oliver is very proper and has very strong views about how a teacher should behave and dress. But she loves her husband Cal fiercely, and she takes her role as teacher very seriously, and is determined to save her students even if she has to sacrifice her life.
Because of the hostage situation, Broken Branch school is under lockdown and you have the entire police force in this small town outside the school. The Chief has asked for help from neighbouring towns, but because of a snow storm they cannot get to Broken Branch to assist with the hostage situation. You have Meg reading the manual on what to do when you have such a situation and assigning tasks to her colleagues. Law enforcement officers are gathering information before they take action to understand the situation. The biggest lesson I learned from One Breath Away is that you have to balance collecting information with taking action.
It’s fascinating seeing how everyone is trying to figure out who is holding the students hostage and why. There is a student who believes it is her father.
Some of the older students break a window and escape. Augie is halfway through the window when she changes her mind because she believes that she has to protect her younger brother PJ. Later she gets a second opportunity to escape, and she takes a five year old outside to safety then returns inside the school because she isn’t leaving without her brother.
While all of this is going on PJ is quite fascinated with the stranger who is holding them hostage and is asking the man a lot of questions to determine if it’s his father. PJ has a different father from Augie and he doesn’t know who his father is.
In the end, Augie creates a diversion, which Meg capitalizes on to shoot the hostage taker. Mrs Oliver plays her role by getting the stranger to release some of the children. Mrs Oliver is shot but survives. At the end of the book, you get the sense that everything is going to be okay and that relationships will be healed. My biggest problems with One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf is the incompetence of the police officers – not taking action, and I do not believe that had this happened in real life more people would not have attempted to escape when the opportunity was there.
Yes, Meg goes into the school without the permission of her superior because the hostage taker specifically asks for her. When that occurs, the reader realizes that the hostage situation is about Meg, why? The book is suspenseful and the hostage taker is revealed close to the end of the book, but I simply didn’t find some parts of the story to be believable.
Final Thoughts: One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf
When we look at life, when we are faced with problems, we gather information to understand the situation. But at some point we have to take action to solve the problem. That’s my take. Give One Breath Away a read and let me know your thoughts. Are my expectations unrealistic?
One Breath AwayNot a Sound: A Thriller
The Weight of Silence
Missing Pieces
These Things Hidden: A Novel of Suspense
Little Mercies (English Edition)
Little Lies
