Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Selfless Act of Breathing: A Novel
The Selfless Act of Breathing: A Novel
The Selfless Act of Breathing: A Novel
Ebook301 pages5 hours

The Selfless Act of Breathing: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

A Black teacher searches for himself across the United States in this “emotive, brave” (Daily Mail, London) story for all of us who have fantasized about escaping our daily lives and starting over.

Michael Kabongo is a British Congolese teacher living in London and living the dream: he’s beloved by his students, popular with his coworkers, and adored by his proud mother who emigrated from the Congo to the UK in search of a better life.

But when he suffers a devastating loss, his life is thrown into a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his fathers’ violent death, the weight of refugeehood, and an increasing sense of dread threaten everything he’s worked so hard to achieve. Longing to start over, Michael decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical “land of the free,” where he imagines everything will be better and easier.

On this transformative journey, Michael travels everywhere from New York City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting romances, and splurging on big adventures, with the intention of living the life of his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out.

“Narrated with haunting lyricism, The Selfless Act of Breathing is an intimate journey through the darkest of human impulses to the gleaming flickers of love and radical hope” (Susan Abulhawa, author of Against the Loveless World).
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAtria Books
Release dateFeb 15, 2022
ISBN9781982175580
Author

JJ Bola

JJ Bola is a writer, poet, and UNHCR Ambassador. He is the author of three poetry collections—Elevate, Daughter of the Sun, and WORD—which were later all published in one definitive collection called Refuge; a novel, No Place Like Home; and Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined, which exposes masculinity as a socially-conditioned performance. He was one of Spread the Word’s Flight Associates 2017 and a Kit de Waal Scholar for the Birkbeck University MA in Creative Writing. As a former refugee, JJ Bola was invited to the Davos Economic Forum 2018 and held a discussion with Cate Blanchett. JJ reads, speaks, gives workshops, and performs around the world. He currently resides in London, England.

Related to The Selfless Act of Breathing

Related ebooks

Coming of Age Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Selfless Act of Breathing

Rating: 3.7857142857142856 out of 5 stars
4/5

7 ratings1 review

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Selfless Act of Breathing is a well written book dealing with the topic of depression. It was a therapeutic read for me as I really connected with the main character, on many levels. Highly recommend!

Book preview

The Selfless Act of Breathing - JJ Bola

lbbook_preview_excerpt.html|۲q@{[sd )Gdpcu4OpC/Z+toʶ F̕+/}wS?ܝ>zMzn:fws8T677~:w1L!_i0UЦ.4ovտV}|1מ4U._a桭51ǟ_o>U9vn)Cqgj8qLSRv1!X}ǪXSqVu⁏h"èyǻ}C_)ɟxEyNj`9 5W0 WJISScnõNP|Wx"ދgȍUXKآeP]:a) ÀF[1  Dl;c؍PC\V)OMFs&Q>-oNMÃ^rj(섕S1cS]Q>vEb `M5'̦*L3'r{[&*usMb)C;>K3cq՟S8E썷s8#n~ 8Vy8]}}rGnB}LàMș;wT{pv\D U?k8-.\x z/^7>N.͌F1W9A]Ci!U+ ډvЪ&p?G2ï?I@UV]f5@y ô~`f9ֲB  1`SOep w։S9LD.kLDvADm^1\%獱6:LZuC'a#,/o8nĘU8a!&E䣇Ƣs:b8LU=+~UC !R :FhN] 7\f[:WM>,E%*&m"f@ĿH@D=pV}2H$ #B!m{7nK~]Ю(Z-'c2Ut;1bщo۽҈} ;G4+)8.r 9`jL'*Tx0M`:Hzsnۇ<:@[o{ 9f1YAM p;\)`9-hk4Bu]%IYMS<` #տ_i!Z#2 }u`ȆM\j3 We]Mi,ws}bXo{؞^p N SOuL ޝ7r_߂6u$|8Zz"(0 odBaST L{`daNCoQyuQ#CSM&)0ǣ;;F|;%de{|$ hNlp9x m[IpP -jGX P)ƀUM, 8""s_ ;_&ɩ$uyt %z254&XXS6 y LwO$g.S`!]2 &G} A 0es-}WhyQY_ϲz]xzg!DLU$ A"m1M]n"`@ cׅ BCytL?C;%H܃cb2 HQWPX)i|"xM“yvLΕD-^ru7"6RcQiʨ'kNT-{ꖔN|>_(¯tOL$f@6cu,l!e D/áH/#<6^͙SOyǑnCq3/Cw~?8ľ!࿐"F誢oq3"\[7SgO*G6!1QڱD;/RfL tp?M6FGHs=9y$vC=XΦ/ mFXJ+TZb s0}#?cyLXkT9}=B˒Vf1O_sNIs`*d+a&eZ?M^{뉹JCѲ0,Xbq1NJl+?/P_|`(؄s`V{U/U f%tIX,pH@/Tr >,ٚq$1Fj*7<<|tK&a$Х6QѪGr9Tr~eupk9OpaIa`aT#I) CTGoC3Z'YBPcoaE&>D\F1Sqil( Uܚ跔eZÛn(A3Z_FTAM:ƏБJ푄Նs}9hpcB(q%$q2 lS,hWPG'⾚P8{SA6zQ$y>VeGo8CGz E**m:7lSXb?_m&fr%Wcׂ3P2xSx|1Wc3vRf?޸ LA9uSp:qD2倜n6Wㆉ[[_3)S0<[$YսV*ɚɲnyV^.,:7 緀s0ۏoso6U‘/ $' %QdؓriqRLH90Z,'||97Way3xg'Ogk|]Ms.&b׏Us_Koʀf|w#V`K .0|iSE%BC岇}ѷV2P0bn 5+nP!Q(j)mZ9q/+(dJu^yQrTQ8wέJޏomiƹ٥#_H i=8Z"~\r8#j^6L*-\vMKi1=RwCخ00F%ck@P{ZEu黼+7ၯ;߷þVzpZOYޥ+ʉYL+JSvI,xelJjߐ4ZF +u?}ъ`sܒl}a3r a5.{ы^j✶E*-PRCMh" [K$ZN˜Y$uLDDz *ef%~ Ҧt%Myv7ݼU c+L,qB^a>ZOLa zN& 634,1QzAW,YzZXSLiQH!33Xhp8* (Fva*kSA2j%< hܣ`1` %*i0U0#|\iy47A܋g!Pq;ﴭ]sG5rC7j^.@F+&4ɏ\(5ķQtgցheF|; d aC<:RCRg5(2{圕%Ty6B yqon Lڹa;k]IŮ tNdBL#˶cTqIWGVR]yYZc}%9j(.nT/l i9+\f ?C7p󨔊3NSHsih ?aњ,&c_lClR_T!7>.hqf]:8t3Ό-P $ڶkkET8n.@kb90k^6_!FTiavc WTץվ%>$~kj~fo:iw9#-(dlsV0* d7L0Y-8"TI\Ub )PrƐ/@x(6":!qH?7 wt܇ gW68(/ܝI _ b0%.X̹S^@f-~Yո-%SmiOǰC9̖dykk~j{m"}5]*Lu c|UTe=W]=]V@2]NѺ5w1uo2f:X()1=Dؾ+pr*Mg u6Xw`Xco$\wRs5ӘX YUw%!AF'Ƣ(O( }H[K=%E̶/Wrӳz/FቈkT-2Zndz^85/؎xvnrH{[/MY=gDq֢%+jCZ|J-h ѹ`Xvx@G1~&C{:Z1;޲~yN3PYKܱ`ّJ1+tTYZNlLBA+KmhYT MdxmjX/9u/OĎUX.NiEl?]䟖d=c{~·lִ̈́V}-bBÍҬUMCf_ܙP,E)3{֧C{^39%'%өQԂ@r#Bc!:i20XMSQ#v(xoBjgVoSxb]D4`qU6 N3Ȱ)5I.{?!6.Ӈ7It[k4+ *e+sU0cR uU;DZm(\ -)Ӓf';6:ZwIGr!ME)&@{aTJ͈A^hmj8sSIM?yh][lACd%~Yl(1FŻ)8bs |aidy4\R4+-8o P#гdx~uޥr)W˝~ɫRgܹɳJTiA>Z[v65DOkWzkaaɯWB^j2CYwsg'Šl5(ywnÒEpuS;{PE,KZ;@QJ@S`(qt?%JlHdn +|\}e5蹸*~ǥߺcZ4%zq:5"g It8{K]Zd#9Ps_oͶT۔@6o|c*9ju 6)|@V-Y#Dr*!)NŦk`ˠeEޱ:VQ2ՓΛ$)aN8-u ٴ,ٕ2+xurĻ ;ոXz׶R? ͭ^8m (usUGEc嶉o@Mץ4GQr4[b17d!lנo *׬l S 33pe]}a6(3v?0nUϢ66y#])dޏA-mF`5z>um"p:SGC2xyA~׏o %cwO~2d&uJ_slz{8=XZb3gnn*O~VT~$sI{}9N8չQ$)3)I'CI=4X"v~ /%Ȭט ^ 8%`TZiM+Aey`K?x&U(ʯϩeǟ)kܶ1(QawW0M JV>LAES|،tx6g]&1.A nԦ 0!PBIg[ڶtz}5D bA^, \J[٫&U65`eX &/-Jw[tu*Zi6z>\-u]M$WT4P{ގ 5zR6Am͗$ɐl j9륿Z:8SJbWLX(9Tvjk:V\iI hN|͍)񢀀ll*u^O4[ ȿ'-1GGRr9%7 :[J<|Jis]̟)d3.g~&~!1 k j`W ~"H5+as!Kdi,39cJ BQ4uTiK,pQg#j*x<܊RR_bmYѲ 2qcڭsn[A^^ZRX^ӿY8%d6:CY`m<皔fSd0Z5[28w轍?,Hf~{lUB[bH'rdG_;iJ6%ǵK!n?%RYc.3/1) vP+ aTZR#M[pv)'B؀\t jYd ^DC=?g.q9\g3X/iæ42bd`Lh.)uAKS ]ɸ k3LG(j7W{}֬pK ~d97ayKڬ'\,}MxƑ})7Kb,e֋Ϲ'UP 4NE,"( V *M%y'ynI jsorjs|`+ա^L݀# {]ǐ<52tpf:DIZCx.--AO7xS//' yKK۠[,?k-F_HXKUZKpH8?,\S)K懳[K6},ڳxV}mԒ«R9\Z(J襸&S":Z
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1