Invisible as Air
A Novel
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3.9 • 20 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Award!
One of Booklist's Top 10 Books of the Year!
A provocative and timely new novel by the author of Inheriting Edith, one that will haunt you long after the final page is turned…
Sylvie Snow knows the pressures of expectations: a woman is supposed to work hard, but never be tired; age gracefully, but always be beautiful; fix the family problems, but always be carefree. Sylvie does the grocery shopping, the laundry, the scheduling, the schlepping and the PTA-ing, while planning her son’s Bar Mitzvah and cheerfully tending her husband, Paul, who’s been lying on the sofa with a broken ankle. She’s also secretly addicted to the Oxycontin intended for her husband.
For three years, Sylvie has repressed her grief about the heartbreaking stillbirth of her newborn daughter, Delilah. On the morning of the anniversary of her death, when she just can’t face doing one…more…thing: she takes one—just one—of her husband’s discarded pain pills. And suddenly she feels patient, kinder, and miraculously relaxed. She tells herself that the pills are temporary, just a gift, and that when the supply runs out she’ll go back to her regularly scheduled programming.
But days turn into weeks, and Sylvie slips slowly into a nightmare. At first, Paul and Teddy are completely unaware, but this changes quickly as her desperate choices reveal her desperate state. As the Bar Mitzvah nears, all three of them must face the void within themselves, both alone and together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fishman's affecting latest (after Inheriting Edith) tracks the impact of opioid addiction on a grieving family in an Atlanta suburb. Sylvie Snow, 46; her triathlete husband, Paul; and 12-year-old-son, Teddy, mourn stillborn Delilah. On the third anniversary of Delilah's death, Sylvie tries one of Paul's Oxycodone pills, which a doctor prescribed for his broken ankle, but he never took. Sylvie discovers a more confident, seemingly capable version of herself, and finally commemorates Delilah's death by lighting a yahrzeit candle. Noticing the change in Sylvie, Paul regrets the glut of workout gear bought to fill the void he felt from her distance and the loss of their daughter. Meanwhile, Teddy overcomes his escapist habit of watching movies alone after his girlfriend encourages him to host a movie night at a retirement home for his bar mitzvah project. After Sylvie speeds through Paul's prescription and a refill, she resorts to drastic measures to acquire more pills, stealing them from a co-worker and sleeping with Paul's best friend, and the family's burst of renewal dims. Fishman's lively prose, punctuated with volleys of incisive wit and mouthy irreverence, propels the gloomy story. This convincing portrayal of a struggling family will captivate readers.
