In a time that calls for a redefinition of the human roles within society, Simon Pont offers us a type of protagonist we rarely come across; neither a `superhero' nor the -by now dead and gone - `ordinary man'.
The character of Samuel Grant is unique in his uncensored, impudent, vulnerability. A 27 year old `little boy lost', a `work in progress', presented to us with all his flaws and contradictions, without us losing our liking for him for a single moment. We witness Sam undergoing a deep personal crisis, as he's slowly coming of age, by, essentially, blowing everything up.
The further he deviates from a stereotypical `golden boy' success story, however, the closer he gets to the most essential and unaffected values of being.
In this particular way, Samuel Grant is a rebel. Not an outspoken rebel who has very little and tries to earn more, but a rather new breed: a `first world rebel' with `first world problems', who has it all yet throws it away in order to pursuit a different life unhindered by corporate drudgery and flimsy affairs. A life that no system has managed to offer.
Personally, I hadn't seen ever since Palahniuk's `Fight Club' such an audacious and honest portrayal of man in the modern world.
Set in the festive backdrop of the late `90's, `Remember to Breathe' achieves to be a tangy critic of the current era while at the same time bearing the bittersweet nostalgia of an innocence lost.
I wholeheartedly recommend this novel to everyone, since I consider it to be one of the best and wittiest pieces of literature I've read in over a decade.