Inhale, Exhale

Novel

Love, guilt – and jazz!

Three men find themselves at the foot of a hospital bed. They don’t know each other, but they know and love Giorgia, the jazz singer who is in a coma in that very bed following a car accident. Konrad is the first to arrive. He hasn’t seen Giorgia in years, but is officially still her husband. He unexpectedly meets Ben, Giorgia’s partner and drummer in her band. Soon after, the two find Césco at her bedside, a bridge builder from Venice as well as a saxophone player – and, as it turns out, Giorgia’s virtual lover. While the woman they all love is hovering between life and death, the three are torn between worry, jealousy, and the feeling of having been betrayed – yet they grow closer, argue and support each other, and gradually reveal their history with Giorgia. The fear for her life also becomes a confrontation with their own past.

In INHALE, EXHALE Nataša Dragnić plays elegantly with the link between jazz and literature. Each protagonist is assigned an instrument that characterizes him and stands for his individual tone. And so, in the chapters headed with titles of jazz pieces, the piano, the drums and the saxophone each express themselves from their own perspective: sometimes loud, sometimes soft, sometimes harmonious, sometimes dissonant.

A novel, cleverly composed like a jazz session!