Otis is a teenage swimmer with a determined and damaged coach who is sublimating her failed dreams into his future, still grieving for his dead brother. Then Meg returns to his world - Meg who left after his brother died, Meg who has demons of her own...

I flew through this book, rooting for the characters all the way. Otis has a great voice, both introspective and self-deprecating, but with some truly terrible turns of phrase. (I’m still recovering from the idiot pig poking out of the barn. Read it for context.)

It’s a great book about living with pain, with memories and with hope.

And my favourite character by a long shot was Dara. I want more Dara. Please?

This was super random and I had no expectations going in, but I was so surprised and happy with this book. It was easy to read and I flew through it in a day, the characters were original and so easy to root for I just loved all of them. Otis was such a sweetie I literally fell in love with him and he was so funny. It was awkward and honest and painful and uplifting and cute.
Dara was a super interesting character and everything was just well developed and plotted and perfect. I had some problems with Meg but I was happy about how everything went.
Aaanyway this was an unexpected gem, and coming from someone who is generally unimpressed with YA it was so worth the read.

maybe closer to a 4.75

phantom limbs is a book that i had on my radar earlier this year
i try to read debuts, especially with a synopsis as compelling as this one
this novel did not disappoint and i can say that it is easily one of my newest favourite contemporaries

phantom limbs is a character-driven novel, which is my favourite aspect of any story
the reason why i loved this book so much is because the characters felt so real
first, i enjoyed that the parents were involved in this novel, especially as it was a story of healing after a family member's death

Spoiler

okay now to talk about the main three:
my least favourite was meg
although i felt for her struggle, it is very hard to sympathize with a character that is described as perfect and literally the girl next door

my second favourite character was dara
what a layered, beautiful, heartbreaking person
i found it easier to sympathize with her, as she did not possess the same flawless exterior as meg
dara was flawed, but i loved her relationship with otis

WHICH BRINGS ME ONTO MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER
otis, my sweet, sweet boy
i just want to hug him
i think otis is the epitome of my ideal partner
he is so thoughtful, so caring, so compassionate, so forgiving
i love him and i just wish him the best life

also, the writing was gorgeous and otis' voice portrayed a teenage boy perfectly
garner has a beautiful way of descriptions and ahhhh this book was perfect

i fear this book will be overlooked, so if you feel the slightest inclination to read it, please do!!! you won't regret it

phantom limbs was a hauntingly beautiful and poignant coming of age story

A 2018-2019 Missouri Gateway Readers Award preliminary nominee (grades 9-12).

Otis and Meg were best friends, but then Otis's little brother died in a horrible accident (of which we do not learn the details until quite late in the novel) and Meg's family moved away. After three years of silence, Meg is back for three weeks, and Otis isn't sure what to think.

I have mixed feelings about this. I didn't dislike the writing, but I did not care for the story. I wish there was more Dara and Otis and the swim lessons. Less of the other stuff.

From the first few chapters I thought I was going to fall in love with this book. There was intrigue, beautiful writing, and a really interesting cast of characters. It's the story of Otis, whose best friend and next door neighbour, Meg, moved away suddenly after an unforeseen incident. Otis is left devastated and in mourning for his little brother, and the girl he used to love. In the three years Meg is gone, Otis takes up swimming, coached by Dara the Scandinavian swimming goddess who lost an arm and had to give up her Olympic dreams.

I liked Otis' voice...until he started describing every girl's breasts whenever he met them. The male gaze is disgusting, and those moments made me realise why I often steer clear of hetero male protagonists. Otherwise, Otis fits in with the heroes in the writing of John Green, Robyn Snyder, and Jeff Zentner.

Unfortunately, that's not the only reason I didn't click with Phantom Limbs . I felt like the emotional tone was one note. It was the same level of sadness, trepidation and guilt the whole way through. There weren't enough, I don't know, light hearted, happy moments to encourage me to keep reading. The whole thing was a bit depressing, if I'm honest. There's supposed to be this slow build up to reveal the exact details of Mason's death and why Meg moved away but I'd vaguely put things together way before they were confirmed, so I'd lost the hook of the story.

As for character development, I was frustrated with both Meg and Otis as they were both consumed by the past. Obviously coming together again stirred up old emotions, but it didn't feel like they were good for one another. Meg brought out Otis' jealous, self-conscious side and it was difficult to read about characters who regressed instead.

Phantom Limbs is pretty romance heavy, even though Meg has a boyfriend already. Those kind of blurred moral lines always make me feel a bit uncomfortable but it added to the general teen angst Otis was feeling, and that was the only change of pace in the story, but the trivial glimpses into his hometown life didn't always match well with the nostalgic tone. It's like Otis couldn't progress with two feelings at once.

I also can't help but mention the LGBT+ aspect of the story. I'm not sure what Dara identifies as, even though Otis and Meg (who'd only met her a couple of times throughout the story) were OBSESSED with trying to label her as a lesbian. You know what, guys? It doesn't matter. (Louder now for the ones at the back) IT DOESN'T MATTER. Why the heck these two were talking about Dara's sexuality behind her back in their own free time, I couldn't tell you. And don't get me started on Meg's 'I knew she was a lesbian!' at the end. Like, well done? Do you want a prize? I would kindly like to ask for this trope to die in 2018.

Dara as a whole was a very interesting sub-plot. It did what all great sub plots are meant to do, distract you from the main plot at convenient times but still be interlinked enough that it doesn't seem obvious that that's what's happening. Still, at times I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be Otis' or Dara's story. And I have to admit, that at some points, I hoped it was the latter. Is it wrong to say that I probably cared about Dara the most over all? I'm not sure how, but I had a much stronger emotional connection to her. Dara and Otis had both lost a part of themselves, but from reading this books, I've realised I'd much prefer to read about the lesbian amputee sticking it to the man.

I didn't particularly like what the ending suggested, but I still can't bring myself to give it less than three stars because the opening showed so much promise. If you liked any of the comp authors I mentioned earlier, then I'd definitely give this one a go.

3.75 stars (for being the 1st book to ever receive this rating from me since I always use 0.5 stars hah). On a serious note though, for the secondary character Dara who was my favourite with her complexity and flaws.

Otis was an engaging narrator and I enjoyed his poems here and there except for every single paragraph that he spent obsessing over his childhood love Meg. I couldn't stand his obsession with her when he fell in love with her at 13 and still pined for her when she came back suddenly into his life.

I thought maybe Meg would grow on me as the book progressed and that we were just made to dislike her at the beginning but that didn't happen for me.

Even after we discover how Mason dies and Meg reveals how she's seeing a therapist, I couldn't warm up to her when she had a boyfriend (he was pointless) and she kept subtly hinting to Otis that there was something between them. So, when she broke up with her boyfriend and then immediately made out with Otis, I felt absolutely nothing for them. So I was really happy that Otis ditched her to see Dara when she was in trouble.

I wish Otis spent more time with Dara and if this book was just the friendship between these two and their daily lives, I probably would have easily given this 5 stars. I liked how after Meg left and Otis was broken, Dara was there and helped heal him even if he didn't realize it. The moments where he helped her during her phantom limb moments were sweet. This title was perfect in the context and symbolism.

I just love it ^_^

Started out a little slow. But was a book with many different emotions. Loved it a lot in the end