8/10

Phantom Limbs was unexpected, beautiful, and honest.

-First off, the metaphorical-ness of the title is absolutely fantastic .

-I think this book handled the topic of grief really well: how it deeply affects people, and how it will always be painful.

-Otis is very blunt and crass when it comes to describing sexual things, which resulted in it being hard to read his thoughts at times.

-I really liked Otis and Dara's friendship.
At the start of the book, it's quite unbalanced. Dara, Otis' swim coach, is really harsh, and Otis doesn't fight back.
However, throughout the course of the story, they both grow a lot, learn more about each other, and continue to be honest yet supportive of the others' decisions.

-I liked how throughout the book, Otis learns and becomes more aware of how Meg was and is affected by Mason's death (not a spoiler). He realizes how they need to lean on each other, both continuing to grieve, but still moving forward.
"But damaged doesn't necessarily mean broken."

"But broken doesn't necessarily mean damaged."