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A review by b_tellefsen_rescuesandreads
Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner
3.0
Rating: 3.5
Three years ago, when they were just 13, Otis's best friend and first love Meg, up and moved with no warning and no goodbye. This came on the heels of the death of Otis's three-year-old brother, Mason, who died due to a tragic accident. One that left both Otis's and Meg's family irreparably changed.
Since then, Otis has never heard from Meg. She stopped communicating altogether and suddenly, she is about to return. Otis has to reconcile his hurt and anger, along with the love and hope he never lost for Meg. All while undergoing rigorous swimming training with Dara, a former Olympi-hopeful whose dreams were dashed with the loss of her arm, and who know is determined to see Otis get where she couldn't.
Meg's return opens up a lot of wounds for Otis and his family, especially as he faces some hard truths, particularly that Meg is not the girl she once was. But he never lets go of his dreams for Meg, and he remains firmly rooted next to Dara as she goes through her own type of loss.
I picked this up on a whim, because it had been sitting on my TBR shelf for years, and I never could quite convince myself to let it go. The premise sounded like it would contain the hard-hitting content I need in my YA Contemporaries, and in a lot of ways, I was right!
This turned out to be surprisingly poignant and captivating. It follows three teens who are all trying to deal with grief and irreplaceable loss. Meg has PTSD from the day Mason died, an event she has tried hard to run away from, which is why she cut off all contact with Otis. Otis of course, and his family, live with Mason's loss every day, and Dara didn't just lose her arm. She lost her dreams, as well as the love of her father she sees her as just a disappointment.
All three are struggling with indescribable pain and I thought this book depicted it well. It approached the topics with grace and compassion and detailed a disability we don't often see represented in books: Amputation and the agony of phantom limb pain.
Overall, I found myself enjoying this book more than I thought I would and would definitly love to give Paula Gardner another chance.
Three years ago, when they were just 13, Otis's best friend and first love Meg, up and moved with no warning and no goodbye. This came on the heels of the death of Otis's three-year-old brother, Mason, who died due to a tragic accident. One that left both Otis's and Meg's family irreparably changed.
Since then, Otis has never heard from Meg. She stopped communicating altogether and suddenly, she is about to return. Otis has to reconcile his hurt and anger, along with the love and hope he never lost for Meg. All while undergoing rigorous swimming training with Dara, a former Olympi-hopeful whose dreams were dashed with the loss of her arm, and who know is determined to see Otis get where she couldn't.
Meg's return opens up a lot of wounds for Otis and his family, especially as he faces some hard truths, particularly that Meg is not the girl she once was. But he never lets go of his dreams for Meg, and he remains firmly rooted next to Dara as she goes through her own type of loss.
I picked this up on a whim, because it had been sitting on my TBR shelf for years, and I never could quite convince myself to let it go. The premise sounded like it would contain the hard-hitting content I need in my YA Contemporaries, and in a lot of ways, I was right!
This turned out to be surprisingly poignant and captivating. It follows three teens who are all trying to deal with grief and irreplaceable loss. Meg has PTSD from the day Mason died, an event she has tried hard to run away from, which is why she cut off all contact with Otis. Otis of course, and his family, live with Mason's loss every day, and Dara didn't just lose her arm. She lost her dreams, as well as the love of her father she sees her as just a disappointment.
All three are struggling with indescribable pain and I thought this book depicted it well. It approached the topics with grace and compassion and detailed a disability we don't often see represented in books: Amputation and the agony of phantom limb pain.
Overall, I found myself enjoying this book more than I thought I would and would definitly love to give Paula Gardner another chance.