Review: Simply Amazing
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 9, 2013
I don't know how to covey how deeply this book touched me. I'm 14 years old and for 8 years I was a swimmer. Swimming was my everything, my future was swimming. One day that all changed. I was getting ready for my number one event when my shoulder just gave out on me. I couldn't bring it above my head, I couldn't do anything with it. For two years I went to 7 different doctors, took a dozen different tests, each telling me something different about my shoulder. After finally getting a diagnosis and doing extensive PT I was eventually told that my shoulder would never heal on its own. For two years I held out hope that I could swim again, that I could be who I was again. Swimming had influenced every aspect of my life and without it I didn't know who I was. The author captured this loss perfectly. There were times when I had to put the book down and collect myself before continuing. It is hard to explain to people how I felt and here it is written down in a book.I connected with Genna and her pain was an echo of my own. She reminded me of myself and it was hard seeing what happened to her. Genna's situation was worse than my own in that her home life was in turmoil and she lost basketball when she was a senior. She had to cope with her injury, her parents, and college all at the same time. The weight of her loss and her fear of the future took her down into a very dark place, a place so dark and deep she couldn't get out on her own. Genna turned to pills to take her away from the pain and they slowly took over her life. It was painful watching her fall into the vortex esp. because there were people around her that could help.Genna's parents, Jake, and Ro were amazing supporting characters, I loved the relationship they had with Genna and each other. They were well developed, well rounded and their stories tied themselves to Genna's in a beautifully woven web. The stuck with her throughout her struggles, were part of her struggles, and made the book come to life in a way only they could.I loved this book. The author did a wonderful job of showing how a teen with her life mapped out suddenly has to learn how to walk again. It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, it was gritty and raw and emotionally draining. Every page brought something new and I don't think I ever put the book down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone willing to look at the darker side of life with nothing but a dim light at the end of the tunnel. 5 out of 5 stars