Thaw
Grade 10 Up—Eighteen-year-old Dane is furious—with his father, his ex-girlfriend, his no-nonsense physical therapist, and most of all with the disease that has robbed him of the use of every muscle in his body, Guillain-Barré syndrome. In a rehabilitation hospital in Florida, far away from his family and his career as a champion high school cross-country skier in upstate New York, Dane slowly relearns how to feed himself, turn the pages of a book, and perform basic physical functions, and he is forced to consider the possibility that he won't fully recover. Punctuating his fear of this fate-worse-than-death scenario are his encounters with the daughter of a man vegetating in a room across the hall, four years after a brain injury. In flashbacks, Dane recounts his relationship with his former girlfriend, whose love he has never been able to fully return (until now?). Like Chris Crutcher's characters, disgruntled Dane guards his emotions carefully, allowing only his nature-loving occupational therapist to penetrate his anger. Roe's descriptions of wintry New York are stunningly beautiful. The protagonist's frustrations about feeling out of control will resonate with teens, and the context of neurological rehab presents an original and challenging read. As Dane and his friends are sexually active, use strong language, and drink at parties, this novel is best suited for an older audience.—Nora G. Murphy, Los Angeles Academy Middle SchoolCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.