Thaw

First of all, I can't believe it has almost been a week since I last posted. I'm not sure what is keeping me so busy aside from report cards and attending a Promethean training yesterday and completing an on-line training as well. Today is another snow day. So far my kids have had four and I have had two. We added another seven inches to our total last night.
The one thing I did get accomplished today was a little reading. Thaw by Monica Roe was devoured in one sitting. Wow! What a book.
Dane Rafferty is eighteen when he is diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome, a paralyzing disease leaving him without the use of his arms and legs and months of therapy in his future. While Dane initially assumes he will make a full recovery (seventy five percent of people who suffer from this illness do) there is a lot of work for him to do to make that assumption a reality. Along the way Dane may even have to admit to having feelings and being human. I have read a few different blogs about Thaw and in them all I have read that Dane is not a likeable character. While this is true, there are also some reasons that Dane has developed the personality he has. His father wants only perfection and remains perfectly detached from everyone in the family. Not only has Dane tried to be the perfect son for his father, he has also started to act like his dad. Even his girlfriend Elise is unable to get Dane to really open up to her, despite all her efforts. When Dane is packed off to Florida for rehab without friends or family to give him support he is left with a lot of time to think and the need to make a friend or two along the way. I wanted to know if Dane made a full recovery and wondered how Roe would resolve her story. Roe managed to create a perfect ending for this book and I will continue to wonder about Dane for a long time.