Monday, March 03, 2008

THAW, by Monica M. Roe

THAW, by Monica M. Roe (Front Street, April 2008): In this finely-wrought first novel, Monica Roe presents the story of eighteen-year old Dane Rafferty: handsome, brilliant, and a gifted athlete, Dane is intolerant of failure and more than a little arrogant. In the midst of his senior year of high school, he's afflicted with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare and debilitating disease which causes almost complete paralysis. In response, Dane's emotionally distant parents send him away from his home in upstate New York to a rehabilitation clinic in Florida. There, Dane encounters an oddball set of patients and therapists who alternately cajole, irritate, and profoundly affect him. Although seventy-five percent of patients with GBS make a full recovery, there are twenty-five percent who don't and Dane comes to realize he might just be in the latter category...

Told in a compelling first person voice (with flashbacks to his life prior to the illness), THAW artfully traces Dane's progression from self-centered and exquisitely arrogant to being aware of what his aloofness might be costing him (and others around him).

Best of all, throughout the novel -- even when he's at his worst -- Dane is portrayed as three-dimensional and real. In short, Roe engages the reader into Dane's character, situation, and growth in a resonant and affecting manner.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg,
Thank you for the very kind review. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the book (this is my first one, so I'm a bit shy about it).


Sincerely,

M. Roe

Greg Leitich Smith said...

You're welcome. Say, can you drop Cyn or me an e-mail? She'd like to interview you over on cynsations, and we can't find any contact into.

Shooting Stars Mag said...

This book sounds amazing. Does she have an author website or anything? Can't wait to read the book though!

Anonymous said...

i loved this book i thought it was the bst one i have read yet.

Adi said...
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