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Book Reviewed by:After an injury forces Ria off the diving team, an unexpected friendship with Cotton, a guy on the autism spectrum, helps her come to terms with the abusive relationship she's been in with her former coach.
Ria Williams was an elite diver on track for the Olympics. As someone who struggled in school, largely due to her ADHD, diving was the one place Ria could shine.
But while her parents were focused on the trophies, no one noticed how Coach Benny's strict rules and punishments controlled every aspect of Ria's life. The harder he was on her, the sharper her focus. The bigger the bruise, the better the dive.
Until a freak accident at a meet changes everything. Just like that, Ria is handed back her life, free of Benny.
To fill her now empty and aimless days, Ria rekindles a friendship with Cotton, a guy she used to know back in elementary school. With Cotton, she's able to open up about what Benny would do to her, and through Cotton's eyes, Ria is able to see it for what it was: abuse.
Then Benny returns, offering Ria a second chance with a life-changing diving opportunity. But it's not hers alone—Benny's coaching comes with it. The thought of being back under his control seems impossible to bear, but so does walking away.
How do you separate the impossible from possible when the one thing you love is so tangled up in the thing you fear most?
In addition to the emotional investment in the characters, the short chapters and readable prose make this a book that is easy to fly through. However, it's not uncommon for novels aimed at young adults to suffer from moments of awkward dialogue — the author becoming briefly visible through their attempts to adopt a narrative voice that feels authentically youthful. The Easy Part of Impossible is no exception, particularly throughout Ria and Cotton's romantic subplot. Another consistent thread that is highly successful, however, is the book's look at the benefit of sports on our physical and mental well-being. It's admirable that this novel is able to highlight the dark side of the sporting world without dismissing its many positive qualities...continued
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(Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin).
In Sarah Tomp's The Easy Part of Impossible, diving proves to be a vital lifeline for teenager Ria Williams, who lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The intense structure, discipline and exertion called for by the sport allows Ria to channel her excess energy into something positive and helps her to master the social skills she previously found difficult.
Tomp is not alone in championing the physical and mental benefits of sports for young people living with ADHD. In fact, research shows that the prevalence of the condition is notably higher among collegiate and professional athletes compared to the general population, suggesting that many people living with ADHD are naturally drawn to sports as a form of release ...
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