The Easy Part of Impossible

An extraordinary and timely story about a girl who is lost, and a boy on the autism spectrum who is a brilliant creator of maps. Together, the pair navigate the heart wrenching twists life throws usfrom loss (on multiple levels) to toxic, abusive relationships. Oh, and did I mention the spelunking?! Truly, its a rare book that is thought-provoking, beautifully atmospheric, and so genuine in its authenticity. I treasured every word, paragraph, and page! Tomp has succeeded in writing something wholly original, with characters (hello, Ria and Cotton!) that I continue to carry in my heart weeks after reading. The only impossibility for me? NOT falling in love with this book!!! 10s across the board!

I loved the characters of Ria and Cotton, both of whom are neuro-diverse and completely relatable. This story of an elite diver who suddenly finds herself free of the one thing she loved that took up all her time and energy, uses the opportunity to become better friends with Cotton, a boy whom she\’s known since elementary school. As she explores the caves beneath her town with him, so she comes to terms with who she is, what she wants, as well as with the abusive relationship with her former coach. Gorgeously written, unexpected, and very satisfying!

I have been telling everyone and their mom to read this book. Because it is awesome. It\’s a bit sweeter and lighter than my usual fare, which I think will appeal to a lot of people (especially at a time like this!) but it also definitely deals with some legitimately difficult issues, so I think it has a fabulous balance. Let\’s just get right to talking about all the stuff I loved! This is a diving book! And look, I am certainly no diver. But I looked at the divers on our team (in high school, swimming and diving competed together, as one team, diving scoring points for the rest of the meet) in actual awe. To me, they were straight up superheroes, getting on that super hard board, running, jumping, flipping. Literally all the things we\’ve been told not to ever do at pools, right? Anyway, it\’s an impressive sport, and the author really did her homework here. Plus I love when books deal with sports and young women, for a myriad of reasons. In this particular one, Ria needs to figure out who she is without diving- or if perhaps she need to get back to it. Also a plus? Her reasons for quitting make sense. It\’s far from arbitrary, or because she wasn\’t devoted. Which brings me to my second point. Ria has an incredibly complicated relationship with her coach. I was worried at how this was going to be presented, but I was actually really pleasantly surprised. Benny, the coach… well, he sucks. This isn\’t a spoiler, you know he sucks from the beginning. But Ria doesn\’t know how much Benny sucks. She worships him, thinks his word is gospel. But it isn\’t, and he doesn\’t treat her appropriately, and Ria has to navigate this. And I kind of love the message that this book presents in this regard. Because coaching relationships are often quite complicated. I was extremely lucky to have an incredible high school coach, but my college coach was messy as heck, and I had no idea how to navigate it. So when I say this is an important subject to discuss with young women, it really, really is. Ria is a fabulous character who grows and learns so much about herself. Talk about a journey of discovery! Ria is so, so lost when the book starts. She has a boyfriend who\’s fine, but clearly not the love of her life. Friends that she\’s been keeping her distance from. Parents she hasn\’t been open with. A coach who is controlling her even while she\’s not on the team. And as the book goes on, Ria must confront all of these issues head on, or risk leaving her life a confusing status quo. Enter Cotton and caving. Ria meets up with an old acquaintance (nicknamed Cotton), and he introduces her to caving. And all kinds of other messy feelings. But stepping outside of her comfort zone, meeting new challenges head on, these are all so important for Ria to grow. And also, Cotton is a wonderful character who I would basically die for. The book is just straight up full of heart. You can tell that the author poured her soul into this one, because it just radiates off the page. From the start, I fell in love with Ria\’s struggles, her family, her friends, her teammates. Ria was relatable, and so was her life. Everyone can sympathize with trying to figure out who you are, who and what you want to be, and we\’ve all had to make decisions that will inevitably change the trajectory of our lives. And that\’s all stuff Ria deals with here, in a really special way. Bottom Line: Absolutely one of the best contemporaries I have read. I could relate so much to Ria and her decisions, and fell in love with her and her story.

Tomps sophomore novel took my breath away. Ria, the main character, is a determined and focused teen athlete who is controlled by an overbearing, toxic coacha twisted and harmful relationship that no one in her family or peer group can see, let alone help her escape from. After all, it is a coachs job to push their athletes, right? But this novel explores what happens when that approach goes too far. Then Ria suffers an injury and shes left rudderless, until she can reclaim her self-worth when she begins to see herself the way Cotton sees her. This novel explores the mental, physical and emotional toll a hard-driving coach/adult can inflict upon a young girla topic not explored often enough in our headlines or teen literature (until its often too late) and I applaud Tomp for creating such a realistic, gripping dynamic between her exceptionally well-developed characters. This is a brilliant and fascinating dive into the world of competitive water sports, first love, and self-love. Highly recommend!

Ria is a champion diver, but was a less than stellar student before, so when an accident leaves her unable to dive she loses who she is. She finds new parts of herself in the company of Cotton, a boy on the autism spectrum; he helps her to see her coach\’s toughness was actually abuse. Author treats differences with respect and to quote her, \”I consider myself an ally to neurodivergent.\” Good for people who want characters with neurodiversity but also just plain a good book.

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