Painless
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
David has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhydrosis—or CIPA for short. One of only a handful of people in the world who suffer from CIPA, David can't do the things every teenager does. He might accidentally break a limb and not know it. If he stands too close to a campfire, he could burn his skin and never feel it. When David's legal guardian tells him that he needs to move into an assisted living facility, David is determined to prove him wrong. He creates a bucket list, meets a girl with her own wish list, and then sets out to find the parents who abandoned him years ago. All David wants to do is grow old, beat the odds, find love, travel the world, and see something spectacular. While he still can.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At 17, David Hart has far outlived his life expectancy he has CIPA (congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis), which means he is unable to sweat or sense temperature and pain. While David sometimes feels invincible, in reality he's fragile and must closely monitor his body and behavior to avoid injuries or death. Having been abandoned years earlier by his parents, David has been raised by his grandparents, an upbringing that consisted of homeschooling and low-risk activities. After his grandmother is diagnosed with dementia, David's guardian tries to persuade him to move into assisted living, but he's tired of being careful. Encouraged by Luna, his new personal assistant, he makes a bucket list and starts enjoying his life, even though David knows their time together as well as his own is limited. Harazin (Blood Brothers) adeptly evokes moments of joy, heartbreak, and introspection, all amplified by David's awareness that he is living on "borrowed time." An ending that dips into melodrama distracts from an otherwise poignant story. Ages 13 up.
