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mollywithcurls's review against another edition
2.0
As a swimmer, I thought that I would really enjoy this book. However, it was just a little bit too abstract for me. The vignettes got to be extremely repetitive about halfway through. While I think Leanne did a great job capturing the subtleties of life as a swimmer, I didn't feel like the book really "took" me anywhere.
siobst's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed the parts that were specifically about swimming. The parts about her personal life seemed like irrelevant tangents at times. The details of her life events and their chronology were often unclear. For example, it seemed that she was visiting many architecturally and culturally interesting pools at one point, but why? As research for the book? On vacation? Also, she frequently alludes to discontent in her marriage but doesn't elaborate much. Some obscure aspects of the book such as a description of various smells was intriguing. However, the captions in one section displaying endless photos of swimsuits she'd worn both for competitive and leisurely swimming didn't add much to the book.
avandyke's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
Wonderful book about life outside of sport.
ichoward's review against another edition
5.0
Magnificent and changed how I feel about memoir — it reads as a fictive novel. Shapton’s writing is lyric and her storytelling is impressive. The themes of failure and grief, as well as attachement to what makes us grieve were particularly important to me
saralynnburnett's review against another edition
5.0
What an absolutely marvelous book. This multimedia memoir on competitive swimming SPOKE to me because I too once swam at this level and I too swam breaststroke (200m was my best race though, not 100m): the 5am workouts before school, the 3 hour workouts after school / the “dumb focus” and inhuman willingness to train with rigor for a season, a month, four years at a time just to shave a few tenths of a second off of your best time... the weird smells you live with, the brassy hair and google marks.... This book was full of wonderful lines that cut to heart of what it’s like to be drawn to water for a lifetime but still carry a scar from a goal that hovered just out of reach: “It’s a knowledge of watery space, being able to sense exactly where my body is and what it’s affecting, an animal empathy for contact with an element (pg 210)” For me, the best things swimming have given me are my rich inner conversations (you spend A LOT of time in your own head overcoming incredible amount of tedium and pain so best to make sure that what’s going on up there is at least interesting) and that “dumb focus” and “how athletic and artistic discipline are kissing cousins, they require the same thing, an unspecial practice: tedious and pitch-black invisible, private as guts, but always sacred (pg 226).” It’s the fact that it might take a hundred practices to get just a little better, and athletes and artists are cool with that.
Questions I want to ask the author:
1. Do you also pack goggles into your carry-on when flying over large bodies of water?
2. Do you also hate snorkeling gear (or scuba diving gear) because it messes with how your body “should” feel and move in water?
3. Have you also considered trying out for Survivor because you know you’d kill it in all the water challenges?
4. Did you ever have one of those 1990s Speedo backpacks with the giant black flap?
5. Did you ever get swim suit rub on your neck so badly from long freestyle sets that kids at school the next day thought it was a hickey?
Questions I want to ask the author:
1. Do you also pack goggles into your carry-on when flying over large bodies of water?
2. Do you also hate snorkeling gear (or scuba diving gear) because it messes with how your body “should” feel and move in water?
3. Have you also considered trying out for Survivor because you know you’d kill it in all the water challenges?
4. Did you ever have one of those 1990s Speedo backpacks with the giant black flap?
5. Did you ever get swim suit rub on your neck so badly from long freestyle sets that kids at school the next day thought it was a hickey?
alisarae's review against another edition
Yes, this is exactly like swimming. The isolation, the pain, the drifting, the weightlesness, the hunger, the cold, the numbing repetition. Really makes you wonder what is enjoyable about the sport, and it seems the author herself never quite reaches a conclusion: perhaps the tight control and discipline, the familiarity, the sensation of feeling your body leave its regular physical constrictions.
I really enjoyed the thoughtful overlap of visual arts and swimming. I wish I could experience both of those things right now.
Interesting to pair this book with Bravey by Alexi Pappas. Both talk about the reality of pain in sport, something I wish I had learned to confront and deal with better when I was in high school. I don't remember my coaches talking about dealing with the psychological aspect of pain--funny since it completely consumes the majority of every single practice and the hours leading up to practice. I think my performance would have improved if I had figured out a better pain game plan. Both books also talk about athletes keeping up outward appearances even when you know they are hurting, all stoicism and tight lips. Maybe running and swimming attract the sort of personalities that logic away the complaints, "Quitting is not an option and complaining is a waste of energy." Ha. Maybe coaches carry that mentality too, and that's why no one ever really talked about it.
I really enjoyed the thoughtful overlap of visual arts and swimming. I wish I could experience both of those things right now.
Interesting to pair this book with Bravey by Alexi Pappas. Both talk about the reality of pain in sport, something I wish I had learned to confront and deal with better when I was in high school. I don't remember my coaches talking about dealing with the psychological aspect of pain--funny since it completely consumes the majority of every single practice and the hours leading up to practice. I think my performance would have improved if I had figured out a better pain game plan. Both books also talk about athletes keeping up outward appearances even when you know they are hurting, all stoicism and tight lips. Maybe running and swimming attract the sort of personalities that logic away the complaints, "Quitting is not an option and complaining is a waste of energy." Ha. Maybe coaches carry that mentality too, and that's why no one ever really talked about it.
eliodelio's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
a lovely memoir that also further cemented my belief that competitive sports should not be a thing lol. as a lifelong water lover (and now swimming enjoyer) i loved all the descriptions of swimming and different pools. i could have cried when she started talking about thomas mann's the magic mountain that book is so underrated and i LOVED hearing her own personal connection and perception of it.
(also not to be that person but from the way she talked about herself i got major egg vibes...i hope whatever her deal is she is doing well today)
(also not to be that person but from the way she talked about herself i got major egg vibes...i hope whatever her deal is she is doing well today)
torvarun's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
- Each story is usually 2-in-1, juxtaposed against each other to great effect
- There are some really beautiful one-liners/paragraphs
- Introspection but no push towards a thesis or overarching thought. Probably the way I’d like the write my memoir (if I ever do)
- The attention to detail is amazing. The breakfast she used to eat, the mannerisms of her teammates, etc., they all reflect the sorts of things you remember from your childhood. This goes well with Shapton’s ability to leap/linger through her stories and pace them (even more impressive when shes usually juggling multiple stories within a chapter)
My favourite memoir.
- There are some really beautiful one-liners/paragraphs
- Introspection but no push towards a thesis or overarching thought. Probably the way I’d like the write my memoir (if I ever do)
- The attention to detail is amazing. The breakfast she used to eat, the mannerisms of her teammates, etc., they all reflect the sorts of things you remember from your childhood. This goes well with Shapton’s ability to leap/linger through her stories and pace them (even more impressive when shes usually juggling multiple stories within a chapter)
My favourite memoir.