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jilly7922's review against another edition
5.0
Let me introduce this year's first book to make "my favorites list" on Goodreads.com, it is "The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and their Quest for Olympic Glory'" by Julie Checkoway. Overall I would rate this book five stars out of five. Where do I begin? Wow, what an amazing story! This book is a true story of a group of Japanese-American children and their coach. It is a story of a coach a Japanese-American who was trying to find himself and found himself in a group of Japanese-American children. These children had nothing, they lived in poverty living as "slaves" on sugar plantations. The coach found a ditch and taught them how to swim. It is about the struggles during this fragile time period of World War II and particularly the struggles that of Japanese-Americans faced. It is a story of will, of never giving up. It is a story of strength and courage in the face of adversity.
Before reading this book, honestly I did not know anything about it, and never mind not knowing that this story existed or happened in the first place. But boy, oh boy am I glad I read it. I am kicking myself in the butt that I didn't read this sooner, and wishing this book never ended. The way the author narrated this story was magical. Reading it, I felt as if I was there watching as a bystander the events that took place. I truly felt apart of this book and definitely connected to it from the first paragraphs. I almost want to go as far as to say that I wish they would make a movie out of this book. However, I am also weary of wishing for this, because hardly ever are the movies are as good as the book. And when this happens it leaves you disappointed, frustrated and upset, and I don't want to look back feeling this way. So as they say better safe than sorry. I would like to point out that for those people who shy away from reading nonfiction, I would highly consider reading this book. I would read it because of the way the author told the story. This is not your typical nonfiction book, you are going to be hooked from the very first word.
I literally was holding my breath and sitting on the edge of my seat while reading this book. It was such an amazing story, I could not wait to turn the page to see what happened next. There are not too many books out there where it is difficult to find anything to critique. Reading this book took you on a journey of experiencing the full spectrum of emotions. And this book was a very pleasant change, since recently I have been reading books on the more depressing side. I would again highly recommend this book, for those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE.
I would like to thank The Reading Room, Julie Checkoway, and Grand Central Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Come and read my blog at http://turnthepagereviewsbyjill.blogspot.com/
Before reading this book, honestly I did not know anything about it, and never mind not knowing that this story existed or happened in the first place. But boy, oh boy am I glad I read it. I am kicking myself in the butt that I didn't read this sooner, and wishing this book never ended. The way the author narrated this story was magical. Reading it, I felt as if I was there watching as a bystander the events that took place. I truly felt apart of this book and definitely connected to it from the first paragraphs. I almost want to go as far as to say that I wish they would make a movie out of this book. However, I am also weary of wishing for this, because hardly ever are the movies are as good as the book. And when this happens it leaves you disappointed, frustrated and upset, and I don't want to look back feeling this way. So as they say better safe than sorry. I would like to point out that for those people who shy away from reading nonfiction, I would highly consider reading this book. I would read it because of the way the author told the story. This is not your typical nonfiction book, you are going to be hooked from the very first word.
I literally was holding my breath and sitting on the edge of my seat while reading this book. It was such an amazing story, I could not wait to turn the page to see what happened next. There are not too many books out there where it is difficult to find anything to critique. Reading this book took you on a journey of experiencing the full spectrum of emotions. And this book was a very pleasant change, since recently I have been reading books on the more depressing side. I would again highly recommend this book, for those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE.
I would like to thank The Reading Room, Julie Checkoway, and Grand Central Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Come and read my blog at http://turnthepagereviewsbyjill.blogspot.com/
justicepirate's review against another edition
3.0
3.75 stars
This is a detailed biography about those who changed the history of how swimming as a sport is done. Filipino and Japanese Americans living in Hawaii during the late 1930s are taught how to swim against a current in a ditch. They begin to compete in swimming competitions around the world, including the Olympics, becoming great champions. This is a story about their coach and the kids who came out of the club. They endured racism, poverty, and looking nothing like those who were considered champions, but proved the world wrong. I really loved this!! It was a story I had never heard of before!
This is a detailed biography about those who changed the history of how swimming as a sport is done. Filipino and Japanese Americans living in Hawaii during the late 1930s are taught how to swim against a current in a ditch. They begin to compete in swimming competitions around the world, including the Olympics, becoming great champions. This is a story about their coach and the kids who came out of the club. They endured racism, poverty, and looking nothing like those who were considered champions, but proved the world wrong. I really loved this!! It was a story I had never heard of before!
carolpk's review against another edition
5.0
To think if it had not been for the curiosity, perseverance and skill of Julie Checkoway, I would never have experienced, nor known about this hiccup of history. I’m not a die hard sports fan of any sort, rarely watch either the Winter or Summer Olympics, don’t know the athletes by name but there is something that draws me to stories like The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory, in which a group of young people, from poor, hard-working families, with no special equipment or skills, can rise to a challenge. Who are these kids? Did they succeed? Why did the author want to tell their story? And always important for me, who did they then become? Ms. Checkoway answers my questions in this well researched, fascinating, easy to read narrative
From the dedication to the very last page, Checkoway held me captive. Right from the beginning she sets the stage with an overview and description of Maui, and its fertile land, once consisting of 30,000 acres of sugarcane, home to 80,000 persons living in
“13 segregated labor camps in a village called Pu’unene.”
Today, only one sugar plantation remains; easily identified by the landmark of the two remaining smokestacks. Checkoway allows me to see it then and to see it now. She resurrects an inkling of a story that had almost disappeared and gives it life. It was 1932 when a schoolteacher, Soichi Sakamoto, a man not able to swim himself, teaches a group of under-privileged Japanese-American camp kids to swim, not in a fancy pool, but in the plantation’s dirty irrigation ditch. Imagine this.
She vividly describes what she first sees when she visits the deteriorated property. As she contemplates a wall of signs, a minor remembrance of the past she thinks:
” The plantation owns those signs, but who, I wondered owned the disappearing story that, in part, they tell? The story of the teacher and the children lives now in so few places: on that weather-beaten wall, in scrapbooks filled with photographs. History isn’t a sculptured cup; it’s more like a sieve through which so many stories pass and disappear.”
Checkoway makes me understand the urgency to record these stories, to create a written history of this spirited group of teens. Many were old and some had already passed away. There are stories within stories to be told. I want to share so many with you but then there would be no need for you to read this yourself. Checkoway focuses on a few key boys and one girl, but also weaves in the story of many others. There are the swimmers, their parents, Sakomoto, his wife and daughters, the benefactors, those who believed and those who didn’t that it was possible for these kids to win, not only in small meets, but Olympic Gold. There is the quest to somehow bring these under-weight, under-nourished, ramshackle kids in hand-me-down swimsuits, to the 1940 Summer Games, only to have that hope crushed by the outbreak of World War II. The interruption of the war, the internment of many Japanese-Americans, the financial and subtle political barriers tried but could not dampen the spirit of Sakamoto and his kids. I was absorbed by the unique style of training Sakamoto used, one that was grueling and required a firm three year commitment by the kids. I was amazed that some of his boys trained sailors to swim during the war when it was realized that "fifty percent of the Navy couldn’t swim."
I can picture these children, their bony, shivering bodies leaving the water, without even a towel to dry off with or to keep them warm. I can see the wonder on their faces as they journeyed from their home to far away places in the world, by ship, rail, buses and even air. I can feel their pride in their accomplishments. I am impressed by their sheer will and determination to stick with the program. I can feel their sorrow when Pearl Harbor is bombed and they are no longer seen as the Americans they are. I can cheer them on as some finally make it to the 1948 Olympics to represent America.
Checkoway humbly credits her book, not to her passion to write it,
”but because so many people have been so largehearted in helping me find my way in doing so.”
We are the lucky recipients of her quest to not let this story be forgotten. Don’t miss this. Julie Checkoway has written a winner in every sense of the word.
From the dedication to the very last page, Checkoway held me captive. Right from the beginning she sets the stage with an overview and description of Maui, and its fertile land, once consisting of 30,000 acres of sugarcane, home to 80,000 persons living in
“13 segregated labor camps in a village called Pu’unene.”
Today, only one sugar plantation remains; easily identified by the landmark of the two remaining smokestacks. Checkoway allows me to see it then and to see it now. She resurrects an inkling of a story that had almost disappeared and gives it life. It was 1932 when a schoolteacher, Soichi Sakamoto, a man not able to swim himself, teaches a group of under-privileged Japanese-American camp kids to swim, not in a fancy pool, but in the plantation’s dirty irrigation ditch. Imagine this.
She vividly describes what she first sees when she visits the deteriorated property. As she contemplates a wall of signs, a minor remembrance of the past she thinks:
” The plantation owns those signs, but who, I wondered owned the disappearing story that, in part, they tell? The story of the teacher and the children lives now in so few places: on that weather-beaten wall, in scrapbooks filled with photographs. History isn’t a sculptured cup; it’s more like a sieve through which so many stories pass and disappear.”
Checkoway makes me understand the urgency to record these stories, to create a written history of this spirited group of teens. Many were old and some had already passed away. There are stories within stories to be told. I want to share so many with you but then there would be no need for you to read this yourself. Checkoway focuses on a few key boys and one girl, but also weaves in the story of many others. There are the swimmers, their parents, Sakomoto, his wife and daughters, the benefactors, those who believed and those who didn’t that it was possible for these kids to win, not only in small meets, but Olympic Gold. There is the quest to somehow bring these under-weight, under-nourished, ramshackle kids in hand-me-down swimsuits, to the 1940 Summer Games, only to have that hope crushed by the outbreak of World War II. The interruption of the war, the internment of many Japanese-Americans, the financial and subtle political barriers tried but could not dampen the spirit of Sakamoto and his kids. I was absorbed by the unique style of training Sakamoto used, one that was grueling and required a firm three year commitment by the kids. I was amazed that some of his boys trained sailors to swim during the war when it was realized that "fifty percent of the Navy couldn’t swim."
I can picture these children, their bony, shivering bodies leaving the water, without even a towel to dry off with or to keep them warm. I can see the wonder on their faces as they journeyed from their home to far away places in the world, by ship, rail, buses and even air. I can feel their pride in their accomplishments. I am impressed by their sheer will and determination to stick with the program. I can feel their sorrow when Pearl Harbor is bombed and they are no longer seen as the Americans they are. I can cheer them on as some finally make it to the 1948 Olympics to represent America.
Checkoway humbly credits her book, not to her passion to write it,
”but because so many people have been so largehearted in helping me find my way in doing so.”
We are the lucky recipients of her quest to not let this story be forgotten. Don’t miss this. Julie Checkoway has written a winner in every sense of the word.
creativerunnings's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this book years ago when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. I made it through about half of the book but gave up. I always feel sad when I don't finish a book, and since I recently started listening to audiobooks, I've found that it's easier to get through some tougher books that way. So that's what I did! Overall the story is really wonderful, and it's so great that the Three Year Swim Club gets such a detailed account for their incredible achievements. I loved that the story covered the situation at the time for Japanese Americans, along with the challenges for athletics overall during the war. The book was a bit long-winded for me (how is it that almost every non fiction book needs to be at least 300 pages?), and I had a hard time staying engaged but I finished!
mactammonty's review against another edition
4.0
There are so many things to like about this book. It is a story about the underdog that does win. It is much more than that though. It spans a life time. One that is interrupted by war. In that it can at a a primer for our current situation.
The author brings up racism in a very thoughtful way. She points out how the people dealt with it. The dignity that they showed but the changes they have gone on to make in their communities. This strategy made the times it was mentioned all the more potent.
This is a very inspiring history. One that is well written.
The author brings up racism in a very thoughtful way. She points out how the people dealt with it. The dignity that they showed but the changes they have gone on to make in their communities. This strategy made the times it was mentioned all the more potent.
This is a very inspiring history. One that is well written.