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briarsreviews's review against another edition
2.0
As a swimmer I expected to like this novel, but sadly I found it lacking.
The story itself is incredibly amazing, but it lacked any form of excitement. It seemed to be more of an essay than a story about how the Three-Year Swim Club came to being and how they entered a quest to get to the Olympics.
The author did a great job researching and presenting this novel, but it was not what I expected at all. Despite the incredible writing and fantastic story, I just felt like it was lacking a good 'umph' to the story to make anybody want to pick it up and read it.
I expected a lot of explanation into swimming, but sadly there wasn't much of that either. With the lack of exciting plot movement and swimming descriptions, I just felt let down.
I love non-fiction, and as a non-fiction novel it was fantastic, but it was just not what I expected off of the back cover.
Two out of five stars.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The story itself is incredibly amazing, but it lacked any form of excitement. It seemed to be more of an essay than a story about how the Three-Year Swim Club came to being and how they entered a quest to get to the Olympics.
The author did a great job researching and presenting this novel, but it was not what I expected at all. Despite the incredible writing and fantastic story, I just felt like it was lacking a good 'umph' to the story to make anybody want to pick it up and read it.
I expected a lot of explanation into swimming, but sadly there wasn't much of that either. With the lack of exciting plot movement and swimming descriptions, I just felt let down.
I love non-fiction, and as a non-fiction novel it was fantastic, but it was just not what I expected off of the back cover.
Two out of five stars.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
juliahendrickson's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent story about perseverance & prejudice
nataliemcollins's review against another edition
3.0
A LOT must've gone into researching the same 5,000 sources that serves to provide the story of the 3 Year Swim Club. I liked the story hit felt it was drawn out at times. All in all an interesting way to give voice to people from our nation's past which I didn't know existed.
yetanothersusan's review against another edition
5.0
An insightful look at what it was like growing up in a sugar cane picking family, working hard to move past your expected destiny, and being a Hawaiian during WWII. Though in some ways, this book was just as much about Soichi Sakamoto as it was about the kids and their work towards competing in the Olympics. Having been a swimmer and now a runner, I was easily able to understand some of the training information, though Checkoway does an excellent job of explaining it. And her portrayal of the people involved along the way felt very true. This book would appeal to fans of swimming, sports, Hawaii, race relations, or history.
I received a preview of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an objective review.
I received a preview of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an objective review.
mimima's review against another edition
2.0
I've probably been spoiled by better written books that mine similar quarries ([b:The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics|16158542|The Boys in the Boat Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics|Daniel James Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354683116s/16158542.jpg|21998925],) but this had some interesting nuggets hidden among lots of slogging.
It was eye opening to see the class system on Hawaii at the time as well as the blatant racism of the South.
It was eye opening to see the class system on Hawaii at the time as well as the blatant racism of the South.
ljackman's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed learning about a swimming coach and his amateur swimmers who prevailed over racism, social class, inexperience, and a war to make their mark on national and Olympic swimming records/medals.
I especially liked the Afterword where the author updates the reader on how the members of the Three Year Swimming Club ended up ..like Bill Smith who won 2 Olympic medals and Halo (spelling?) who set many national records and became a teacher and coach himself after his coach in the Club.
Definitely worth a read!
I especially liked the Afterword where the author updates the reader on how the members of the Three Year Swimming Club ended up ..like Bill Smith who won 2 Olympic medals and Halo (spelling?) who set many national records and became a teacher and coach himself after his coach in the Club.
Definitely worth a read!
tekchic's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story, a bit long with lots of stats, but still really enjoyed the story about some poor kids from the sugar cane plantation on Maui that eventually made it to the Olympics in the late 1940's.
Minus an extra star though for the narrator (listened to this one on audiobook). RANT WARNING: Five minutes of "how to pronounce Japanese and Hawaiian names" training would have made this far more enjoyable. His pronunciation was atrocious and incorrect, rarely getting any of the Hawaiian names right, and sometimes saying "eeee-o" instead of "aaaa-o" for names like Keo. Narrator kept pronouncing it like "Kio" (like you would say Kia the car maker) instead of "Kay-o". Drove me up a wall. "Molokai", which can be pronounced "Mo-lo-kai" or more correctly, "Mo-lo-ka--i", he pronounced "Mo-lo-kuh--aaai". Oy.
Minus an extra star though for the narrator (listened to this one on audiobook). RANT WARNING: Five minutes of "how to pronounce Japanese and Hawaiian names" training would have made this far more enjoyable. His pronunciation was atrocious and incorrect, rarely getting any of the Hawaiian names right, and sometimes saying "eeee-o" instead of "aaaa-o" for names like Keo. Narrator kept pronouncing it like "Kio" (like you would say Kia the car maker) instead of "Kay-o". Drove me up a wall. "Molokai", which can be pronounced "Mo-lo-kai" or more correctly, "Mo-lo-ka--i", he pronounced "Mo-lo-kuh--aaai". Oy.
chewdigestbooks's review against another edition
4.0
No idea why I choose to read this other than I was picturing the natural ravine behind one of my past houses and thinking how in the heck did they end up going to the Olympics swimming in something like that?
I was soon thrilled that I did read it. The timing, the 30' and 40's was obviously tumultuous for the world and Hawaii played such a huge and horrible part of us entering the war. The sociology issues of Japanese Hawaiians and the discrimination they faced, on the island, when they left the island and then Executive Order 9066, the internment of the Japanese. The labor issues that trapped cane workers to living in camps and having to swim in a gosh darn ditch rather than an actual pool. A coach, that didn't even know how to swim.
None of those issues kept them from trying to reach a goal that in the beginning, they didn't even know existed and the world war tried hard to keep them from achieving. It was a quest that some completed and some didn't, but what an amazing chunk of history. Even though I'm not into the Olympics or swimming, I was entranced.
My two complaints were that it was a bit long and there were times that I had trouble keeping track of all of the swimmers over the years that were involved. That last one is more my fault because the names were ones that I wasn't familiar with because I'm not into swimming or it's history, how the amateur and then Olympic team trials work, and some of the participants had Japanese names that I am not used to. I should have made a list, my bad.
I was soon thrilled that I did read it. The timing, the 30' and 40's was obviously tumultuous for the world and Hawaii played such a huge and horrible part of us entering the war. The sociology issues of Japanese Hawaiians and the discrimination they faced, on the island, when they left the island and then Executive Order 9066, the internment of the Japanese. The labor issues that trapped cane workers to living in camps and having to swim in a gosh darn ditch rather than an actual pool. A coach, that didn't even know how to swim.
None of those issues kept them from trying to reach a goal that in the beginning, they didn't even know existed and the world war tried hard to keep them from achieving. It was a quest that some completed and some didn't, but what an amazing chunk of history. Even though I'm not into the Olympics or swimming, I was entranced.
My two complaints were that it was a bit long and there were times that I had trouble keeping track of all of the swimmers over the years that were involved. That last one is more my fault because the names were ones that I wasn't familiar with because I'm not into swimming or it's history, how the amateur and then Olympic team trials work, and some of the participants had Japanese names that I am not used to. I should have made a list, my bad.
sarahsbookshelves's review against another edition
3.0
[3.5 stars]
When I heard about this book at BEA, I immediately jumped on it…as I was a swimmer growing up (and was not familiar with this story) and love all things Olympics. Coming from that perspective, I enjoyed this book for the most part. I loved getting to nerd out with swimming and the Olympics – the political machinations behind the Olympic bidding process, 1930’s training techniques, and the differences in the 1930’s version of the sport (i.e. butterfly seemed to be missing and distances were 110, 220 rather than today’s 100, 200). If this stuff sounds like boring minutia, you should probably skip this one.
I was completely invested in the fates of Sakamoto and his underdog swimmers during the first half of the book. Can they become national players? Will the females be allowed to attend Nationals? Will his stars make the Olympic team? Then, World War II hit, changing the story’s direction. It hit the pause button on the swimming suspense and shuffled the people I’d been rooting for. This is obviously how real life played out, but it made for an odd story arc and dulled my emotions.
The Three-Year Swim Club lacked the intense emotional impact that made The Boys in the Boat such a widespread success, but would be a great choice for people interested in swimming and/or the Olympics.
Visit www.sarahsbookshelves.com for more reviews.
When I heard about this book at BEA, I immediately jumped on it…as I was a swimmer growing up (and was not familiar with this story) and love all things Olympics. Coming from that perspective, I enjoyed this book for the most part. I loved getting to nerd out with swimming and the Olympics – the political machinations behind the Olympic bidding process, 1930’s training techniques, and the differences in the 1930’s version of the sport (i.e. butterfly seemed to be missing and distances were 110, 220 rather than today’s 100, 200). If this stuff sounds like boring minutia, you should probably skip this one.
I was completely invested in the fates of Sakamoto and his underdog swimmers during the first half of the book. Can they become national players? Will the females be allowed to attend Nationals? Will his stars make the Olympic team? Then, World War II hit, changing the story’s direction. It hit the pause button on the swimming suspense and shuffled the people I’d been rooting for. This is obviously how real life played out, but it made for an odd story arc and dulled my emotions.
The Three-Year Swim Club lacked the intense emotional impact that made The Boys in the Boat such a widespread success, but would be a great choice for people interested in swimming and/or the Olympics.
Visit www.sarahsbookshelves.com for more reviews.