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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
3.5 stars:
As a runner, as a woman, as a person in their feelings I adored this book and loved the vulnerability. The running parts dug deep into the mental side of our very cerebral sport. Very validating. Needs a trigger warning, like most of my favorite memoirs.
The writing style may not be for everybody (3.5 stars), but, I loved when she shared her poetry and I love her untethered, wild stories and open handed posture toward life. Other books for athletes will focus more on performance but I appreciated the blend between performance and memoir.
As a runner, as a woman, as a person in their feelings I adored this book and loved the vulnerability. The running parts dug deep into the mental side of our very cerebral sport. Very validating. Needs a trigger warning, like most of my favorite memoirs.
The writing style may not be for everybody (3.5 stars), but, I loved when she shared her poetry and I love her untethered, wild stories and open handed posture toward life. Other books for athletes will focus more on performance but I appreciated the blend between performance and memoir.
I’ve followed Alexi on social media for a while and she has always been one of my favorite people to follow. Even as a pro runner, she has a great way of relating to others who are not into sports through her poems, filmmaking and general life content. It was so interesting to hear about the struggles she’s had while I was continually inspired by her I.e. when I watched her during the Chicago Marathon. This book was engaging, relatable and inspiring. It was a quick read that felt genuine and honest.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Really personal memoir about her mother’s and her own struggles with mental illness and depression while also being extremely motivational and inspiring for people looking to achieve their dreams. Highly recommend. The author narrates the story and is an amazing poet/writer/Olympic athlete/actress/filmmaker. Her story isn’t one of luck or instant success but of setting goals and finding ways to make them happen while also learning from losses and setbacks and finding ways to learn from those experiences.
Favourite quote: “Life is not about reducing our pain to nothing, it is about embracing pain and challenge as an invitation to rise and grow.”
Favourite quote: “Life is not about reducing our pain to nothing, it is about embracing pain and challenge as an invitation to rise and grow.”
I really, really liked this book. We used it for a "book study" meaning we met 3-4 times bi-weekly after reading sections of the book. Some chapters were hard to get through mentally. Alexi is very real and honest in her struggles with mental illness and sometimes that was emotionally hard to read. But the writing is so good. It's so very well written. And funny. And the stories are so enjoyable. I very much recommend this book to anyone who has ever had a goal they wanted to achieve and had challenges to get there. There are chapters of this book I can imagine I will want to go back and reread.
Considering I'd never heard of Alexi Pappas prior to reading her memoir and have an indifference just short of hatred for running, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Alexi has a lot of really great insights and advice that anyone can learn from, not just runners. A quote that really stuck with me was, "I am a lucky person and I try to be the kind of person lucky things happen to."
I started this book because I admire Alexi as a professional runner and Olympian, and because of the sweet poems she writes on social media. I devoured this book because it cut to the most vulnerable parts of a person and discussed family trauma, mental illness, navigating life cycles, and getting rid of "can't" and focusing on "maybe". Alexi is young but has lived so much life and has so much to share.
Bravey by Alexi Pappas was a very good audiobook. She is a very likable and relatable person as she recounts her story of childhood trauma from her mother’s suicide when she was 5 years old, her challenges as an Olympic runner and her life moving forward.
A little preachy but some really good positive thoughts and an interesting read!