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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
not a work of literary genius. The writing isn't anything special, but it's not so bad that it gets in the way of the story, and the story is what hooked me.
As a former swimmer, I am very familiar with what she has done inside the pool, but didn't know much except some of her risque stuff like posing for playboy. But I was shocked when I read her story. It's definitely a comeback story, and it makes you root for her the entire way.
A good book for anyone who has ever struggled with self image. I'm rooting for her in the Olympic Trials!
Amanda Beard's life is full of dramatic highs and lows. As someone who enjoys competitive swimming, I have reached the conclusion that it takes a special kind of crazy to be in this sport for any extended period of time. Like, healthy balanced people would not do this sport lol. Beard was transparent about her many and varied struggles with mental health. I'm glad she was able to get the professional help she needed.
One thing that struck me is how much knowledge about sports nutrition, especially for women, has grown in the past couple decades. When Beard was swimming for one of the top college programs (UofA), she wasn't able to feed herself properly (one reason I lived off campus--UofA doesn't have a cafeteria and dorm kitchens are inadequate), didn't connect her malnutrition to her cycle of binging and purging, and a nutritionist she saw didn't address the fact that she was an elite athlete. Nowadays it's common knowledge to drink a protein shake in the 30 minute window after workouts, how to calculate macros, etc, and I hope that coaches are proactively teaching their athletes about it. Pre youtube and tiktok, I guess this info was harder to share. Unless your coach taught you, where would you learn it? And don't even get me started on how Beard's coach reacted to her going through puberty. Ugh.
The audiobook narrator was pretty annoying (think early 90s SoCal, which was probably intentional but still irritating). And the ghostwriting voice was bland. But overall not bad, especially if you like sports memoirs like I do.
One thing that struck me is how much knowledge about sports nutrition, especially for women, has grown in the past couple decades. When Beard was swimming for one of the top college programs (UofA), she wasn't able to feed herself properly (one reason I lived off campus--UofA doesn't have a cafeteria and dorm kitchens are inadequate), didn't connect her malnutrition to her cycle of binging and purging, and a nutritionist she saw didn't address the fact that she was an elite athlete. Nowadays it's common knowledge to drink a protein shake in the 30 minute window after workouts, how to calculate macros, etc, and I hope that coaches are proactively teaching their athletes about it. Pre youtube and tiktok, I guess this info was harder to share. Unless your coach taught you, where would you learn it? And don't even get me started on how Beard's coach reacted to her going through puberty. Ugh.
The audiobook narrator was pretty annoying (think early 90s SoCal, which was probably intentional but still irritating). And the ghostwriting voice was bland. But overall not bad, especially if you like sports memoirs like I do.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Pretty enjoyable, quick read about her rise to fame and inner struggles.
emotional
inspiring
The demons deep within don't care if you are a famous swimmer, or the person at home watching on tv. This was an unexpected story. While I am not a competitive person, there were sections that really hit home with me. I especially appreciated the honesty at the end about becoming a mom and struggles to breastfeed; that feeling of being a failure... I liked this more than I expected.
This one surprised me as I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I'm not sure it would be so interesting to anyone who hasn't spent a good amount of time in chlorine, but she provides a glimpse into the lifestyle of Olympic swimmers--from high school to college to pro.