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yusural's review against another edition
Found it to be a preachy mess. EVN’s Heat & Light is one of the best things I’ve read so this was disappointing.
archytas's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Van Neerven's work is always transcendent, but Personal Score is the first time all the elements play (heh) so perfectly together that the result feels damn near perfect. Nothing about this book should work in theory: van Neerven blends reflections and research, mixing sport, memoir, Aboriginal cultural connection, gender identity, and climate change. The volume isn't particularly long, but I found myself pacing it to give myself time to digest the content, which feels like at least three books worth. The narrative shoots into various nooks and crannies and style can shift sharply. And yet, you never feel that they are not taking you exactly where you need to go: the style shifts give variety and different ways of telling the story. The book feels very much like a complete whole, succeeding in making van Neerven's point that Country is people too, and everything we do on it is part of the same cycle.
The mix also enables van Neerven to balance the nourishment sport provides (and they excel at describing intimate desires, anxieties, and comfort in sparse phrases) with the systemic issues they have researched (and at times vice versa). They have always been excellent at embodied writing, and here this moves from sensuality to pain to the joys of athleticism and the sensations of bushland walking, sea swimming. This connects ideas and experiences, making one world out of what we often divide into many. Honestly, I loved this and wouldn't have changed a thing.
The mix also enables van Neerven to balance the nourishment sport provides (and they excel at describing intimate desires, anxieties, and comfort in sparse phrases) with the systemic issues they have researched (and at times vice versa). They have always been excellent at embodied writing, and here this moves from sensuality to pain to the joys of athleticism and the sensations of bushland walking, sea swimming. This connects ideas and experiences, making one world out of what we often divide into many. Honestly, I loved this and wouldn't have changed a thing.
finontheloose's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
bethanybaggins's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was absolutely phenomenal. I read this in three sittings over three days, it consumed my thoughts in a way few books do. I loved the different styles that Van Neerven used to explore the ideas explored in this and am very keen to read more of their work, particularly their poetry.
gillyreads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I think my favourite read of the year.
nibs's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
A slow read by so worth it. EvN delves into the complexities of sport through colonisation, First Nations culture, gender and personal experiences. Reflects on sport as a community practice, as is the case in First Nations communities.
I learnt about how many Brisbane sporting fields have ties to First Nations communities, from being camping grounds to the Gabba being on a bora ring. What it means to play on Country.
I learnt about how many Brisbane sporting fields have ties to First Nations communities, from being camping grounds to the Gabba being on a bora ring. What it means to play on Country.
rodhunt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0