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queerandweird's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
My favorite roller derby memoir so far as a 14-year derby veteran! Fun read, well-written and recalled, and very authentic as a queer, low-class (read poor AF) white athlete with a fraught maternal relationship coming into this badass sport of roller derby that is led and dedicated to women & trans & queer AF spaces.
All bodies are welcome and can succeed in roller derby, unlike most other sports. We truly are unlike most other sports culturally, and I celebrate that.
Spark/Gabe writes beautifully about her past and how it fueled her future as a roller skating athlete. Ugh, her injury and recovery were brutal to relive, I'm sure Arch has improved their incident practices and rates of CPR-trained coaches since her spiral fracture - but holy gods that was a dumpster fire of an injury response and let it be a lesson to ALWAYS call 911 with a broken leg.
Rant ahead: Broken legs are WAY too big a longterm and LIFE risk to leave a skater alone for 20+min as you wait for an EMT-trained friend to tape up the break with a f*cking pizza box, for a ride in the back of a bumpy car without pain killers. nonono. My horror. Please ensure your leagues have skaters at every practice who are CPR-certified and informed in injury protocol, omg have injury protocols - esp. for concussions. Loving rant concluded <3
Fortunately, Spark is a beast as so many of us derby athletes are! I remember my spiral fracture tib fib recovery distinctly as well, the joy of walking again in pools - just feeling the weight on my injured leg when I had been so fragile, literally broken, was a lesson in growth, finding my resolve to heal from the mental & physical trauma of split bones. Her book depicted that brutal injury so often faced by athletes on rollerskates honestly and I loved all of the grit in recovery.
What she didn't talk about was the downside of overtraining, that's often why new athletes are injured or folks not balancing their intense derby training & cross-training with mobility, massage, and other active rest practices. It's great, and necessary, to have drive in our sport - it's also necessary to take time for muscles & connective tissue to heal throughout the training week.
Ending with marriage was so sweet! Kelly and Gabe's relationship was heart-warming and familiar <3 Gabe, I hope you've continued to address your eating disorder and improve your relationship with food, ; it can take a lifetime and know to lean on (and be honest with) your community.
The book has conflicting info for where the couple ended up, one says St. Louis and the other says Denton, TX - which, yuck y'all please you don't want to be in Denton, teaching probably isn't worth it and the derby is nooot the best.
Though, I hear through the derby grapevine that they're living in St. Louis as of Spring '23, where Gabe has been performing drag!! So exciting if this is true, wishing the best for your love and happiness.
All bodies are welcome and can succeed in roller derby, unlike most other sports. We truly are unlike most other sports culturally, and I celebrate that.
Spark/Gabe writes beautifully about her past and how it fueled her future as a roller skating athlete. Ugh, her injury and recovery were brutal to relive, I'm sure Arch has improved their incident practices and rates of CPR-trained coaches since her spiral fracture - but holy gods that was a dumpster fire of an injury response and let it be a lesson to ALWAYS call 911 with a broken leg.
Rant ahead: Broken legs are WAY too big a longterm and LIFE risk to leave a skater alone for 20+min as you wait for an EMT-trained friend to tape up the break with a f*cking pizza box, for a ride in the back of a bumpy car without pain killers. nonono. My horror. Please ensure your leagues have skaters at every practice who are CPR-certified and informed in injury protocol, omg have injury protocols - esp. for concussions. Loving rant concluded <3
Fortunately, Spark is a beast as so many of us derby athletes are! I remember my spiral fracture tib fib recovery distinctly as well, the joy of walking again in pools - just feeling the weight on my injured leg when I had been so fragile, literally broken, was a lesson in growth, finding my resolve to heal from the mental & physical trauma of split bones. Her book depicted that brutal injury so often faced by athletes on rollerskates honestly and I loved all of the grit in recovery.
What she didn't talk about was the downside of overtraining, that's often why new athletes are injured or folks not balancing their intense derby training & cross-training with mobility, massage, and other active rest practices. It's great, and necessary, to have drive in our sport - it's also necessary to take time for muscles & connective tissue to heal throughout the training week.
Ending with marriage was so sweet! Kelly and Gabe's relationship was heart-warming and familiar <3 Gabe, I hope you've continued to address your eating disorder and improve your relationship with food, ; it can take a lifetime and know to lean on (and be honest with) your community.
The book has conflicting info for where the couple ended up, one says St. Louis and the other says Denton, TX - which, yuck y'all please you don't want to be in Denton, teaching probably isn't worth it and the derby is nooot the best.
Though, I hear through the derby grapevine that they're living in St. Louis as of Spring '23, where Gabe has been performing drag!! So exciting if this is true, wishing the best for your love and happiness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Body shaming, Medical content, Vomit, Bullying, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia
matchaluuver's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Amazing book that was super interesting, heartbreaking and inspiring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Homophobia, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma
halfwaytoaugust's review against another edition
5.0
It's kind of strange to review someone's life story... but anyway, I really enjoyed reading about Gabe's life in Brace for Impact.
In this book, we get insights into roller derby, injuries, queerness, and toxic family situations. Is it strange to say I enjoyed reading about this? Maybe. But it was wholly captivating, unapologetically queer, and taught me more about what roller derby is, which I loved.
Gabe writes so beautifully, really drawing the reader in, & making it feel like we are experiencing everything too. Which makes for a very intense read. It's written non-linearly, with both present-day events and flashbacks to past events, but done in a way that makes complete sense and flows very well together.
It was such a great experience reading about how Gabe grew as a person, became more herself, and found a community. I also appreciate the candidness about the bad parts - the struggles and falling back into the toxic family dynamic. It shows life as it is.
I really think anyone in the queer community would enjoy this memoir like I did, keeping in mind the heaviness of some of the topics broached.
CW: emotional abuse, toxic family, disordered eating, injury, doctor's offices, hospital/ER stay, self harm, anxiety, vomit, unwanted touch, pandemic, HP references
Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience
4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience
3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience
2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others
1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone
Thank you to Netgalley & The Dial Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
In this book, we get insights into roller derby, injuries, queerness, and toxic family situations. Is it strange to say I enjoyed reading about this? Maybe. But it was wholly captivating, unapologetically queer, and taught me more about what roller derby is, which I loved.
Gabe writes so beautifully, really drawing the reader in, & making it feel like we are experiencing everything too. Which makes for a very intense read. It's written non-linearly, with both present-day events and flashbacks to past events, but done in a way that makes complete sense and flows very well together.
It was such a great experience reading about how Gabe grew as a person, became more herself, and found a community. I also appreciate the candidness about the bad parts - the struggles and falling back into the toxic family dynamic. It shows life as it is.
I really think anyone in the queer community would enjoy this memoir like I did, keeping in mind the heaviness of some of the topics broached.
CW: emotional abuse, toxic family, disordered eating, injury, doctor's offices, hospital/ER stay, self harm, anxiety, vomit, unwanted touch, pandemic, HP references
Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience
4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience
3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience
2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others
1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone
Thank you to Netgalley & The Dial Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Vomit
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