A review by dlberglund
Tough Girl: An Olympian's Journey by Carolyn Wood

5.0

While this isn't a perfect piece of literature, it gets bumped up to five stars because the topics she covers are all so personally impactful to me. Chapters alternate between her childhood and adolescent swimming career in Portland in the 1950s and early 60s, and then 2012, when she is walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, solo, following a devastating break up. The modern chapters are also filled with flashbacks and musings on the decades in between, decades in which she got married, had a child, got divorce and lost custody of her son because of her sexuality. She also taught English at local high schools, and spent 40 years with a woman with whom she traveled the world. The memoir is thoughtful, with a lot of name dropping in the swimming world. And since I did not actually know how the 1960 Olympics turned out for American swimmers, I was holding my breath waiting to find out!
I miss the Olympics this year. Sigh.