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

4.0

Give me a story about a queer lady athlete and I'm almost guaranteed to be into it. The bonus with this book is that Carolyn Wood is a pretty great writer. The book tracks two stories in parallel: Wood's childhood from age three to adolescence, mainly building up to her participation (and gold medal) in swimming in the 1960 Olympics in Rome; and the long solitary walk she took on the Camino de Santiago in 2012 after the end of her decades-long relationship with her partner Rose. Both threads make for wonderful reading, and enhance each other by illustrating the similarities and differences between intense athletic training and a slower, longer, more deliberate journey to walk a very long way and work through the pain of a devastating breakup. The book also stays the course of the story it's trying to tell: it's not an exhaustive account of her entire life (though I would definitely read that if she were to write it), but rather about these two specific chapters in her life (with a few more details/context thrown in at the end for good measure). That's a real strength of this memoir- the reader doesn't get lost, and it makes for a more powerful and potent narrative. Highly recommend!