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jelkebooks 's review for:
Ace, Marvel, Spy
by Jenni L. Walsh
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewing this book is a bit difficult because I have a hard time seperating the actual book from just how fucking awesome of a person Alice Marble is. I had never heard about her before this book, and of course my knowledge on her now is just what was presented in this book, but I truly think she is such a badass. This woman went through so much shit in her life, and she just kept getting up and kicking ass while doing it as well. Consistantly exceeding expectations like it is absolutely nothing, and that's just within her tennis career. On top of that she also just was a great advocate for equality within the sport, wrote a comic series highlighting different badass women in history, and was a fucking spy during WWII. Truly, how is this woman's exsistance just not common knowledge? Am I just stupid that I didn't know? Am I the only one? I guess this book was the most succesful in making me want to research everything there is to know about Alice Marble.
However, for the rest I just don't think the writing fully worked for me. I feel like at times it could feel a bit juvenile, and overall didn't really match the tone of the book in moments. At times it also just felt like the author learned a cool fact in her research and just HAD to include it even if it didn't really flow to well with the rest of the story. The dialogue could also just feel a bit stiff at times, and some of the messaging could feel a bit preachy. I also personally didn't really like the dual timeline way of telling the story. I feel like this would have been better if it was just told in chronological order. I just feel like the way it was done we kept refferincing things in the "now" storyline that were important to Alice's personal developement but it would take forever for that to happen in the "then" storyline, which also made it that some of the stakes in the "then" storyline were undercut because we basically already got the consequences of it. I don't know.
Despite all of those issues though I did still have a good time reading this book. I thought it was incredibly interesting (although I don't know how much of that was just Alice's life), and it does make me want to do my own research on this person I have never even heard of before. I also thought it was a pretty compelling read, and it did not lose my attention anywhere. However, I just personally had several issues with the writing of this one, I guess.
Reviewing this book is a bit difficult because I have a hard time seperating the actual book from just how fucking awesome of a person Alice Marble is. I had never heard about her before this book, and of course my knowledge on her now is just what was presented in this book, but I truly think she is such a badass. This woman went through so much shit in her life, and she just kept getting up and kicking ass while doing it as well. Consistantly exceeding expectations like it is absolutely nothing, and that's just within her tennis career. On top of that she also just was a great advocate for equality within the sport, wrote a comic series highlighting different badass women in history, and was a fucking spy during WWII. Truly, how is this woman's exsistance just not common knowledge? Am I just stupid that I didn't know? Am I the only one? I guess this book was the most succesful in making me want to research everything there is to know about Alice Marble.
However, for the rest I just don't think the writing fully worked for me. I feel like at times it could feel a bit juvenile, and overall didn't really match the tone of the book in moments. At times it also just felt like the author learned a cool fact in her research and just HAD to include it even if it didn't really flow to well with the rest of the story. The dialogue could also just feel a bit stiff at times, and some of the messaging could feel a bit preachy. I also personally didn't really like the dual timeline way of telling the story. I feel like this would have been better if it was just told in chronological order. I just feel like the way it was done we kept refferincing things in the "now" storyline that were important to Alice's personal developement but it would take forever for that to happen in the "then" storyline, which also made it that some of the stakes in the "then" storyline were undercut because we basically already got the consequences of it. I don't know.
Despite all of those issues though I did still have a good time reading this book. I thought it was incredibly interesting (although I don't know how much of that was just Alice's life), and it does make me want to do my own research on this person I have never even heard of before. I also thought it was a pretty compelling read, and it did not lose my attention anywhere. However, I just personally had several issues with the writing of this one, I guess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief
Minor: Cancer, Suicide attempt