Pretty Good for a Girl: An Athlete's Story [Paperback]

Leslie Heywood (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition (December 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816636591
• ISBN-13: 978-0816636594
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Women in Sports

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Reflective Cultural Critique, August 24, 2011

By 

Bookgirl "Bookgirl" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Good for a Girl: An Athlete's Story (Paperback)

In this autobiographical novel, Heywood captures the tensions she felt as a high-school female distance runner competing in the rapidly-evolving world of women's athletics.

The sport culture in which she was immersed sent her conflicting messages of what it meant to be a person, to be female, to be an athlete, to be a female athlete. Heywood comments on the fact that she wanted to feel real but that she often felt "erased." And this erasure extended beyond the emotional to the physical, exhibiting itself in anorexia, among other traumatic experiences.

That she struggled with her own personhood was, to me, a primary focus of the book. I see it more as a reflective cultural critique than an attempt to entertain or delight readers with a traditionally structured plot and prose.

As a female high-school/college runner (18 at the time this book was published), I have often felt some of the inner tensions Heywood portrays in this novel, though to a much lesser extent. This is a book worth reading from an author perhaps more well-known for her academic works.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Athlete's Journey, December 9, 2003

By 

Michael DENNISUK "cc coach" (trenton, michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pretty Good for a Girl: An Athlete's Story (Paperback)

Ms. Heywood has written a compelling story of a female athlete (runner) coming of age. She presents her memoir in a straight forward manner and does not hold back. She had a sexual relationship with her high school coach. She presents her story with all the emotional ambiguity I'm sure it carried. Ms. Heywood later struggled with an eating disorder. Again, this is presented in a very real manner. Ms. Heywood is also a very gifted writer. I found this book a compelling read and it should have a wide audience.