Customer Reviews

Pretty Good for a Girl

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The entire time I read this book, I felt as if I had been punched in the solar plexus. This book is so visceral, so raw, reading it feels like gawking at a car wreck. The way that she captures the phenomenon of a body at war with itself, its drive to destroy the self it is simultaneously trying to build up, captures, I think, so many young women's experiences, regardless of whether they are athletes. The prose in this book shifts back and forth between an anguished scream and a gentle whisper. It is captivating; I found myself unable to stop reading, even though some of the content upset me so much I wanted to stop.

I was one of those "misfit boys" Leslie ran with in Tucson....luckily for me I was one of the few that could run faster than her....but just by a little bit. Oh how I admired her then. How many athletes, male or female, can triple at the State meet in the ½, Mile, and 2 Mile....and win? No, Leslie was one of those athletes others watched in awe and wonder. I picked up the book one evening, and did not stop reading until the next morning just before time to go to work. Thanks Leslie for preserving in print some of the most memorable times of my life. Great book, I've given it to my daughter who also went on to run at the collegiate level. As your younger sister said to me once, "Running taught me that I can do `just one more' of anything worthwhile, yet painful to accomplish, in life." Concur. Eric

I am a 17 year old girl and a distance runner on my high school track team. I found Leslie Heywood's book to be an abosutley incredible memoir that touches the soul. There are so few people in this world with the drive, determination and dedication to make themselves the absolute best they can be. It is obvious that Heywood has the true heart of a champion, that not only made it in the world of athletics but struggled and conquered things like sexual harrassment, (and just harassment in general), bulemia, the tourturous colligate track life, and made it through all of it to write an extremly powerful and well written novel. She is a role model to the girl athletes who strive to do what she did.

I suggest every father or mother who has a young girl interested in sports read this book. It is apparent everyone can take something away from Leslie's mistakes and triumphs. She has written a clear,captivating and disturbing memior. It is truly an eye opener and a page turner. Leslie, "Keep on Rocking in a Free World."

I couldn't put it down. I literally read it cover to cover in less than a day. It was an honest look into her life that was absoltely brilliant. It's the best book I've read in a long time.

This is a wonderful book. It may be a bit deep for some people (judging from one of the reviews), but go ahead and jump right in as long as you're not afraid to think outside of the box. I have been a female athlete since I was 8 years old, and totally understood everything Heywood writes about. Performing... the drive to make a name for yourself... the way life can seem to get out of control when you're trying so hard to control it... this book is very true to life. I really think any parent of a hard-core athlete should read this; it just might help them understand where their daughter is coming from.

Even now I feel anger as I review Pretty Good for a Girl, at the high school track coach who not only sexually abused Heywood, but used his power over "his sprinters" to cause so much abuse and hurt to her in high school. Every dad with a teenage daughter should read this book. On the ligher side, I loved reading of her cross county running; and when Heywood was able to join and cheer others on at their athletic accomplishments.

I am the same age as the author of this book. I graduated from a high school a few miles from the one she attended. I should have enjoyed this book more than I did. I found Ms. Heywood's prose style irritating: "It is 4pm. I am writing a customer review for Amazon. My feet are cold but I do not put socks on. Breathe, deeply breathe." One sentence in the book simply reads "My legs are big in the world." In the world? As opposed to Mars? Annoying prose style aside, I felt that the book lacked a truthful core. I feel that the author presented herself in a positive but not entirely honest light. Did she abuse drugs as a teenager? Was she promiscuous? Though she was taken advantage of by a reptilian coach, one wonders how impaired this girl's judgment was. I did not get a strong sense of Ms. Heywood as a person, of the time and place in which the events of the book occurred, of the other people in her life, or of the particular difficulties women athletes face. For me "Pretty Good for a Girl" was not a very successful memoir.

Been there, done that, have the t-shirts. Though I am male, I went through many of the same obcessions with distance running and with the women around me who were in the same sport. I think this is a cautionary tale for all athletes...true more so for women...to get a balanced life, because sports identity is fragile and fleeting.

The male coach/femal athlete issue deserves more attension.