Customer Reviews

In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My high-school basketball team gave me this book after I finished my senior year, and I am extremely grateful to them. If you have ever enjoyed participating in, watching, or following high-school sports, this is a book for you! It is full of the things that made me love the game to start with... the determination, pride, euphoria, occasional let-downs, pain, tenacity and adrenaline that I feel when playing basketball are clearly demonstrated in this wonderful book. Pick it up and read it, buy it for your daughters, buy it for your sons!

This book was outstanding! It was such a good story and it was really well written. If you are looking for some inspiration about basketball and teamwork then you should read this book! These girls are just amazing. What made this whole story better was the fact that it was a true story so you know that this REALLY happened. It was almost like a fairy tale- everything went as planned. I can't really describe my feelings for this book, it was incredible. When Jenny hugged her dad after the game I almost cired. Everyone should read this book whether they like basketball or not! I would also like to wish Jamila Wideman a happy birthday! She will be turning 24 on October 16. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMILA!!

I hadn't picked up this book until very recently because I was afraid it would be all about "girl power" and the idea that women are victims. But when I finally did pick it up, it took me only 2 nights to finish. It was so captivating. This book is not so much about the feminist movement as a groups of kids coming together, and concurrently, bringing their communtiy together. Blais also tells the story of each girl and the obstacles they have faced; but not in a "I'm a victim, have simpathy," way. She tells it in an "Is that all you got? I'm gonna walk all over you," way. Inspiring. This book couldn't have been written any more perfectly. As a high school athlete, I was able to associate with so many of the rituals and emotions of the team. I am also from the Amherst area and Blais does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the communtiy and its history. I recommend this book to everyone and anyone, but it should be required reading for every female high school athlete. It is simply unbelivable. You will not be disappointed.

I confess to being a fanatic about girls basketball. I've coached my daughters over a total of close to 9 years, and loved every minute of it. I also went to college in Amherst, as did my eldest daughter. She even knows one of the assistant coaches in the book.
I loved the book because of those interests, but I was a bit disappointed that it didn't provide more that would catch the interests of people who are not already passionate about it. I was hoping I would be able to recommend it to the middle school girls I coach to provide them some inspiration, but it didn't fit that bill. It is more of an almost superficial study of some very committed girls without giving any insights as to why they were so committed. Everybody knows that it takes commitment to win championships. Where does that come from?

I recommend the book to the parents of girls who are passionate about basketball. I recommend it to coaches of girls teams. And I recommend it to anyone with ties to the Amherst area. Beyond that, it's an ok read, and pretty short so it won't take a whole lot of time.

p.s. unlike another reviewer, I didn't find a feminist agenda coloring the book.

Sportswriters often use the term "Cinderella story" to refer to an underdog team that makes it big. This book is an anti-Cinderella story -- and the reason why isn't what you might think. The result is a moral tale that every young woman, and everyone who cares about young women, should read.

We all remember the story of Cinderella, but we tend to forget the details. If we think about it at all, we think about it as a "dream come true" story. We forget how it happened. Remember Cinderella: the virtuous one, hardworking, uncomplaining, sweet-natured, beautiful under her grime -- and also, deprived, mocked, neglected and shut out. Her dream is to go to the ball, an event to which she had already been invited, along with all the other young women of the kingdom. Somehow she manages to work a deal with her wicked stepmother that will allow her to earn what she's already entitled to: in exchange for doing a seemingly impossible amount of housework, she will indeed be permitted to go to the ball. Virtue, grit, and determination swing into action, but when Cinderella manages to accomplish her half of the bargain, Stepmom reneges on hers -- and Cinderella accepts the outcome and sits herself down in the ashes, giving up what she's earned and accepting what she's given. Not until her fairy godmother shows up and practically drags her to the ball does she get to dance; not until the prince hunts her down and shoves the shoe on her foot does she get her dream.

I don't think the name of Cinderella is ever invoked in "In These Girls...", but the book could almost have been written as an antidote to the lessons of the Cinderella story. These are lessons that women and girls learn too well: that if you do all the work and have all the virtues, you can then shyly retire to the background, and your reward will seek you out. The truth, which the Hurricanes learn in the course of this book, is that after you have earned your reward, you must take the final step of reaching out and claiming it. A championship game is not a season, but it is where the rewards of a season well played are either claimed or abandoned.

In reading the book, I came to love the Hurricanes, their coach, and their families. They are ordinary, and extraordinary, and they behave in ways that make it seem that the extraordinary is always within reach -- if only we can see it, believe in our right to it, and reach out to claim it for our own.

Hope.. is a wonderful depiction of life, sports, and growing up. I live in Northampton, MA and now play on the "hamp" team that the book talks about. And while Amherst is one of our rivals, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and found that both me and my team could relate to the trials and tribulations that the Amherst team did. Congrats Madeline Blais for a wonderful depiction of the high school athlete... this is a must read for all!

Although this book was well written and almost poetic at times, it was a disappointment because Madeline Blais was not able to get to the heart of these young women. I wanted to learn who the Hurricanes were, what basketball means to them and how they interacted as a team. Instead Blais spends a few short pages describing the girls then moves on to an essay about Amherst or a neighboring town. For example, we are told that Jen and Jamilla are the co-captains and a little bit about their backgrounds, families and hobbies. We are even told that they have a tenious relationship, yet we never see it. And this in effect creates a void. As a reader you realize that the element of scenes to enhance the descriptions is missing. This book is 85% exposition and 15% scene. Thus without the scenes we can not truly relate to these young women. We are told, but are never shown. I was disappointed because I expected more of a narrative and instead I got more of an essay or newspaper article.

This is where Blais' being a journalist rather than a novelist hurts her. The lack of a strong narrative results in a lack of emotion. I understand the stakes and the astonishment of the team's victories yet with the same distance as someone on the outside looking in. There are little pockets of true insight, where you see a girl get in trouble in practice, or be upset at a loss, but not as close as someone on the inside.

The bottom line is that this book is essentially about women in athletics using the Amherst Hurricanes as a way into exploring that issue. The Hurricane's ascent to the top is chronicled faithfully, yet the narrative is sometimes overshadowed by an essay on the town or Title IX, for example. In this way, it makes it difficult to really know the girls and that is unfortunate because they are really the heart of this book. I was very disappointed to finish the book feeling like I didn't really know these very special young women.

I first read this book while I was still a member of a high school girls' basketball team. While my teams never reached nearly the pinnacle that the Amherst team did, I think that this book captures the dynamics and ongoing relationships in sports, especially on a girls' team. Each character comes vividly to life after reading it just once, and after a few times, they seem like good friends. This book is a must for anyone who plays sports, watches sports, or is a sports parent.

As a former sportswriter and the father of a 10-year-old girl player, this is as good as it gets at capturing the essense of the sports experience from many angles. It's a story about women from a woman's perspective -- not a man's. The difference is what makes this a unique and insightful read. I bought it for my daughter, but I ended up reading it first. It's a "Hoosiers" story set in the 90s that is about girls, not boys. These are characters you care about -- and the fact that they're real makes it even better. Enjoy!

Last season, our coach gave us the assigment of reading this book. At fist, we all thought she was crazy. But once we finished it, we were all really motivated and truly inspired. This book was one of the best books I've ever read. It's so inspirational, and I believe it's a real tribute to women's basketball- kudos to Madeline Blais for doing such a great job on covering the story of this extraordinary team! If you like basketball, you'll love this book. If you don't like basketball, you'll love this book, I guarantee it!