Swimming by Nicola Keegan
«««« (4/5 stars)
Swimming by Nicola Keegan captures the therapeutic attributes of competitive swimming. It is a great read for teen girls, which focuses a great deal on coping with family drama.
Philomena Ash, also known as Pip or Mena, was an Olympic hopeful since her father, Leonard, plunked her in the pool during her first aqua babies class. Growing up in Glenwood, Kansas Pip attended a Catholic school run by nuns. She had three sisters Roxanne, the drug addict, Bron who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and Dot, who Pip was concerned would become a nun. Roxanne’s drug addiction was no secret among the Ash family and Bron, whom Pip shared a room with, seemed to become stranger by the day. When real tragedy struck, Pip’s mother became a vegetable; she lived in her room under the care of their loving neighbor, June. June seemed to be the only thing holding the Ash family together. While the house full of women mourned, Leonard was flying his plane as his method of coping with the crazy family situation. When the family drama finally spiraled out of hand Pip found herself no longer enjoying her competitive swimming hobby and her swimming career seemed to be on the outs, until she decided that laying in bed eating junk food was no way of life. Pip began swimming for her competitive Dolpins team once again, only this time with greater force. She was approached by the Stanford coach with an offer to train with Olympic hopefuls in Colorado. Pip suddenly found herself being so strictly disciplined that she forgot about her family drama.
Keegan did a great job portraying the life of a swimmer and seemingly had an understanding of the therapeutic qualities of rigorous swimming. Pip became a young Olympian and continued her swimming career, until at the young age of 28 her body decided it was time to retire. Pip’s family was not supportive of her throughout her career, and the family seemingly crumbled apart, before Pip had time to soak it in.
Through Keegan’s loose style she captured the mindset of a young girl trying to block out all of her family drama through dedication to swimming. I would definitely recommend Swimming to teen girls, especially swimmers, because it is motivational. It is a book of steps to success which proves that everyone deals with bumps along the way, but you can not devote your time to finding all of the bad, instead devote that energy into finding what makes you happy.
What happens to Roxanne? What about Dot, did she become a nun? Did Pip’s mother ever shake her comatose state? Find out all of this and more by picking up a copy of Swimming by Nicola Keegan, I promise that you will not be disappointed!
Review by Ana Stock
«««« (4/5 stars)
Swimming by Nicola Keegan captures the therapeutic attributes of competitive swimming. It is a great read for teen girls, which focuses a great deal on coping with family drama.
Philomena Ash, also known as Pip or Mena, was an Olympic hopeful since her father, Leonard, plunked her in the pool during her first aqua babies class. Growing up in Glenwood, Kansas Pip attended a Catholic school run by nuns. She had three sisters Roxanne, the drug addict, Bron who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and Dot, who Pip was concerned would become a nun. Roxanne’s drug addiction was no secret among the Ash family and Bron, whom Pip shared a room with, seemed to become stranger by the day. When real tragedy struck, Pip’s mother became a vegetable; she lived in her room under the care of their loving neighbor, June. June seemed to be the only thing holding the Ash family together. While the house full of women mourned, Leonard was flying his plane as his method of coping with the crazy family situation. When the family drama finally spiraled out of hand Pip found herself no longer enjoying her competitive swimming hobby and her swimming career seemed to be on the outs, until she decided that laying in bed eating junk food was no way of life. Pip began swimming for her competitive Dolpins team once again, only this time with greater force. She was approached by the Stanford coach with an offer to train with Olympic hopefuls in Colorado. Pip suddenly found herself being so strictly disciplined that she forgot about her family drama.
Keegan did a great job portraying the life of a swimmer and seemingly had an understanding of the therapeutic qualities of rigorous swimming. Pip became a young Olympian and continued her swimming career, until at the young age of 28 her body decided it was time to retire. Pip’s family was not supportive of her throughout her career, and the family seemingly crumbled apart, before Pip had time to soak it in.
Through Keegan’s loose style she captured the mindset of a young girl trying to block out all of her family drama through dedication to swimming. I would definitely recommend Swimming to teen girls, especially swimmers, because it is motivational. It is a book of steps to success which proves that everyone deals with bumps along the way, but you can not devote your time to finding all of the bad, instead devote that energy into finding what makes you happy.
What happens to Roxanne? What about Dot, did she become a nun? Did Pip’s mother ever shake her comatose state? Find out all of this and more by picking up a copy of Swimming by Nicola Keegan, I promise that you will not be disappointed!
Review by Ana Stock
4 comments:
3/5 stars
Live to swim and swim to live... June 1, 2009
I finished this book a couple of days ago and had to give it some thought and reflection before I commented on it.
This novel, about a girl who lives to swim and swims to live, has a lot of ambition but somehow it falls short and sort of left me depressed. It's an incredibly complex tale of a young girl's sad coming of age and her relentless pursuit of Olympic gold in swimming. The story is set in the 70s through the 90s and weaves just enough fact about previous Olympics, medalists, and other current events to set the scene of an earlier, different time period.
Philomena, raised in Glenwood, Kansas, attends a Catholic school and has a love/hate relationship with the nuns and the church. After a series of very tragic deaths, Philomena (nicknamed Pip, to her chagrin) begins training in earnest. Six feet tall with huge feet and incredible flexibility, she travels first to Colorado to live with the Peggys and train with the famous swimming coach E. Mankovitz and then ends up with a scholarship to Stanford where she receives more intense preparation and grueling training in and out of the pool.
The novel flits back and forth to her childhood and to her present, never quite putting her THERE for the reader to understand. I found her a very difficult character to know as her emotions run the gauntlet, never quite ringing true as she spends most of the book trying to figure who she is -- if she's not a swimmer, or what else she is besides a swimmer. This is a character that totally goes "with the flow" and, as she points out, "has really never made a single decision in her life." Even though she's a sister and a daughter -- from a very dysfunctional family of course -- a friend and a lover, she is unable to deal with her relationships and has some larger than life psychological issues that she almost drowns in.
Nevertheless, I liked the book though I found it very difficult reading at times. This is not a book you probably should read in one day, it's one to savor and contemplate. The author has incredible command of a turn of phrase and writes elegant, descriptive prose.
I guess I was hoping for more of the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" type story, but that's really not this book.
Ms C.
Mrs. Crawford-
I like your review of Swimming and I agree that it did jump around and the character was not very deep, you never really got to know her. The way I interpreted her vague persona was her attempt at hiding from her crazy drama-filled life, however I am not really sure. I am going to go back and read this one again, and actually take the time to comprehend it and soak it in a little at a time. Thanks for your post!
I want to read this, of course after I get done with Chris Crutcher, of course. Ever since I started swimming I've been interested in reading about it!
Just looking at it, I'd expect a book about swimming to be more of a 'thrill of victory' type of book. I'd never given much thought to something competitive being that therapeutic.
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