Talking Derby: Stories from a Life on Eight Wheels

by Kate Hargreaves

Talking Stories from a Life on Eight Wheel is Kate "Pain Eyre" Hargreaves love letter to the sport of roller derby. A derby skater since 2010, Hargreaves takes readers behind the scenes, both on and off the track, into the world of women's flat-track roller derby. Her vignettes play with language and humour, incorporating the sport s unique terminology and culture, as well as a glimpse into the very real athleticism and powerful friendships of its players. With a full glossary of derby terms, including "jammer," "goat," and "cougaring," this book is perfect for derby fans, fresh meat, or those who are looking for their first introduction to the sport. Talking Derby thrusts smelly gear under its readers noses and proudly displays its bruises.

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[The Book Tart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on The Book Tart http://thebooktart.com/new-fiction-re...


I love Talking Derby! I felt it. I breathed it. It’s a visceral, emotional, funny and smart love letter to roller derby and it made me fall in love too. I really enjoyed Kate Hargreaves way with words, she conveys action, blood, sweat, pain and joy in a lyrical and compelling fashion. I want to strap on a pair of skates myself… But I don’t know that I’m tough enough.


I got a kick out of the style of this book. It’s a fictional take on the author’s personal experience with roller derby and the chapters are short and easily devoured in quick gulps. The titles made me grin. Titles like Snot Rag, Give Blood, Play Derby and Ode to Old Knee Pads. I felt the thrill, exhilaration, camaraderie and yes, the pain of the sport and loved my arm chair crash course in learning about zebras, jammers, panties and friendship.

A few of my fav lines:

♥ Watching myself skate on camera is like hearing my voice on the radio. Do I really say um and like, like, that often and is my voice that scratchy? That high-pitched? do I really skate that slowly, and are my arms quite that prone to flailing in the middle of the pack?



♥ All cupboard doors swing open. The fridge loses cold air into the room. Crumb countertops. Jam smears. Drops of milk. A break-in. A loose dog. A rampaging bear. A sweat-stink derby girl rummaging in the freezer with one hand and sliding a sweaty sock off her food with the other. Must. eat. Must. eat. now. Must. eat. all . the. food.



♥ I tug on the chinstrap. Snug. How many skulls can you buy for a hundred and thirty dollars? I tug the helmet off and run a hand through my hair, over my scalp. No splits. No stitches. No concussions, yet. I pull out my credit card.

This is your brain on roller derby.



I raced through Talking Derby and recommend it even if you are unfamiliar with the sport… maybe especially if you are. I was grinning like a loon and just happy to be reading about bouts, aches, bruises and skates from Kate’s poetic and relatable voice…. I think the town next door has a derby team. I’m inspired to check it out and at the least watch a few games and support the team.



((hugs))) Kat

The Queen of Tarts



♦ ebook provided for review for my honest opinion.

[Laurie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot. Especially that it's just as well I didn't try out for roller derby when Kate invited me.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first cracked open the oddly named Talking Derby: Stories from a Life on Eight Wheels, but let me assure you it's not what you think it is. This is poetry masquerading as prose. This is a collection of love letters—feelings, impressions, deeper truths—that everyone in love with modern derby will recognize and respond to.

At first I was jarred by the utter disregard for paragraph structure. What is it about writers who abandon the rules of writing? Don't you have a copyeditor correcting these things? Don't you know to indent paragraphs, and to not put spaces between paragraphs? But I quickly got the hang of what the author has wrought. These are not "stories" per se. These are vignettes. These are free verse poems, every one. Kate "Pain Eyre" Hargreaves pays homages to her gear, laments injuries, professes love for her derby wife, for competition, training, and the familiar derby badges of honor. These are moments captured like insects in amber: beautiful, glowing, universal experiences and emotions forever frozen in time, preserved for everyone to savor.

This is a book that should be read slowly. One vignette at a time. Perhaps is sits out on your coffee table: read one before you turn on the television. Give yourself a few minutes to think about it, mulled it over in your mind, digest it slowly. Read one a day. Perhaps you keep it in the loo. It's a book to be returned to, briefly, time and again. It's a book to be shared. To be given as a gift. To pass along, dog-eared and well thunbed, from one friend to the next.

I can't say if Talking Derby would resonate with someone outside of roller derby—I am much too fully ingrained in the sport to have an objective opinion on that—but this is a book that everyone in love with roller derby should own.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes me want to find some roller skates and start a derby league.
Told in short vignettes, it is truly, as the author puts it, a love letter to the sport.

Hargreaves writing style evokes whatever particularly subject she's writing about. Short, terse bursts of words when detailing bouts or training sessions and relaxed, longer sentences when the story is about home, or family or friends.

She writes like poetry...sometimes bruised and banged up but still melodic.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Love Love this book!!!