Layer Upon Layer

by DeeDee Horton

Seventeen-year-old Samantha Shuster dreams of playing Division I basketball and has the talent, drive, and passion to succeed–but she's coming face-to-face with the harsh reality of gender bias on and off the court. Overcoming discouragement from her critics, including her coach and her own father, Sam's determination and love for the game propel her forward.

Twenty years later, Sam is coaching at the collegiate level. While mentoring a player going through a personal crisis, Sam realizes that she has been nurturing young women along their paths to self-acceptance while neglecting her own.

As she begins to uncover complex layers of expectations, societal biases, and self-doubt that have shaped her life and the lives of other women, she embarks on a powerful journey of self-acceptance and discovery.

Genres: Book Club

406 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Stacy Udo_OHS Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Layer Upon Layer, author DeeDee Horton sets out to portray a female athlete’s experience within a culture that places much greater value upon male athletes and the sports they play. The novel’s protagonist, Samantha Shuster, tells her story through two voices: one as a young athlete in the 1980s and the other as a college women’s basketball coach in the early 2000’s. In her high school years, Sam was an elite basketball and volleyball player who felt like she was never able to live up to expectations of her parents, especially her dad. Although Sam was eventually able to play both volleyball and basketball in college, the adult men in her life made her feel as though she lacked value. Fortunately for teenage Sam, she found support and guidance from a middle school teacher, Ms. Collins, who became her mentor and friend. It is the guidance and lessons learned from Ms. Collins that shape Sam into a supportive coach for her college athletes; she lifts them up and sees the individuals for who they are while also promoting team unity.

In the preface and afterword to the book, we learn that the characters in the book are modeled after real people, specifically those connected to the author herself. When looking into the author’s background there are many similarities between the life of Sam in the book and the life that DeeDee Horton lived; this gives credibility to the scenarios presented in the novel. Upon reading the book, we can feel the type of athlete and woman DeeDee Horton became - the lesson presented in the novel would be valuable for anyone connected to young women in sports: athletes, coaches, families, and friends. I enjoyed the story telling style; not only was the prose easy to read and relate to, but the choice to incorporate letters written to and from Sam was a unique touch that helped to give insight into the values that the character holds in high regard.

At times the prose was more “telling than showing” - which to me, emphasized the fact that this book was a self publication from an inexperienced writer. However, that did not distract from the overall messages being conveyed. The characters were well developed and the events seemed very realistic; Sam is definitely a character that readers will relate to and care for.

[Leslie Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t recommend this book enough. It is a great story combining the life of a female athlete as a high school senior and her life as a coach 20 years later. The book is a little technical at first with basketball, but it’s necessary to get to know the characters. It really speeds up and in my opinion becomes a “page turner”. The main character, Sam, experiences the inequity in sports between men and women. She also has this in her own family. She is victim of male chauvanism in society and family. Some of the things Sam goes through we can all relate to in our own lives. This is an adult book for women, but i can see great worth in it being read by men and young adults. The author worked on this book for 6 years. After her first edit, she discovered she had an inoperable brain tumor and died 8 months later. Her husband has spent years finishing the project that is now complete. Read it, and pass it around.

[Liza Nakhleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just bought this book after seeing a clip of David’s story online. My heart was so warmed and inspired by the fact that he finished the book for DeeDee and that he learned about the female experience in the world through her eyes. I was also a college athlete so I resonated with Sam’s story and recommend this to any current or former athletes.