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Swimming
Born in a landlocked town in the center of Kansas, Pip is tall, flat, smart, funny, and supernaturally buoyant. On land, she has her share of troubles: an agoraphobic mother, a lost father, and a school full of nuns who just want her to sit still. But in the water, Pip is unstoppable. Swimming her way from a small Midwestern team to the Barcelona Olympics, Pip’s journey is the story of a young girl with an unsinkable spirit, struggling to stay afloat in the only way she can.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 252 reviews
August 10, 2011
I wanted to rate this a "4" but I started liking it less towards the end. As Philomena (the lead character) got more mentally unstable, the text got more stream-of-consciousness-y and it started to lose my interest. I see where the author was going with that, but I just really wasn't following it as well (perhaps I refused to be dragged down into madness with her!) and I lost track of which parts were real and which were imaginary. That part started to seem like work and not pleasure reading.
BUT, I really enjoyed the first 90% of the book. Unlike other books, I feel like this book totally hinges on whether or not you "get" Philomena, the main character (the Olympic swimmer). If you don't, I don't see how you could like the book, because the whole thing sort of takes place inside her head and deep within her perspective.
Let me back up a bit--this is a book about Philomena's rise and fall as an amazingly successful Olympic swimmer. She has what one expects is the usual difficulty "letting go" after her best swimming days are behind her, except more extreme. Swimming is truly the only important thing in her life, and we learn a lot about her sad and semi-dysfunctional childhood and relationships. She's a lonely girl in a lonely world. But I really "got" her and liked being inside her head for most of it. I found her just completely straightforward, and her thoughts and emotions conveyed to the reader were very genuine and raw. She is vulnerable and tough at the same time.
I also thought the writing was fascinating for most of it... it was sort of dreamy and lyrical. I almost wonder if the author is also a poet, but I didn't see anything about that on her Amazon page (I think this is her first and only book so far).
Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, but would be reluctant to recommend it to anyone because if you don't like Philomena, you won't like the book! However it might be a great book to read while the Summer Olympics are going on next year!
BUT, I really enjoyed the first 90% of the book. Unlike other books, I feel like this book totally hinges on whether or not you "get" Philomena, the main character (the Olympic swimmer). If you don't, I don't see how you could like the book, because the whole thing sort of takes place inside her head and deep within her perspective.
Let me back up a bit--this is a book about Philomena's rise and fall as an amazingly successful Olympic swimmer. She has what one expects is the usual difficulty "letting go" after her best swimming days are behind her, except more extreme. Swimming is truly the only important thing in her life, and we learn a lot about her sad and semi-dysfunctional childhood and relationships. She's a lonely girl in a lonely world. But I really "got" her and liked being inside her head for most of it. I found her just completely straightforward, and her thoughts and emotions conveyed to the reader were very genuine and raw. She is vulnerable and tough at the same time.
I also thought the writing was fascinating for most of it... it was sort of dreamy and lyrical. I almost wonder if the author is also a poet, but I didn't see anything about that on her Amazon page (I think this is her first and only book so far).
Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, but would be reluctant to recommend it to anyone because if you don't like Philomena, you won't like the book! However it might be a great book to read while the Summer Olympics are going on next year!
December 15, 2011
Go Swimming.
There are certain books that make me into S-L-O-W Man. Stories that I don't want to end: Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Shipping News. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I don my goggles, stick my head in a bucket of amber and suspend time- trying to read as slowly as humanly possible. Add Swimming to this sticky note.
Ms. Keegan does a great job drawing the reader into her pool, letting us swim, and sink, with her heroine, Philomena, a.k.a. Pip.
Readers will need to keep up with the acerbic, irreverent, F-Bomb laden prose as Keegan guides us through Pip's metreoric rise and subsequent fall through the worlds of swimming and life.
It is a fast and furiously entertaining read. At times it was like trying to eat ice cream in the July heat-never sure where it was going next but certain it was going to be good. Very good.
Keegan's ending, if not as quick as the rest of the book, delivers a stupendous kick. One that serves to remind us that life is not tidy. Life is not neat. Not everything is readily resolved. That sometimes we just have to glide through it.
There are certain books that make me into S-L-O-W Man. Stories that I don't want to end: Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Shipping News. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I don my goggles, stick my head in a bucket of amber and suspend time- trying to read as slowly as humanly possible. Add Swimming to this sticky note.
Ms. Keegan does a great job drawing the reader into her pool, letting us swim, and sink, with her heroine, Philomena, a.k.a. Pip.
Readers will need to keep up with the acerbic, irreverent, F-Bomb laden prose as Keegan guides us through Pip's metreoric rise and subsequent fall through the worlds of swimming and life.
It is a fast and furiously entertaining read. At times it was like trying to eat ice cream in the July heat-never sure where it was going next but certain it was going to be good. Very good.
Keegan's ending, if not as quick as the rest of the book, delivers a stupendous kick. One that serves to remind us that life is not tidy. Life is not neat. Not everything is readily resolved. That sometimes we just have to glide through it.
August 27, 2019
Keegan did an excellent job of capturing the awkward, intense experience of being a human! I was enthralled at the interior voice of Pip as she navigated her growth and development from infant to woman. I was especially touched at the thread of grief that so often is woven into living but rarely reflected so creatively and consistently in a character's maturity. Keegan's perspective and style are completely unique and I was constantly writing down quotes! I would love to read another of her books!
June 9, 2010
3.0 out of 5 stars Live to swim and swim to live..., June 1, 2009
This review is from: Swimming (Hardcover)
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.
This review is from: Swimming (Hardcover)
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.
July 21, 2009
At various points my opinion of "Swimming" traversed a roller-coaster veering from one to five stars: down, up, and down again. "Swimming" defies easy categorization, and is certainly not a typical sports bio. The swimming itself, and especially the Olympic experiences, are not the focal point of the book by any means. That is important to know, because I think that for most readers, their enjoyment will be in part based on how well the book matches their expectations.
Nicola Keegan writes in a highly original voice, but just to make a comparison, the first third of the book reads like a Jodi Picoult plotline, with a heavy whiff of Joan Didion's grief memoir, "The Year Of Magical Thinking." It all about Philomena's dysfunctional family and the tragedies she grew up with. Her family is almost too dark: I started to feel as though I didn't want to know these people at all. But after the first 100 pages, when Philomena (nicknamed Pip against her wishes) really starts swimming seriously, I settled into the rhythm of the narrative and allowed myself to be carried away in its wake. I even got interested in her agoraphobic mother and tried to empathize with her sisters, each adopting a different kind of defense against childhood losses. [Click here to read my full review:]
Nicola Keegan writes in a highly original voice, but just to make a comparison, the first third of the book reads like a Jodi Picoult plotline, with a heavy whiff of Joan Didion's grief memoir, "The Year Of Magical Thinking." It all about Philomena's dysfunctional family and the tragedies she grew up with. Her family is almost too dark: I started to feel as though I didn't want to know these people at all. But after the first 100 pages, when Philomena (nicknamed Pip against her wishes) really starts swimming seriously, I settled into the rhythm of the narrative and allowed myself to be carried away in its wake. I even got interested in her agoraphobic mother and tried to empathize with her sisters, each adopting a different kind of defense against childhood losses. [Click here to read my full review:]
December 19, 2009
After reading the first chapter, I thought the book had a lot of promise. There was one great description after another of Pip as a baby.
"I have 7 chins varying in size and volume; crevasses things get stuck in that my mother has to excavate carefully after each bath."
"She leans towards me with a cotton ball dipped in baby oil, two purple sandbags of fatigue carefully holding down her eyes, and I karate-kick the open bottle out of her hand."
"If I fall asleep listening to the beat of my mother's heart and awaken later to find myself lying in a pastel-barred prison, I howl with my guts in a belly-shaking rage."
"I gnawed down 1/2 a candle, pooping it out this morning with horrible grunts as my mother wept: I just turned my head for a second."
The writing style does get a bit annoying. It also seems as though there is no character in the book you can form an attachment to. The worst part is the last 1/3 of the book. The writing style turns into that of the ramblings of a crazy person. It gets worse and makes less and less sense as the book goes on and Pip's mental status seems to deteriorate. Sadly, I just found I couldn't read any further and never finished the book.
"I have 7 chins varying in size and volume; crevasses things get stuck in that my mother has to excavate carefully after each bath."
"She leans towards me with a cotton ball dipped in baby oil, two purple sandbags of fatigue carefully holding down her eyes, and I karate-kick the open bottle out of her hand."
"If I fall asleep listening to the beat of my mother's heart and awaken later to find myself lying in a pastel-barred prison, I howl with my guts in a belly-shaking rage."
"I gnawed down 1/2 a candle, pooping it out this morning with horrible grunts as my mother wept: I just turned my head for a second."
The writing style does get a bit annoying. It also seems as though there is no character in the book you can form an attachment to. The worst part is the last 1/3 of the book. The writing style turns into that of the ramblings of a crazy person. It gets worse and makes less and less sense as the book goes on and Pip's mental status seems to deteriorate. Sadly, I just found I couldn't read any further and never finished the book.
August 29, 2009
I didn't think I would give this book five stars. At first it felt too cluttered, a bit pretentious, and a bit too precious. But reading this book was like running downhill - at some point it becomes so exhilerating, so terrifying, and so wonderful that you have to exclaim out loud.
August 26, 2010
Pip is born large and loud. This big baby has a talent for swimming, though, that author Nicola Keegan explains well.
(page 7)"All I know is that when I kick, it moves me, so I kick again, liberated from my fleshy prison of gravity."
The side story of Pip's sister Bron's illness is told well and from differing viewpoints. We feel Bron's anger, her indifference and her frustration with her dysfunctional family.
(page 41) "The moon waxes, the moon wanes, Lake Shawnee's vivid green deepens into brown, green leaves kaleidoscope into color, and Bron needs help getting out of the car. She's pale and shaky. She's angry and her mouth's dry. What's left of her hair falls, her freckles recede, her arms turn into branches of new trees, her eyes turn into angry pellets, her cello-playing fingers stop itching for the chords, French club becomes secondary, and the debaters stop waiting and plan their strategies without her."
Bron's family can't help her, can't comfort her. The only person who seems able to reach her is a French waiter.
(page 52) "Bron made a list of things she wanted to taste before we left: a real crepe Suzette, a rel cafe creme, a real croissant, a real baguette, a real glass of wine, cassis sorbet. But now that we're here nothing appeals to her...At one restaurant the waiter who seated us without a word and took our order with a sigh removes her untouched plate, bringing back a soft-boiled egg without being asked. It sits in a small silver cup next to a folded linen napkin and six strips of perfectly grilled baguette. She eats the egg slowly with a silver teaspoon. Pleased."
Besides Bron, and often related to Bron, the second side story I loved was about Priests and Nuns. (page 130) "Priests often say the wrong thing. Father Tim looks up, says: What did they feed you in Colorado? You've grown!"
Without spoiling the ending, Pip ends by looking to the future. "I've never made a single decision in my life; the only thing I know is that I like to swim."
A wonderful first novel, and a talented, unique voice.
(page 7)"All I know is that when I kick, it moves me, so I kick again, liberated from my fleshy prison of gravity."
The side story of Pip's sister Bron's illness is told well and from differing viewpoints. We feel Bron's anger, her indifference and her frustration with her dysfunctional family.
(page 41) "The moon waxes, the moon wanes, Lake Shawnee's vivid green deepens into brown, green leaves kaleidoscope into color, and Bron needs help getting out of the car. She's pale and shaky. She's angry and her mouth's dry. What's left of her hair falls, her freckles recede, her arms turn into branches of new trees, her eyes turn into angry pellets, her cello-playing fingers stop itching for the chords, French club becomes secondary, and the debaters stop waiting and plan their strategies without her."
Bron's family can't help her, can't comfort her. The only person who seems able to reach her is a French waiter.
(page 52) "Bron made a list of things she wanted to taste before we left: a real crepe Suzette, a rel cafe creme, a real croissant, a real baguette, a real glass of wine, cassis sorbet. But now that we're here nothing appeals to her...At one restaurant the waiter who seated us without a word and took our order with a sigh removes her untouched plate, bringing back a soft-boiled egg without being asked. It sits in a small silver cup next to a folded linen napkin and six strips of perfectly grilled baguette. She eats the egg slowly with a silver teaspoon. Pleased."
Besides Bron, and often related to Bron, the second side story I loved was about Priests and Nuns. (page 130) "Priests often say the wrong thing. Father Tim looks up, says: What did they feed you in Colorado? You've grown!"
Without spoiling the ending, Pip ends by looking to the future. "I've never made a single decision in my life; the only thing I know is that I like to swim."
A wonderful first novel, and a talented, unique voice.
July 5, 2019
Nicola Keegan writes Swimming exactly the way a person thinks when he or she is logging long hours in the pool. If you've ever swam competitively, you'll know what I'm talking about. Every thought, every memory, every conversation plus the taste of chlorine blends together in an internal dialogue that no one else can respond to.
This book is written entirely in that stream of consciousness style, which isn't one I typically like, but it works well here. I'm giving this book 3 stars on the strength of the first two thirds of the book, and for passages like these:
"This is the human body, and this is sugar. Teeth chew, sugar dissolves, teeth rot, falling. Planetary eyeball orbits contract, sugar laughs, igniting a fiery red trail that fuses straight to the heart, giving it a false sense of energy so that it ups its thumps. Sugar laughs harder, driving a truck straight into the human spleen. It jumps out, dances a jig, and the spleen dances with it for a while before collapsing from exhaustion. The pituitary, the epicenter of the human hormonal universe, goes haywire, trembles, barfing up some insulin, which sucks all the leftover energy from the human body, causing the human swim to collapse."
Brilliant!!! I can't give this book 4 or 5 stars because, as other goodreaders have mentioned, the last third of this novel disintegrates to the point where I'm not sure what's going on and I feel like I'm watching a David Lynch movie. Also, the main character, Pip, never really seems to learn anything from all her time spent achieving Olympic gold, relating to others, and dealing with a troubling home life. There's no redemption for her or point to her story, which just left me depressed about a character I'd spent 300 pages getting to know.
This book is written entirely in that stream of consciousness style, which isn't one I typically like, but it works well here. I'm giving this book 3 stars on the strength of the first two thirds of the book, and for passages like these:
"This is the human body, and this is sugar. Teeth chew, sugar dissolves, teeth rot, falling. Planetary eyeball orbits contract, sugar laughs, igniting a fiery red trail that fuses straight to the heart, giving it a false sense of energy so that it ups its thumps. Sugar laughs harder, driving a truck straight into the human spleen. It jumps out, dances a jig, and the spleen dances with it for a while before collapsing from exhaustion. The pituitary, the epicenter of the human hormonal universe, goes haywire, trembles, barfing up some insulin, which sucks all the leftover energy from the human body, causing the human swim to collapse."
Brilliant!!! I can't give this book 4 or 5 stars because, as other goodreaders have mentioned, the last third of this novel disintegrates to the point where I'm not sure what's going on and I feel like I'm watching a David Lynch movie. Also, the main character, Pip, never really seems to learn anything from all her time spent achieving Olympic gold, relating to others, and dealing with a troubling home life. There's no redemption for her or point to her story, which just left me depressed about a character I'd spent 300 pages getting to know.
March 7, 2010
I was disappointed in this book. I feel like the description on the book cover was misleading. As the title suggests, the book is about a girl that becomes an Olympic champion in swimming. It follows her life from like 8 years old to 28 years old. The book cover made it sound like it was very much about the swimming world and competing and the Olympic experience. But that was hardly covered. It was more just about her thoughts and feelings and relationships -- swimming was such a back story even though it defined her. Maybe all that would have been fine, but I ended up not even really liking the main character, which was a problem for me. And I found the author's writing style almost choppy, and it wasn't a satisfying read. She is one of those authors that doesn't put quotation marks around words spoken, they were just italicized, but that was confusing because her thoughts were also italicized, so some of the time I had to read things twice to decide if it was something she actually said out loud.
I was drawn to this book when I saw it in the library because it was right before the Olympics (even though swimming is obviously a summer event) and my nephew, who is a high school sophomore, just swam in the state meet (got 8th in the medley relay, 13th in the 200 free, and 9th in the 400 free relay, for those swimmers in the group -- Evan! -- who might be interested and proud like me!).
I was drawn to this book when I saw it in the library because it was right before the Olympics (even though swimming is obviously a summer event) and my nephew, who is a high school sophomore, just swam in the state meet (got 8th in the medley relay, 13th in the 200 free, and 9th in the 400 free relay, for those swimmers in the group -- Evan! -- who might be interested and proud like me!).
June 21, 2011
Okay, so it's a book about a (fictional) Olympic gold medalist in swimming. Hmmm. Snooze. Sports bio? Blech. But not so fast... the thing that some crankypants on goodreads don't like--that the book is not really all "about" swimming--is what I like about it best. Swimming forms an exquisite backdrop for what is really the story of being Philomena, seeing the world as she sees it. There are healthy doses of family drama here. I'd recommend it for anyone who liked Jenny Downham's Before I Die or for people (like me) who can listen to the sad Sulfjan Stevens cancer song ("Casimir Pulaski Day") over and over for a good cry.
I could cite the Kirkus·review's final line to sum up my overall reaction: "Flags a little at the finish line, but nonetheless well worth plunging into." But when you put it like that... well, it makes it sound like a book a lot less worth reading than it really is. So I'll go with the final line of the Publishers Weekly review, which is what convinced me to check out the book in the first place: "It's worth reading for the prose alone."
It's true that the novel doesn't really end, it sort of just sputters to a stop. Okay, that's not awesome. I wish Keegan and her editor had worked it over one more time to find the right final note, the right final movement.
BUT let's remember how hard endings are and focus on all the (many!) things this book gets right. I mean, the speaker Philomena is brutally honest and funny in a way I only dream of.
I could cite the Kirkus·review's final line to sum up my overall reaction: "Flags a little at the finish line, but nonetheless well worth plunging into." But when you put it like that... well, it makes it sound like a book a lot less worth reading than it really is. So I'll go with the final line of the Publishers Weekly review, which is what convinced me to check out the book in the first place: "It's worth reading for the prose alone."
It's true that the novel doesn't really end, it sort of just sputters to a stop. Okay, that's not awesome. I wish Keegan and her editor had worked it over one more time to find the right final note, the right final movement.
BUT let's remember how hard endings are and focus on all the (many!) things this book gets right. I mean, the speaker Philomena is brutally honest and funny in a way I only dream of.
August 8, 2009
After reading a number of positive reviews about this novel, I was sure to order it for my library's collection. And I was excited to get it and start reading it. But right from the beginning, I was having trouble getting into it. Maybe I had spent the summer reading teen novels and easier to understand fiction but I was having trouble getting through this novel of just over 300 pages. When I looked at the book again and I saw a piece of a review that mentioned the author as being the imaginary offspring of Jane Bowles and Gerard Manley Hopkins. And I knew I was in for some tough reading. I know that Hopkins is a writer who is taught in graduate level courses. And I do not know who Jane Bowles is.
But once I got through it, I can understand the glowing reviews. It is a beautifully written and evocative novel.
Unfortunately it evoked feelings of depression in me that mirrored the protagonist's feelings. After living with the death of her sister and father, this woman excels as a swimmer but has trouble dealing with her personal life. And that's putting it mildly.
But once I got through it, I can understand the glowing reviews. It is a beautifully written and evocative novel.
Unfortunately it evoked feelings of depression in me that mirrored the protagonist's feelings. After living with the death of her sister and father, this woman excels as a swimmer but has trouble dealing with her personal life. And that's putting it mildly.
July 4, 2009
I loved this book and couldn't put it down for a lot of pages and chapters. The narrator is wonderful, a tough, smart, skinny 6"2" Olympic champion, and we watch her get there from a family full of loss. I loved training with her, and I really loved the contrast between the way she describes herself on land and the quick shots we have of her in the pool.
The first time I read it, I perceived something that wasn't there at all. I thought, finishing it, that most of the last half was a description of Pip's depression. Not true! I completely misread it, so much so that I lost all sense of proportion. This time, re-reading it, I counted the pages and wondered where I'd been, what I'd been thinking, and so on. I love this book and I salute Ms. Keegan for doing such fantastic job.
The first time I read it, I perceived something that wasn't there at all. I thought, finishing it, that most of the last half was a description of Pip's depression. Not true! I completely misread it, so much so that I lost all sense of proportion. This time, re-reading it, I counted the pages and wondered where I'd been, what I'd been thinking, and so on. I love this book and I salute Ms. Keegan for doing such fantastic job.
August 25, 2009
Mina Ash’s life starts at 9 months old in the swimming pool and travels through tragedy and weirdness all the way to the Olympics. However, this book is not about swimming. Mina tries to relate to the world with glimpses into the lives of those around her amidst the craziness of her life and her family. Sarcastic and prose ridden, this emotional story puts your heart in your throat at the beginning and doesn’t let it out till the very end. Read by Aya Cash, who successfully turns choppy passages into striking expressions that flow with feeling. Cash brings out sensitivity that seems to get a bit lost in the written form of the book, making this a great listen. Recommended to fans of Pat Conroy and Maxine Swann.
August 26, 2009
There was a point last weekend where I was ravenous for this book. You know that feeling where you're kind of annoyed at life getting in the way of reading? That's where I was. I think it might have been one of those serendipitous reads because it pulses with a dull ache and sadness, but doesn't overwhelm you with it. And last weekend I was totally into diving in and wading around in the gloom and anguish. (See what I did there? I'm a cheeseball and I couldn't resist.)
I must say, the last 75 pages were a disappointment. The last 30 were just so I could finish. But I was done with it long before then.
I must say, the last 75 pages were a disappointment. The last 30 were just so I could finish. But I was done with it long before then.
March 26, 2020
For the most part I loved it but I’m afraid to say that Pip’s retirement and mental unraveling led to my unraveling interest. I was willing it all to hurry up and end which is awful as I’m sure that’s when we’re supposed to feel most sympathy for her. That said, when Pip makes peace with the ghosts of her past I found myself enjoying Keegan’s amusing prose once again. I feel lucky to have a few Cocoplats, Peggys and Sunnys in my life too.
May 19, 2013
WHY do children have to raise their parents?
May 30, 2025
I really liked this book in the beginning but towards the end it sort of unravels and gets a bit difficult to read as the main character goes off the rails after she has to retire from swimming. The main character, Philomena, is born to swim, she starts swimming as an infant and continues on to break many world records and wins many gold medals at the Ollympics. She is the second child, all girls, of 4 children, dad is a researcher and author on bats. He also flies small planes as a side hobby. They live in Kansas. The oldest daughter, Bron, dies from cancer as a teen, the dad also dies unexpectedly shortly after. The mother becomes agoraphobic. Philomena and her sisters attend Catholic school where they all have different experiences, Philomena and the youngest, Dot, seems to thrive and do rather well, Bron and the third daughter, Roxy, do not. Roxy becomes a drug addict. All of them seem to be attracted to bad men. After breaking many records in high school, Philomena is offered a full scholarship to Stanford, where she trains all day every day and becomes a top world swimmer. She loves swimming, it's her entire life. She eventually gets older and injures herself and is unable to swim anymore. She seems to have no life meaning anymore and gets a bit crazy. She moves to Paris for awhile and drifts around, goes to a shrink, the book really deteriorates here, it's unclear where she is at times and what is real and what's her imagination, she sort of recaps alot of trauma from her childhood.
August 27, 2025
Pip hat kein leichtes Leben. Ihre Familiensituation schwierig zu nennen, wäre eine Untertreibung. In der Schule kann sie ihre unbändige Energie kaum unter Kontrolle halten und stillsitzen und ohnehin ragt sie mit ihrer Körpergröße überall hervor. Aber im Wasser ist alles anders. Hier ist sie in ihrem Element und niemand kann ihr etwas vormachen. Beim Schwimmen hat sie nur ein Ziel: die olympischen Spiele.
Pip erzählt ihre Geschichte in einem gleichmütigen, fast apathischen Ton. Aber eigentlich erzählt sie nicht, vielmehr zählt sie auf, was sie erlebt. Ohne Emotionen, selbst wenn sie vom Schwimmen redet. Auch nicht, als sie Menschen erwähnt, die ihr offensichtlich nahestehen. Dieser Stil passt perfekt zu dem Leben, das sie führt. Auf der anderen Seite hat es die Lektüre für mich aber auch zäh gemacht.
Auch als sich Pips Leben immer mehr ums Schwimmen drehte, blieb Nicola Keegan diesem Stilmittel treu. Sie zieht endlose Bahnen hintereinander, es geht nur noch um Sekunden. Selbst Siege und olympische Medaillen scheinen Pip nicht zu berühren.
Erst später, als ihr Körper sie im Stich lässt, erkenne ich das erste Mal so etwas wie ein Gefühl. Die Wut darüber, dass sie nicht mehr so funktionieren kann wie früher und auch die Angst davor, was ohne das Schwimmen sein wird. Sie muss sich neu (er)finden. Tatsächlich ist sie mir aber nie so nahe gekommen, dass mich wirklich interessiert, was in dem Leben nach dem Sport aus ihr werden wird.
Pip erzählt ihre Geschichte in einem gleichmütigen, fast apathischen Ton. Aber eigentlich erzählt sie nicht, vielmehr zählt sie auf, was sie erlebt. Ohne Emotionen, selbst wenn sie vom Schwimmen redet. Auch nicht, als sie Menschen erwähnt, die ihr offensichtlich nahestehen. Dieser Stil passt perfekt zu dem Leben, das sie führt. Auf der anderen Seite hat es die Lektüre für mich aber auch zäh gemacht.
Auch als sich Pips Leben immer mehr ums Schwimmen drehte, blieb Nicola Keegan diesem Stilmittel treu. Sie zieht endlose Bahnen hintereinander, es geht nur noch um Sekunden. Selbst Siege und olympische Medaillen scheinen Pip nicht zu berühren.
Erst später, als ihr Körper sie im Stich lässt, erkenne ich das erste Mal so etwas wie ein Gefühl. Die Wut darüber, dass sie nicht mehr so funktionieren kann wie früher und auch die Angst davor, was ohne das Schwimmen sein wird. Sie muss sich neu (er)finden. Tatsächlich ist sie mir aber nie so nahe gekommen, dass mich wirklich interessiert, was in dem Leben nach dem Sport aus ihr werden wird.
August 15, 2018
This book was very confusing. The writer jumped around from year to year in the first half of the book and gives no warning. You have to figure it out yourself. The whole thing had me very lost. The last few chapters jumped around from her being at home and also in Paris. You couldn’t tell where she was and if she was dreaming or awake. I did somehow manage to finish it though. The only reason I’m not giving it one star is: the storyline was really unique and enjoyable. I would have been able to enjoy it more if I was able to understand what the hell was going on without pausing to think for so long.
March 23, 2021
This was one strange novel. Yes, it was about striving to be a world class athlete, but that wasn't the real point of the book. It was also about learning to live with loss and grief. That was probably the biggest take away. Life is hard. Sometimes too hard. Sometimes you can't even swim fast enough to get away from your own life. It's not an easy read. I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
June 8, 2017
I had high hopes for this story about an Olympic swimmer with a troubled family life, but it didn't live up to my expectations. The writing was at times poignant and touching, but more often it was disjointed and random. And the ending was disappointing and anticlimactic.
August 31, 2019
This was one of the best debut’s from an author I have ever read. It ran the gamut of emotions and had had me laughing out loud . Her voice is original and her story inspiring. Highly suggest this book!
April 5, 2020
About the rise of an Olympic gold medal champion—a novel about competition, obsession, the hunger for victory, and a young girl with an unsinkable spirit struggling to stay afloat in the only way she can.
April 6, 2025
I wanted to like this book but didn’t. Admittedly, I skimmed the second half bc it took so long to get through the first half. I love swimming and find the Olympics intriguing, but this book just didn’t click for me. The artsy writing style was frustrating and unnecessarily confusing.
June 2, 2017
"El mundo dice un montón de cosas, y si las escuchas sin haber decidido tú mismo hacerlo, te conviertes en la persona a quien más oyes"
December 7, 2017
rise and fall of Olympic swimmer-ok
January 7, 2018
I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. Shouldn't even get a star rating.
February 5, 2018
I had to struggle to make it through this book. I kept waiting for it to end. This author's writing is not my cup of tea. It's not one I would ever reccomend.
June 5, 2018
I don't know.... it's just weird. weird story weirdly written.
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