Lifeguarding: A Memoir of Secrets, Swimming, and the South

by Catherine McCall

In her sharply observed and ultimately redemptive memoir, Catherine McCall paints a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking portrait of growing up in a complicated Southern family, whose perfect façade hides crippling imperfections.

There are two parents, three children, and five ghosts in the McCall family. With their preppie clothes and country-club smiles, the McCalls look like all the other East End Louisville families. No one knows there are problems, that an internal gash the size of the Ohio river is flooding the family. All Cathy and her siblings can do is promise to stick together no matter what—and swim.

But even though they are fast, the McCall kids can’t outdistance their father’s destructive habits and their mother’s worry. As her family reaches a breaking point and an unexpected love blooms, thirteen-year-old Cathy finds she must keep secrets of her own. Though the love in this family is strong, Cathy must discover if it’s tenacious enough to withstand the truth.

Candid, captivating, and infused with compassion, Lifeguarding affirms the flexible strength of love itself; how family bonds must often bend to the point of breaking . . . and beyond.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[SBD · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is very descriptive about things you really don’t care about. It describes everything except what this book is about. If I were to guess this book can be summed up in very few words. Alcoholic father, swam a lot , ashamed to be gay, the end.

The author tells us very little except we learn a great deal about furniture and dead grandparents photos in their home. I don’t recommend.

[Visha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catherine McCall was an MFA'er at UNCW and certain aspects of her style remind me of the things I was taught in that program - for example, the "found" material she uses on her chapter openings - excerpts from a life-guarding manual. They worked well with the book and its material and were not too distracting.

What was distracting about this book were the constant hints and reminders within the narrative that the author/protagonist had "a secret". If you pay any attention whatsoever to the text, you'll figure out what that "secret" is fairly quickly. Aside from that, McCall's memoir is delightful - wonderful to read in the summer, but good any time. Her descriptions are gorgeous and her characters are well-formed - they never feel like "cardboard cut-outs" or stereotypes.

Despite the fact that certain kinds of memoirs are becoming overdone, Lifeguarding feels fresh. Read it this summer and enjoy (btw, it's not out in paperback yet - that's a bummer).

[Renee Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book! I had a hard time putting it down. It is an incredibly touching story of a close family and a child who grows up realizing that she is gay. Perhaps because the author and I are the same skin color and around the same age (and I am also gay), I could relate to this book well. But what made it enjoyable and moving is how beautiful the author writes. I highly recommend it.

[Zev · Rating 1 out of 5]

A much more accurate title for this memoir would be Water Is A Metaphor I Overuse: My Dad is an Alcoholic and I'm Rage-filled and Ashamed at myself for being gay.
The book is split between those two themes, over two decades. I foolishly thought "Oh, she will talk about being gay in 1983! She's gonna talk about learning about the AIDS crisis and how it was in Kentucky!" Uh, she whined about her -feeeeeeliiiinnngs- for women. A lot. And used a -lot- of juvenile, stilted language to vaguely describe semi-encounters with other girls. She tried to spin this as romance, I think, but I laughed and wistfully thought of much, much better stories I've read with these themes. They often took place in the 1950s, when the taboo of homosexuality showed up a little differently. None of the stories were supposed to be romantic--they were sad. Here, I have no clue what she was trying to do--shame herself out of being gay? "If I whine enough at my readers, somehow I can be straight?" No.
I wasn't nearly as bitter or judgmental about the decade in which she addressed her father's alcoholism--I was bored. Very little of this book is about swimming or lifeguarding--said activities are used as chapter transitions for no reason.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of memories from my younger days in Louisville and a coming of age tale that I am certain was difficult to write.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I lost interest fairly quickly.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book but it wasn't what I expected. I thought it was a book about sexual abuse but instead it was about a family dealing with an alcoholic and the author's coming out story. It was an engrossing read.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir that isn't as self-absorbed as most. The author seems to write honestly and sincerely without casting others as bad guys and herself as a hero. It's a story of a girl who is sensitive and perceptive and a little different, not just trying to be.

[Debbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this one. The author is from Louisville and she swam at Lakeside. Local references made it fun. My only complaint is that economic circumstances probably weren't as bleak as she make them out to be. It does show how alcohol can scar a family.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I didn't read any reviews or summaries before starting this book. I would recommend it to anyone who likes memoirs, especially those about bildungsroman.

I preferred to have the secret revealed to me by the author.

[B. Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique, strong story about breaking through dysfunction. Lifeguarding is a fascinating metaphor in this one.

[Kari Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a great memoir for anyone who is thinking of coming out, or has come out, or for a family member of an LGBT person. truthful and honest.