Touchstone

The Mistaken Wife

gwen — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Take a trip back to England and France—An American In Paris this is not; rather, this book explores the spying world through eyes similar to Jane Austen—but add the charming characteristics of James Bond, and you arrive at a sweet, adventurous female named Mary Finch. This third book of the Mary Finch trilogy by Rose Melikan captures the depth of espionage and loyalty as well as romance and intrigue in the post-war era. Based in historical events dating to 1797 set in Britain, baring political intrigue and just a hint of romance, The Mistaken Wife gives the reader a chance to experience history, learn about the post-Revolutionary War spy world between America, France, and England and enjoy a love story featuring secret agents of all degrees.

Also rooted in this story is the discovery of an invention designed to possibly aid in future warfare. Both the American and the English spies travel to Paris; both seek the plans to this secret weapon with the intentions of taking them to their home countries.

Written with thoughtful and diligent insight, The Mistaken Wife upholds intrigue with a good amount of incidental beneficence. The culture of the time is well captured, from the descriptions of clothing to the proper manners rampant of the times. The cross of the three cultures is often revisited in the pursuit of the final quest, and this again is well perceived on the page.

Melikan conducts much research to create The Mistaken Wife. An author of academic work, she combines journal accounts, historical papers and the precursors of the military weapon plans to present a most accurate depiction of the story's setting. The resulting novel (in addition to the previous two of the trilogy, The Blackstone Key and The Counterfeit Guest) is well crafted without being too academic or too minor in development. _[The Mistaken Wife](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416560904?ie=UTF8&tag=feminrevie-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1416560904__ is a careful historical novel of a fiery time in the settling of countries. Take some time to read and to indulge (as well as to brush up on the history you forgot you knew) in this novel.

Written by: Carolyn Espe, November 17th 2010

The Red Queen

brittany — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Philippa Gregory

Touchstone

Philippa Gregory’s most recent work of historical fiction, The Red Queen, describes the bloody War of the Roses from the perspective of Margaret Beaufort, a member of the house of Lancaster and, perhaps most famously, grandmother to Henry VIII. Gregory’s second book in the Cousins’ War series, The Red Queen serves as a foil to The White Queen, which presented the war from the perspective of the York Queen Elizabeth Woodville.

As a child, Margaret is fervently devout, with a special devotion to Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary. Her desire to join a religious order is, however, of little importance to her family, who hope that she will provide an heir to the throne. She is married at the age of twelve to Edmund Tudor, King Henry VI’s twenty-four-year-old half brother, and widowed shortly after becoming pregnant. Margaret faces death herself during a difficult childbirth, and becomes convinced God spared her life in order for her to fulfill her destiny and make her son the King of England. Devoting her life to this ambition, Margaret carefully navigates the shifting court politics of a nation seething with civil war. Her determination and clever plotting allow her to infiltrate the house of York and orchestrate one of the greatest rebellions in British history—calling her son back from exile in order to wage war, seize the crown, and become the king she always knew he would be.

Margaret is presented as the antithesis of her rival Elizabeth, the protagonist of The White Queen: Margaret is plain, Elizabeth famously beautiful; Margaret’s life lacks romance, Elizabeth’s is a love story; Margaret is a pious Catholic and Elizabeth practices magic. Allied with opposing sides, the women’s experiences of the wars are also quite disparate. It was interesting to see the events presented from the women’s different points of view, but as divergent as their stories were, this approach to the series occasionally made it feel as if I had already read the book.

One of the most interesting aspects of Margaret in The Red Queen is her central role in the murder of the two princes in the tower, both Elizabeth’s sons. The person responsible for their murder is left a mystery in The White Queen, and remains one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Gregory’s choice to have Margaret order their execution, while a historically plausible theory, is a risky one for an author. It is a testament to Gregory’s writing and character development that she can create a sympathetic character out of a cold-blooded killer.

Another intriguing aspect of the book is Gregory’s exploration of women’s religious beliefs and practices, which is also a central theme in The White Queen. Margaret’s constant assertions that she is favored by God and that her political plots are in accordance with divine will is repetitive and tiresome at times, but using religion to legitimize ambition and power was a frequent trope in women’s lives. Gregory uses this device, not to suggest any divine origin of Margaret’s unlikely rise to power, but to demonstrate the way Margaret herself might have negotiated and viewed that power. Furthermore, Gregory’s depiction of Margaret’s constant recourse to prayer—like Elizabeth’s use of magic—elucidates how women viewed their relationship with the divine as a way to control events over which they actually had very little control.

Serious historians may be frustrated with Gregory’s highly fictionalized writing, and Margaret is a very complex character to be explored in such an easy-to-read, breezy novel. Ultimately, however, Gregory is to be commended for bringing attention to women’s history. Margaret is a fascinating historical figure whose role in her son’s climb to power and influence over the early Tudor kings has often been overlooked. I recommend The Red Queen as a thoroughly enjoyable examination of Margaret and the War of the Roses, a delightfully crafted story of the woman who brought the Tudors to the throne.

Written by: Shannon Hill, October 13th 2010

Band of Angels

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Julia Gregson

Touchstone

It might be said that at heart, Band of Angels is a love story. But the course of love between Catherine Carreg and her childhood friend Deio is a convoluted, meandering one. Catherine and Deio grew up riding horses together in Wales in the 1850s. But when Catherine matures, her family puts a stop to her adventures with Deio, seeing it as improper for a young lady. After her mother dies in childbirth, Catherine feels lost and isolated. She wants to go out into the world and study medicine so she can help save lives, as a way to redeem a personal failure that she couldn't save her own mother.

Catherine escapes Wales with the help of Deio, who is a cattle driver. She dresses as a man and goes to London with him on a drive. Upon reaching London, Deio seems to want Catherine to stay with him, but she rejects him outright, refusing to see him after their furtive journey together. Catherine's determination to become a nurse or doctor is rewarded when she is accepted into Florence Nightingale's school for nurses. When Nightingale abruptly leaves for the Crimean war, Catherine begs to go with her.

In the meantime, Deio realizes the railroad will soon make his job as a cattle driver obsolete. Looking for other ways to make a living, he decides to sell horses to the Allied forces in the Crimea. He takes a number of his horses to Balaklava, knowing that Catherine is somewhere near there, and hoping he will find her somehow.

Catherine and Nightingale's other nurses end up in Scutari, far from the front, where thousands of wounded and ill soldiers are hospitalized. Here, they live in squalor, and food is a luxury. Soldiers die of typhus and other diseases more often than they die of wounds suffered on the battlefield. This is the most fascinating part of the story, but it takes more than half the book to get us to this point.

Gregson's research is strong, and she succeeds in making Wales, and the cattle drive to London, come alive for the reader. But there could have been much more about Nightingale and the procedures she used in the hospital in Scutari to offer the reader historical insight. Nightingale is a filmy character here, difficult to relate to, and the war itself seems very distant as well.

It is true that Nightingale has been characterized as standoffish in reality, but still, she had the passion to take her across the world and into hospitals where no women had been allowed before. We don't see much of that drive here. Catherine's motivation for going to the Crimea needed further development, as well. In addition, it seems a bit of a leap when Catherine starts longing for Deio after she so assuredly rejected him. The love story seems almost superfluous at times.

In spite of some plot and character flaws, the book, overall, does succeed in drawing the reader into a brutal world that we want to know more about. This is one of those imperfect books that keeps you reading, looking forward to more like this: “Blood was the hardest thing of all to wash out; all of them wore it like a permanent stain. They spent most of their time on the wards trying to take it from their tangled hair and old bandages, from faces and dolls and pictures and handkerchiefs; strange what the men carried closest to their hearts.”

Written by: Natasha Bauman, August 31st 2010

Starting from Scratch: A Novel with Recipes

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Susan Gilbert-Collins

Touchstone

In Starting from Scratch, Olivia Tschetter successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and lost her mother all in one day. The youngest of four siblings, Olivia moves back home to be with her father, to run away from her responsibilities at school, and to grieve. Her connection to her mother, who was an incredible cook, is food. At first, she uses food as a way to shove her pain aside, but it eventually becomes one of the ways she gets past her grief.

This is the simplest way to describe a book that is both straightforward and layered at the same time, particularly when revealing those layers would give away all the best parts. Let me just say that it’s easy to enjoy this book on a superficial level—it’s well-written, the characters are easy to relate to, and it’s a quick read—but there are also moments that can be appreciated more deeply. For example, when Olivia unexpectedly starts with an old friend of her mother’s, Winnie, she stumbles into a minefield of sorts as Winnie reveals secrets Olivia’s family has kept from her. It turns out that Winnie is estranged from her own daughter, and the parallels between the way Olivia is suffering and the way Winnie and her own daughter deal with their own issues are quite compelling. It all reminds the reader that life-changing moments are universal, and that even if we deal with things in our own way, we don’t have to deal with them alone.

Another thing I must point out (again, without giving too much away) is the way this novel pulls off having both food and abuse as its subject matter. It sounds completely absurd, yet Starting from Scratch does it in a beautifully poignant way.

Food is almost like this family’s own language; it’s the way they communicate with each other, for better or worse. As Olivia works to finish the cooking newsletter her mother was working on when she died, the reader is taken through Olivia’s mourning and her reaction to the secrets she’s learned from Winnie. Meanwhile, the way women and their families deal with abuse is at the very heart of this story. Surprisingly, one thing does not take away from the other or make the abuse seem trivial. In short, Starting from Scratch is a pleasant surprise. I found myself laughing out loud at some parts, and weeping at others. The story sucks you in and it’s over all too soon. By the end, I felt like I was a part of this family, and I wanted desperately to find out what happens to all of them beyond the point at which the story ends.

Written by: frau sally benz, August 22nd 2010

The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:00:00 +0000

By Ivanka Trump

Touchstone

I’ve always admired Ivanka Trump. As the Vice President of Real Estate and Acquisitions for the Trump Organization and owner of her own luxury jewelry line, I look to her as a role model. Her first foray into literature has been wildly successful, landing on the New York Times Bestseller List and garnering praise from the publishing community. Although the book starts out promising enough, with Trump refusing to apologize for the advantages she has enjoyed, her sage and learned advice begins to take a backdrop to anecdotes about her privilege.

Throughout the book, Trump attempts to prove that her success is not a product of her family name but of her hard work. This assertion, however, is undermined by constant references to her less-than-ordinary upbringing. Few if any people other than Ivanka Trump can boast that Michael Jackson attended their childhood ballet recital, nor could they brag about having a “part-time job” as a world-class fashion model while in school. Many of Trump’s youthful recollections involve some of the most influential people in the world and, while fascinating to read, discredit the notion that hard work will yield success similar to Trump’s.

Contrary to Trump’s belief, her career trajectory cannot be credited to hard work, at least not exclusively. Her refusal to acknowledge that high profile connections have played a role in her development is absurd. Prior to graduating from college, Trump was offered an internship at Vogue by Anna Wintour, the magazine’s editor-in-chief. I sincerely doubt that even the most brilliant fashion journalist with limited connections would be offered such a coveted position from the editor herself—and prior to graduation, no less.

It’s true that Trump’s successes are her own, but her book overlooks the fact that success comes from being in the right place at the right time, and is dependent upon having the opportunity to excel. Trump tries to downplay this notion, but I believe it is something that she understands intrinsically. Her book is called The Trump Card after all, undoubtedly a strategic decision to capitalize off of her family’s famous name. Branding the book as “Trump certified” probably didn’t hinder her chances of securing a publisher, either.

The Trump Card is an interesting read, but it is misleading to categorize it as “business and economics” literature. While the book offers generic career advice, it mainly serves to remind the reader that with hard work and persistence anyone can achieve extraordinary success, provided that they have a billionaire father.

Written by: Cheryl Santa Maria, August 11th 2010

29: A Novel

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Adena Halpern

Touchstone

If there is one book that will certainly be made into a successful film, it is this one. All the ingredients are there for an entertaining feature-length romp. The plot is quite simple: a seventy-five year old grandmother celebrates her birthday and, while blowing out her candles, makes a seemingly unattainable wish, to be twenty-nine again. Through the magic of Adena Halpern’s imagination, that is exactly what happens the next morning, with the ensuing hilarity and zany situations–including some saucy details!–which make this day-long trek through Ellie Jerome’s “new” life quite an exciting one.

The “flashback/forward to your own life” cinematographic genre is not a new one, and many films (that I admittedly have not seen) have capitalized on this popularity, such as 17 Again with teen heartthrob Zac Efron and 13 Going on 30, starring Jennifer Garner. Like Halpern’s book, this type of movie capitalizes on the public’s regrets and fantasies about our own lives. Who hasn’t had one of those “what if” moments or wished they could opt out of a difficult situation? Ellie, the main character of Halpern’s novel, upon seeing her granddaughter Lucy at her party, wants to live her life differently than she had: marrying young, a man with whom she does not think she was really in love, and always doing what was expected of her as a lady. And, for those of you who will read the book, or see the film version, I will not give away the ending or moral of the story (of course, it contains one!).

Amidst the book’s seeming superficiality and overt sentimentality, there lies a very real social phenomenon. As our elderly population grows and lives longer, how are older women reacting to the societal changes going on around them? How do they reconcile their lived experience with that of their descendants? Given her young age, Halpern manages to convey realistically the mental state of the “granny” figures in the book and their relations to the younger women and men. She also skilfully paints the granny-granddaughter relationship and promotes inter-generational connections and understanding amongst women.

A former columnist for Marie Claire magazine, Halpern has previously authored two books, the fashion memoir Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown and the novel The Ten Best Days of My Life. She also holds a Masters degree in screenwriting, a fact that shines through in this new novel. A film version cannot be far behind. My bets are on actresses Glenn Close and Amanda Seyfried to play the aged Ellie and the younger Ellie. Bets are now on!

Written by: Sophie M. Lavoie, June 26th 2010

Eleanor the Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0000

By Norah Lofts

Touchstone

I have to say... I feel a little duped. There is nothing in the book's presentation to suggest that Eleanor the Queen is a reprint of a 1950s novel by Norah Lofts. Apparently Lofts was a prolific and best-selling author known for her "authentic use of period detail." I hadn’t heard of her, but I don’t follow the historical novel market, I just read them. I did not, however, finish reading this. I forced myself to finish Part One of four, but I just could not go on.

Eleanor of Aquitaine was a remarkable woman. She was born in approximately 1122, and became the sole heir to her father’s vast property when he died in 1137. To protect her and her land, she was married to Prince Louis VII of France, who soon became king. When he rode to the Crusades, Eleanor went with him, bringing a coterie of other women with her. She was admired and compared to the Amazons. But the marriage became strained and ultimately ended. (And that’s just Part One—Eleanor went on to do a lot.)

Research tells me that Eleanor was intelligent, strategic, and ambitious. Norah Lofts tells me that Eleanor sat around waiting for things to change, twiddling her thumbs. She tells me Eleanor is intelligent, but somehow this "politically savvy" young woman didn’t know how big her land was until her uncle showed her on a map. Like in so much mediocre fiction, the writer makes statements about the character, setting her up to be admired, only to have the character's actions completely undermine those statements.

People always argue about historical fiction’s (lack of) accuracy. A scenario set in the tenth century is patchy enough that it’s possible to build an excellent story while sticking to the few known facts. Either Lofts did not have good information, or she ignored the facts completely.

Worst of all, the book is incredibly poorly written. The dialogue is hackneyed, the characters are just names and voices, downright boring passages drag on forever, and interesting events aren’t developed. The style is reminiscent of books written between 1700 and 1900, but it rings false, and is just an irritant. The narrative is aware of its own grandeur, wallowing in description without letting people or their actions speak for themselves.

I was so astounded by how poorly written Eleanor the Queen is that I began doing more research into the book and its writer. It was confirmed that Norah Lofts still has a devoted fan base. It was also confirmed that her facts are just wrong, totally contradicting that line on the back cover about her use of period detail. When I discovered that Lofts was born in 1904, I forced myself to rein in a bit. Older books do have a different style. That style doesn’t always appeal to modern readers, including me. But then I saw that Eleanor the Queen was written in the 1950s. It ain’t that old.

Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind in 1936 and it blew my socks off; there’s no excuse for Norah Lofts.

This book would never make it out of a writing workshop.

Written by: Richenda Gould, June 22nd 2010

The Blue Orchard

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Jackson Taylor

Touchstone

I can't remember the last time a tale of fiction grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I finished The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor over a week ago and it still haunts me during those quiet moments of my day. What drew me in to say 'yes' to reviewing this book was that it is a tale of a nurse in pre-Roe America who is arrested for performing illegal abortions. On top of that, The Blue Orchard is a fictionalized tale of Taylor's own grandmother.

But I have to tell you that I forgot that last fact while reading. I was so consumed by the ups and far too many downs of Verna Krone that I simply forgot she really did walk this earth. The Blue Orchard is a painful tale of a young girl's hope to find her place in the world, only to have too many decisions made for her that ultimately result in heartbreak. The story is far too delicate than I could ever express.

I will certainly be suggesting The Blue Orchard the next time my book group needs to pick a title. Not only is the issue of abortion discussed, but also gender roles, race, class, motherhood, and even a great dose of local politics. Oh, did I love the local politics angle!

Cross-posted from Viva La Feminista

Written by: Veronica I. Arreola, April 20th 2010

The White Queen

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:54:00 +0000

By Philippa Gregory

Touchstone

Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, The White Queen, opens her series on the War of the Roses with a tale of blood and lust shrouded in historic mythology. Told from the perspective of Elizabeth Rivers, country maiden turned Queen of England; we follow the fall of the House of Lancaster and rise of the house of York through a Romeo and Juliet love story with a conspiring twist.

Elizabeth loses her husband in battle fighting for King Henry, leader of the house of Lancaster. As Lancaster falls and the Yorks take the reigns of Britain she loses her property and in turn her sons inheritance and only hope of a prosperous future. As the daughter of a nobleman she decides to plead with the new king, Edward IV. It is at this fated and possibly magically guided first meeting that our story truly begins. Lust at first sight is followed by a series of desperate mysterious acts, the most fascinating of which is the possible use of magic by Elizabeth’s mother to propagate her daughter’s second marriage. The King, an infamous womanizer, would be nearly impossible to pin down especially when he was still at war. It is implied that a water goddess, Melusina, a fabled descendant of the Rivers line, intervenes after Elizabeth mom invokes her. The Rivers family calls upon Melusina throughout the book for luck and hope bringing fantastical explanations for some quite unbelievable but true turns of events.

Magic aside, it is a beautifully woven story that heeds to the integrity of the historical record while still maintaining the lightness of a beach read. My one complaint would be the repetitiveness of Elizabeth’s language, she at times seems more of a conniving robot then a person but to be fair in order for her rise to power to have been plausible at all she had to have a one track mind.

As summer turns to fall, you may have a hankering to be back in the classroom. With this book you can easily reap all the benefits of a history class plus the easy reading pleasure of a good romance novel.

Written by: Nicole Levitz, September 30th 2009

East of the Sun

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0000

By Julia Gregson

Touchstone

East of the Sun follows the journey of three young women and their quest for love, life, and self-discovery in the autumn of 1928. The story begins in London with Viva Holloway, an orphan and aspiring writer who takes on the responsibility of chaperoning three young adults—Rose, Tor and Guy—in traveling to India. Upon receiving word of a trunk belonging to her late parents resting with a family friend in Simla, Viva embarks on this journey to fill the missing blanks of her childhood in India, and ultimately gain control of her life.

Rose is a naive, beautiful, young girl who is soon to be married to Jack Chandler, a cavalry officer in India. As we follow her voyage, we discover many facets of her personality, which unfold one by one as she discovers her life and its many shades of grey. As she boards Kaiser-i-Hind, the ship that takes her to India, Rose feels a mix of anxiousness in marrying a man she barely knows, and sadness as she leaves behind her beloved parents. Will Rose discover love or heartbreak? We follow her as she grows into a woman and endures life’s not-so-happy surprises.

Victoria “Tor” Sowerby, Rose’s best friend and bridesmaid, is the complete opposite of Rose. Despite her persistence to settle down with an eligible suitor, she lacks self-esteem, which is complemented by her mother’s constant criticism of her body image. For Tor, the journey to India is an escape from her overpowering mother and a quest to find the love of her life. Tor’s emotions are more public than any of the other characters depicted in the story and that is what makes her the most interesting character to observe. Will she find love that lasts or will she have to return back home alone?

Gregson carves a beautiful journey of the lives of three passionate women, each wanting their own share of fairy tale happiness in life. As the characters develop the story gains complexity yet it retains the innocence with which each of the women began their journey. Throughout the book we witness each characters’ evolution into an individual, and how their friendships never lose ties.

The story combines suspense and thrill to evolve into a drama, which keeps the audience turning pages, while Tor adds the comedic touch to the plot with her flamboyant personality. As the characters cross paths several times in India, we witness violence and hope amidst the end of the British Raj and colonialism, and the start of independence within both the country and the characters.

East of the Sun is an historical fiction novel with a backdrop of Indian culture. As Viva, Rose, and Tor battle the violence within their lives and in a nation wrestling for freedom, every character heals herself, and eventually emerges fresh. The peaceful teachings of Gandhi that are faintly touched on in the story are in line with the book’s ultimate message of love, hope, and resolution.

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Khan, September 4th 2009

Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:16:00 +0000

By Liz Funk

Touchstone

Supergirls Speak Out could be loaned out at preschool or kindergarten orientation. It should be on hand for all elementary school teachers and administrators. Reading the stories inside is one warning shot after another to parents, teachers, and others in our society who keep telling our kids—girls and boys—that if you don't do well in elementary school, you can't get into the top high school and then you might as well start picking out safe schools for college.

I go on a lot about being in the Chicago Public School system, but it's true. That's the name of the game. Growing up in the suburbs in a one high school district, it was more about making sure you did well in elementary so you at least got into the honors track in middle and high school. So there is a lot of pressure to get kids going on the right foot, and I'm all for that—except that subtle and not-so-subtle messages we give kids about screwing up (i.e., getting a B) in third grade can ruin their college hopes.

Funk agrees that there is a hook-up culture that is running rampant, and talks about seeing it firsthand. I have to say that I'm still leary that this phenomena is actually happening, especially when one quotes Laura Sessions Stepp as an expert.

As her first book, Funk has sought to expose what some say is the ugly under belly of feminism's daughter—trying to do it all, be good, sexy, and perfect. I do think that many of feminism's messages have been heard wrong, poorly stated, and that any movement has negative outcomes. But I believe that the fact that girls today still think they need to be perfect and "good" means that feminism still has a long way to go at breaking gender stereotypes.

Supergirls Speak Out isn't as good as You're Amazing in talking to girls about the issue. I'd say that Supergirls is more for parents than the girls themselves. Maybe buy them together and give your daughter Mysko's book while you keep Funk around to keep your dreams for your daughter in check.

Cross-posted from Viva La Feminista

Written by: Veronica I. Arreola, March 31st 2009

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track

admin — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:58:00 +0000

By Melissa Joulwan

Touchstone

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track is a wonderfully weaved account of roller derby. The author, Melissa “Melicious” Joulwan, paints a complex tale of strength, teamwork, empowerment and politics that may remind you of a soap opera set in a junior high school. Joulwan gives the reader a first person account on how the league works and the bumps in the road that goes along. She gives us the history of the league, from its 1950s birth and exponential growth to its sharp decline after the '80s and its revival in the birth of the new century. From the new birth in Austin, TX the reader is treated to witnessing the metamorphoses of the league going from “a really good idea” to a national phenomenon.

Joulawn gives us a detailed account on the exponential popularity of flat track derby complete with skater profiles, numerical charts and amusing quotes from people she personally knows. The reader is taken through a turbulent, competitive journey of how the author leaves her dot-com executive position and moves with her husband to Austin where she discovers the sport.

Through her eyes we see the derby grow from a bunch of girls who don’t really know how to skate to a thriving local sport to a national frenzy in the span of five years. The reader is treated to witnessing the politics and power struggle between the skaters and the “She-EOs” and the eventual split from them that resulted in a new league under the philosophy “by the skaters, for the skaters.” This split also leads to the “She-EOs” decline, hilariously narrated as Joulawn describes the “She-EOs” fiasco climaxing in the aftermath of a Jell-O wrestling match, complete with lots of stickiness and hungry flies.

Rollergirl is really a book about power and less about roller derby. It’s about the power of casting off the materialist identity assigned to you by the capitalist ways of a patriarchal society and carving out a niche for yourself in an area that’s outside of that system. It’s about the politics of working with people - from the crowd to the lawyers and the leadership of the league. It’s about socialist organizational methods versus capitalist methods. Then there’s the power of marketing, the power of controlling your crowd and getting them to react the way you want them to. The message of the book is subliminal and clear: you can do anything.

Written by: Nicholas Johnson, February 26th 2007