Going In Circles

By Pamela Ribon.

Disclaimer: I got this book from the author.

Charlotte Goodman is in a deep, dark place right now. She's a newlywed who's currently separated from her husband--he ditched her first, came back, and now she doesn't know what the hell to do other than leave him back. She's known as "The Ghost" at work. She pretends that John Goodman is narrating the action in her head. She doesn't know what the hell to do any more, other than the usual therapy/drugs thing that everyone says you should do.

Turns out the answer to the question is: roller derby.

Yup. You read that right. 

Charlotte gets adopted by a derby girl co-worker, Francesca, who drags her down to the warehouse and gets her in as "fresh meat." And soon Charlotte, now known as "Hard Broken," starts learning how to skate, how to hit, how to fall small, how to get hurt, and picks up the wackiness of roller derby culture. And it totally helps her get out of her rut. (Not to mention that Francesca is adorable.)  God knows I can't skate for shit so I won't be trying the sport myself , but the author makes it sound like great fun to try, picking up a new badass persona and skills. If you're needing a new lease on life and live near a roller derby and can actually stand on skates, you may want to give it a go yourself after reading this. It's all very vivid, crazy fun.

Note to readers: I was ah, not having a good week when I got the book, and I will say that at the beginning, I was uh...looking forward to when the heroine wasn't so deeply sad. I think this might be my own bias on the day than any fault on the author's part, but I was definitely thinking, "man, let's speed it up a bit to where she gets on wheels" for a bit. But it's fair to establish the dark space that Charlotte is currently in for awhile before getting her out.

On another note: There is a revelation later on in the book that ah, colors what has gone on before. I'm not entirely sure why the author chose to not reveal it until most of the book was over. On the one hand, I appreciate a twist, but on the other hand, it seems fairly strange for Charlotte not to mention it for so long. You spend most of the book at sea as to why that thing happened, I guess I just don't get why that was so important to wait to reveal. It just seemed a little awkward not to to me.

But in general, this is a fun read. Four stars from me. 

At the back of the book is a roller derby glossary, plus hilarious answers to a Q&A at the back. I especially loved the "Uh, I have no idea what I'm writing next, you just made me stare into space for a half hour, anonymous question asker, argh!" tone of it.

Comments

[pamela ribon]

Thank you for such a thoughtful review.