samstone's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this one, but I didn't love it.
It felt a bit disjointed to me - not in the prose, but in the story itself. I like the old woman in a home for the elderly we start out with. I really enjoyed her thoughts, and she felt quite realistic to me, having 4 grandparents over the age of 90 myself, and seeing how young at heart they often are and how different their physical reality is.
So I was a bit sad when it started to switch between her as a little kid, and her as a young lady. And it switched back and forth and back and forth over and over. Usually I like those different time frames, but here it just didn't fully work for me.
I really liked the main character, so that is why I still enjoyed the book overall - though I would have liked even more focus on the running. Not necessarily on the olympics, but just on how much running is part of her life. Yes it's often said that she HAS to run, but I would have liked even more insight into that. (Might have been boring for non runners then though - maybe it was supposed to strike a balance between "normal fiction" and "running fiction")
The other characters stayed a bit blank for me sadly, so as much as I liked Aganetha I didn't really "feel" the other characters. Her mother was the only other one I mostly clicked with, the rest felt more like backdrop to me personally.
All in all a good read I don't regret spending time and money on, bt not a book I'd miss terribly if I had read something else instead.
It felt a bit disjointed to me - not in the prose, but in the story itself. I like the old woman in a home for the elderly we start out with. I really enjoyed her thoughts, and she felt quite realistic to me, having 4 grandparents over the age of 90 myself, and seeing how young at heart they often are and how different their physical reality is.
So I was a bit sad when it started to switch between her as a little kid, and her as a young lady. And it switched back and forth and back and forth over and over. Usually I like those different time frames, but here it just didn't fully work for me.
I really liked the main character, so that is why I still enjoyed the book overall - though I would have liked even more focus on the running. Not necessarily on the olympics, but just on how much running is part of her life. Yes it's often said that she HAS to run, but I would have liked even more insight into that. (Might have been boring for non runners then though - maybe it was supposed to strike a balance between "normal fiction" and "running fiction")
The other characters stayed a bit blank for me sadly, so as much as I liked Aganetha I didn't really "feel" the other characters. Her mother was the only other one I mostly clicked with, the rest felt more like backdrop to me personally.
All in all a good read I don't regret spending time and money on, bt not a book I'd miss terribly if I had read something else instead.
ciska's review against another edition
3.0
Aganetha Smart was part of the female running team entering the Olympics in 1928 for Canada. She competed on the woman 800 meter distance and won. Now forgotten by everyone she spends her days in a nursery home at age 104.
The arrival of two people who do not really disclose who they are at first stir up a lot of memories and slowly the story of Aganetha reveals itself. Her growing up in Ontario. About the struggle of her family. About the freedom she felt when she ran and the Olympics. About coming home and trying to settle back in normal life.
It has been 3.5 week ago that I finished this book and I still have not given it a star rating. So it will go up without and with two tags.
I am not sure I liked this book but still am left with the feeling I read something really good.
Expecting a book on the struggle of trying to get to the Olympics as a long distance runner and female I was pretty surprised that this actually is just a small part of the book.
The story starts with a small Aganetha challenging all the boys in the neighbourhood. Going trough a lot of struggle in her family where things happen that throw a shadow on the family but she does not know the details of.
Slowly the story develops where Aganetha is getting a job and a spot on a running team in the city and on to the Olympics. Slowly is a very important word here. There is not much speed though big jumps in time are made. But most of all I missed emotion. I did not connect to her struggle. I did not connect to anything in the story at all. Still I could not put the book away either. I wanted to know what would happen, what was going on in her house. Than all of a sudden I realized that the story was told in the voice of a woman of 104 contemplating on her life and I have the feeling that if I read the book again actually realizing that trough the whole story it is going to be much better. The pages I did read with that realization all of a sudden became way more interesting.
The arrival of two people who do not really disclose who they are at first stir up a lot of memories and slowly the story of Aganetha reveals itself. Her growing up in Ontario. About the struggle of her family. About the freedom she felt when she ran and the Olympics. About coming home and trying to settle back in normal life.
It has been 3.5 week ago that I finished this book and I still have not given it a star rating. So it will go up without and with two tags.
I am not sure I liked this book but still am left with the feeling I read something really good.
Expecting a book on the struggle of trying to get to the Olympics as a long distance runner and female I was pretty surprised that this actually is just a small part of the book.
The story starts with a small Aganetha challenging all the boys in the neighbourhood. Going trough a lot of struggle in her family where things happen that throw a shadow on the family but she does not know the details of.
Slowly the story develops where Aganetha is getting a job and a spot on a running team in the city and on to the Olympics. Slowly is a very important word here. There is not much speed though big jumps in time are made. But most of all I missed emotion. I did not connect to her struggle. I did not connect to anything in the story at all. Still I could not put the book away either. I wanted to know what would happen, what was going on in her house. Than all of a sudden I realized that the story was told in the voice of a woman of 104 contemplating on her life and I have the feeling that if I read the book again actually realizing that trough the whole story it is going to be much better. The pages I did read with that realization all of a sudden became way more interesting.
brogan7's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
I loved this book! It runs along at speed, I just wanted more more more, I loved Aganetha, of course, but I also loved the cast of characters around her: Glad, incomparable Glad...her mother...her sister, Olive...the farm, her young years, her old years, the couple of kids who pick her up from the old age home where she lives...
It's a book about times long past and yet the characters are so contemporary.
Very well executed, the only drawbacks were some plot developments towards the end that felt very engineered and unnecessary, really.
Overall a great read, metaphors to die for, a world so real and with such vivid edges...one not to forget, right up there with Margaret Laurence.
It's a book about times long past and yet the characters are so contemporary.
Very well executed, the only drawbacks were some plot developments towards the end that felt very engineered and unnecessary, really.
Overall a great read, metaphors to die for, a world so real and with such vivid edges...one not to forget, right up there with Margaret Laurence.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Abortion, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Minor: Alcoholism
strawfly14's review against another edition
3.0
Me ha gustado bastante, no es mal libro. Está bien escrito y me parece complejo. Nos permite aprender algo sobre las limitaciones de las mujeres en el deporte en esa época, y el personaje de Aggie es fantástico.
El problema es que ha sido el único personaje con el que he conectado, el resto se me hacían demasiado indiferentes, la verdad. Kaley, por ejemplo, me ha resultado bastante aburrida y quizá algo patética. Me ha faltado también más profundidad en el tema del deporte y los JJOO, la experiencia, la normativa... Es decir, la historia es profunda pero me habría gustado que se hubiera involucrado más en el tema de los JJOO porque creo que es algo que se trata por encima.
No obstante, he disfrutado mucho con la lectura y el personaje de Aggie m eñareve genial.
El problema es que ha sido el único personaje con el que he conectado, el resto se me hacían demasiado indiferentes, la verdad. Kaley, por ejemplo, me ha resultado bastante aburrida y quizá algo patética. Me ha faltado también más profundidad en el tema del deporte y los JJOO, la experiencia, la normativa... Es decir, la historia es profunda pero me habría gustado que se hubiera involucrado más en el tema de los JJOO porque creo que es algo que se trata por encima.
No obstante, he disfrutado mucho con la lectura y el personaje de Aggie m eñareve genial.
jolson's review against another edition
2.0
If I had rated the book at the halfway mark, I would have given it four stars. I loved Snyder's ability to play with time as a story telling device and the character she created was entertaining. The problem was the present day story was no good. The potential in this book is great, but it just didn't live up to it.
emnodash's review against another edition
3.0
Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.
I have to admit when I first got this book I assumed it was non-fiction. I was quite surprised to find out it wasn’t but I enjoyed it anyway. It is quite similar to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Hundred-Year-Old Man, we see Aganetha at the age of 104 looking back on her life. Though I think this novel is quite a bit more serious.
This book is about running and the Olympics. The way the author writes about running is so lyrical it will make you want to go outside and run. But it is also about women’s rights and unwanted pregnancy. I have to admit when I got to the end of this book I refused to believe I was finished. It was a lovely book to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think everyone should read this.
I have to admit when I first got this book I assumed it was non-fiction. I was quite surprised to find out it wasn’t but I enjoyed it anyway. It is quite similar to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Hundred-Year-Old Man, we see Aganetha at the age of 104 looking back on her life. Though I think this novel is quite a bit more serious.
This book is about running and the Olympics. The way the author writes about running is so lyrical it will make you want to go outside and run. But it is also about women’s rights and unwanted pregnancy. I have to admit when I got to the end of this book I refused to believe I was finished. It was a lovely book to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think everyone should read this.
missjackieoh's review against another edition
5.0
Carrie Snyder has created a book that could quite possibly go down in history as a classic! I loved this book; from beginning to end, hence my five star review!
Aganetha Smart has had her fair share of disappointments and tragedies in life, all of which has built her into a very strong individual. At a young age she discovered a skill in running. I say skill because its clear that this isn't merely a child able to run off abundant amounts of energy. She's faster than everyone; and at a time when girls were all to be dainty and inferior to boys, it didn't win her very many friends. I seriously give Aganetha, Aggie to her friends and family, props for sticking with her skill despite hardships! It carried her all the way to the 1928 Olympics, where she won a Gold in the very first Olympics that allowed woman to compete in track events.
The book starts off with Aggie at 104 years old, having outlived everyone she has ever loved; now living in a nursing home. Two young individuals, a brother and a sister, come to 'visit' Aggie. They end up kidnapping her from the home proclaiming to want to tell Aggie's story; the girl is a runner herself, and claims to be making a video about what inspires her. However, it is clear early on that they have ulterior motives. Who are they? What do they want? You get little snip its of the present time as Aggie takes you through her past. By the time you find out what is really going on the twist is somewhat shocking and unexpected!
I really loved this book, and Carrie Snyder might be one of my new favorite authors! I will definitely be keeping a look out for her books in the future!
I received this book for free from The Reading Room in exchange for an honest review.
Aganetha Smart has had her fair share of disappointments and tragedies in life, all of which has built her into a very strong individual. At a young age she discovered a skill in running. I say skill because its clear that this isn't merely a child able to run off abundant amounts of energy. She's faster than everyone; and at a time when girls were all to be dainty and inferior to boys, it didn't win her very many friends. I seriously give Aganetha, Aggie to her friends and family, props for sticking with her skill despite hardships! It carried her all the way to the 1928 Olympics, where she won a Gold in the very first Olympics that allowed woman to compete in track events.
The book starts off with Aggie at 104 years old, having outlived everyone she has ever loved; now living in a nursing home. Two young individuals, a brother and a sister, come to 'visit' Aggie. They end up kidnapping her from the home proclaiming to want to tell Aggie's story; the girl is a runner herself, and claims to be making a video about what inspires her. However, it is clear early on that they have ulterior motives. Who are they? What do they want? You get little snip its of the present time as Aggie takes you through her past. By the time you find out what is really going on the twist is somewhat shocking and unexpected!
I really loved this book, and Carrie Snyder might be one of my new favorite authors! I will definitely be keeping a look out for her books in the future!
I received this book for free from The Reading Room in exchange for an honest review.
ncostell's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5