Scan barcode
A review by knod78
Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad
5.0
I went to Ibtihaj’s booking signing a couple of years ago, but I was saving this read until right before the Olympics to give me inspiration. Well as with many things, the Olympics were rescheduled and I forgot about this book in May. So I decided to start reading, because the Olympics would be going on right now and I would be watching fencing. Seriously, I became a fan of fencing because of this woman.
With many athletic books, you have to weed through bad writing and dribble. But not this book. It didn’t jump around. It was well written. It was organized and thought out. It made me sad and happy and on the edge of my seat, because I only started watching her at the Rio Olympics. I didn’t know what she did, if she won or lost that match. The book put me there in the moment. Her USA team coach reminded me of my varsity basketball coach who made me feel inferior to the other girls on the team and that he was forced to deal with me like garbage, but I had the support of my team. So I can’t even imagine what that was like and it made me so sad to know she didn't have the team dynamic.
I will say that I did get tired of the constant reminder that she wears a hijab. I think I counted five times mentioned in one small paragraph. After the first two sentences, I got it. And some of the information repeated itself.
Overall, if you want to feel inspired, read this book.
With many athletic books, you have to weed through bad writing and dribble. But not this book. It didn’t jump around. It was well written. It was organized and thought out. It made me sad and happy and on the edge of my seat, because I only started watching her at the Rio Olympics. I didn’t know what she did, if she won or lost that match. The book put me there in the moment. Her USA team coach reminded me of my varsity basketball coach who made me feel inferior to the other girls on the team and that he was forced to deal with me like garbage, but I had the support of my team. So I can’t even imagine what that was like and it made me so sad to know she didn't have the team dynamic.
I will say that I did get tired of the constant reminder that she wears a hijab. I think I counted five times mentioned in one small paragraph. After the first two sentences, I got it. And some of the information repeated itself.
Overall, if you want to feel inspired, read this book.