The Cheerleading Book: The Young Athlete's Guide

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The book is a meditation on the nature of friendship, love, competition, betrayal and young girls coming of age, set in the world of cheerleading. In it, Abbott exposes the dark underside of the cheerleaders' world and describes a culture that would have me quaking in my boots if I had a teenage daughter.

Basically that's it. Oh and a suicide thrown in for good measure. And a hint of pseudo lesbianism thrown about which doesn't even materialize into anything, but constantly lingers. We try every day, most of us. The information comes slow, wriggling out. She'd gone to school over in Stony Creek, her husband works in a mirrored office tower downtown, and he bought her the car. Barely information at all. As little as she can share and still share something.

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There are some big continuity problems that don't make sense. Coach has her hair in a bob, but then later, only a matter of weeks later, it is described in a ponytail and a French braid. So does she have long hair, long enough for a French braid or ponytail or is it a bob?

This is the story of cheerleaders and best friends, Addy Hanson and Beth Cassidy. Beth has always been the Captain, and Addy, her lieutenant. Together, they are fierce! Beth has always been as cold as ICE and no one crosses her and no one can get to her, no one except Addy. Then everything changes for Beth, as Addy begins looking up to the new Coach, Ms. Colette French, and not Beth. Tempers rise between everyone involved and the games begin (and I don't mean football games). To make matters worse, something goes awry for Addy and for Coach and its something bad with a capital B. Many secrets are kept and Beth is the middle of all of it and is loving every single second of it - because Beth is bad with a capital B, too. Bueno, pues no nos dejemos engañar. A decir verdad el libro no está mal escrito. El estilo de Abbott es muy curioso, a veces parece un guion de una película, otras veces un trozo de un relato de Stephen King, pero finalmente se convierte en algo muy interesante por el uso que tiene del lenguaje y de los tiempos de la narración. Sin embargo, hay algo en su estilo que al mismo tiempo que de calidad, hace que no se conecte del todo con la historia, y es una pena. This is my second Megan Abbott, and it won't be my last. There's something about her razor-sharp writing that is so damn compelling and interesting that goes well beyond the subject matter. Her life, she says, has “definitely changed” since she agreed to let Netflix into it in 2017 – but she remains the same person, trying to do and be her best. “I’m still living in a small town, I do my day-to-day job. It feels very normal to me.”First issue: the suicide felt like it was thrown into the plot to add drama. Coach French was cheating on her husband with an army sergeant who was an old friend of hers, because of course we needed more clichés. And then Sarge died. Because Coach French cut things off with him. Because she was cheating on her husband. You know. Totally healthy. Absolutely healthy that she just threw up after eating half a protein bar. Totally fine that she just almost passed out because she didn’t drink her lunch carrot juice.

Additionally, the description of the victim/suicide, which Addy saw, says the weapon was lying under the leg, but later Addy reads that it was by the victim's head. p. 191 reading from the newspaper article: "Recoil will usually cause a handgun to land behind the body, the source noted, not next to the head where it was found." Addy is trying hard to figure out what happened and she never thinks to herself that that isn't where the gun was, but was under the leg. She supposedly can't get the image out of her mind, but she doesn't think that this is wrong. So, I'm guessing it is an error on the part of the author. Since all of theses small details do seem to matter to the plot, that is really badly done. A lot of people say that Abbott writes Noir, and it is definitely her writing's strength. Sharp lines, stark definitions everywhere, and a deep undercurrent running through the tale. Was it suicide? Was it murder? How is Beth involved? Is the Coach guilty? It's all questions and blinders, and it never sinks into a normal murder mystery. Our narrator Addy so well-crafted that I doubt I'll ever forget her. It was something. Don't say it wasn't. ....We're all the same under our skin, aren't we? We're all wanting things we don't understand. Things we can't even name. The yearning so deep, like pinions over our hearts.

It’s not just this one girl. Almost all of the girls on the squad are pulled into this. They stop eating, exercise for hours, make themselves tiny. One of them is described as a “pale eyelash of a girl” (more body part metaphors!) which is… Have you ever seen hair like that? Because I haven’t except for on those fake-ass plastic dolls. And to make things worse, apparently there are different kinds of taffy and one kind is soft and the other kind is hard. And neither of them look like hair. I just...don’t get it.

but this is megan abbott restrained. it is as though someone told her to use fewer pretty words and focus on the story. I really wanted to like this book. I actually convinced myself that I did for a while. But now that my mental health has...changed, I can definitely tell that this book is not good. At all. It’s too problematic and insensitive. I came in looking for a dark aesthetic thriller with good tension and compelling characters. The portrayal syncs truthfully with the character voice, for better and worse. Addy's character matches her voice for depictions of events and performances in her witness - she's a spoiled teenage girl with a dark streak and surrounded by other characters who are just as flawed as she is. This is especially well noted in the audio reading of this book. Addy's reflections are indulging for senses and symbolic parallels, yet flawed at the same time. So it worked for me. Tugging the rubber from his tire, her fingernails ripped red, she looked up at me, grinning wide, front-teeth gapped and wild heroic.This is NOT the Rah Rah cheerleading I remember from my high school, and DARE ME is NOT the YA reading I was doing in my teenage years. I am not a parent- if I was I would cringe a little if I saw this book on my teenager's night stand- but as an adult I loved it. It has been billed as Fight Club for girls...but it reminded me more of Heathers meets Bring It On. Behind the scenes though, there are bruises and punishing workouts… and the threat that hangs over them- the possibility of severe injury.