Skater Girl - Robin Pacific
Robin Pacific’s Skater Girl came out last week, and I've got an Advance Reader's Copy from River Street Writes here in exchange for a review! I just had surgery, so I'll keep this one shorter in the interest of not making you wait too long!
This memoir was such a raw and honest account. It was not at all the linear skating story I imagined and instead became a nonlinear read of many interesting essays on Pacific’s eventful life.
I found myself having a lot in common with the author, especially when it came to the family abuse, the feelings of shame and insecurity, the writing, the art, the processing of grief, Big Sur, and above all, “Kaiserschmarren”, which is an Austrian dish from my home country completely unrelated to the author's background from what I gather!
“I was addicted, not just to the nicotine, but to the shame. The shame could be counted on to solidify, over and over, the knowledge that I was intrinsically, irrevocably, a bad person. Beyond help or redemption.”
But there's so much more - we hear about abortion, left wing activism, her spiritual search, the process of aging, and then some. It even closes the story arc and ends with a foray back into skating later in life!
“Walking, I see a woman standing before me, her arms outstretched. I walk into her embrace. Hello, old age, I say. Hello, freedom.”
This was a delightful collection of personal stories even if it took me a while to connect the different threads between essays. Thank you Robin Pacific for your honest authenticity!
