As a swimmer I expected to like this novel, but sadly I found it lacking.

The story itself is incredibly amazing, but it lacked any form of excitement. It seemed to be more of an essay than a story about how the Three-Year Swim Club came to being and how they entered a quest to get to the Olympics.

The author did a great job researching and presenting this novel, but it was not what I expected at all. Despite the incredible writing and fantastic story, I just felt like it was lacking a good 'umph' to the story to make anybody want to pick it up and read it.

I expected a lot of explanation into swimming, but sadly there wasn't much of that either. With the lack of exciting plot movement and swimming descriptions, I just felt let down.

I love non-fiction, and as a non-fiction novel it was fantastic, but it was just not what I expected off of the back cover.

Two out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )

I had never heard of the 3YSC team, their incredible coach, or their many Olympic records when I bought this book to read on vacation in Hawaii, but I am very glad I picked it up. The story of these young Japanese-Americans learning to swim in sugarcane irrigation ditches and overcoming poverty, prejudice, blatant discrimination, health scares, and the dangers of World War II battlefields to become some of the best swimmers in the world is remarkable. Checkoway obviously dug through a lot of materials to write this book and it is well worth the read even if you aren't a swimming or sports fan. The historical photographs she has curated really help bring the swimmers and the times to life too. ( )

A very interesting story about kids of workers in the cane fields of Maui and their entry into swimming. An interesting view of Japanese Americans during WWII and their coach, Soichi Sakamoto. ( )

I picked this up at BEA this year and was really unsure about it. I was unsure of how I'd gotten it and was sure it would either lead to tears or boredom. While I admit to a couple of sniffles here and there about the unfairness of it all it was a pretty amazing story and well worth the read. I've always wondered about the 1940 and 1944 cancelled Olympic Games and this gives you insight into the hopefuls lives. It's also an amazing underdog tale. ( )

I picked this up at BEA this year and was really unsure about it. I was unsure of how I'd gotten it and was sure it would either lead to tears or boredom. While I admit to a couple of sniffles here and there about the unfairness of it all it was a pretty amazing story and well worth the read. I've always wondered about the 1940 and 1944 cancelled Olympic Games and this gives you insight into the hopefuls lives. It's also an amazing underdog tale. ( )