Suzy Favor-Hamilton

I think this can go without saying, but this isn't a book to read for the melodious prose.

When I heard about Suzy Favor Hamilton's tribulations a few years ago I was shocked. Why would someone in her position choose to risk her reputation, her health, and her family by working as a high-end escort?

As a runner I'd admired Favor Hamilton's running career and what she had done for the sport. I (along with the rest of the public) had no idea about the mental health issues that plagued her family and Suzy herself.

Sure, the book is full of salacious details. There's as much sex as running in this book. If you know off the bat you won't like that, then skip this one.

Some may still question Favor Hamilton's behavior, but I admire her for bringing to light mental health issues -- and the significant complications that arise when those issues aren't diagnosed, are misdiagnosed, and are mistreated.

3 stars.… (more)

This book is sad and frustrating and ridiculous. The first part is about Suzy Favor Hamilton's running career and it is very sad to see the pressure she felt and it's frustrating to see how she just let her mind get in the way of her physical capabilities. But that's neither here nor there. The real meat of this book is to show you how off the rails her life went in the second half of the book.

Let me first say that mental illness is real and I'm sure things like this might happen to people but her story is just too much for me to swallow. Her physician didn't notice this off the charts behavior? Her husband was totally OK with his previously "good girl" wife just deciding to head of to Vegas constantly to sleep with escorts and then become one? He didn't find this upsetting or strange or worth talking to somebody about? He didn't think it was self destructive? His only comments are "it might mess up the taxes" and "you spend too much on hotels". Infuriating! Her own story is totally unbelievable. Of course it was super easy to become a "high end" escort. Of course she got all the best clients right off the bat. Of course she had no trouble at all and instantly became the "all time favorite" of every man she was with and of course they were all handsome, rich and nice.

Plus, when it all comes crashing down it's like this big thing like she's super famous. I love the Olympics and I'm obsessed with running and I don't even know who she is! I mean telling the one guy "you'll know who I am soon enough" or whatever. If she was all that famous they'd know her from looking at her. Geez.

SHe claims that this book is all about trying to send a positive message about bipolar but it is not that. Not one bit. In my opinion this is a total money grab -- she's been exposed she might as well make a quick buck spilling some sex stories. She explains herself that even when she was on Prozac and theoretically under control she was completely useless as an adult. Every job was too hard, too stressful. Anyone who wanted her to behave like a grown up was against her and had unrealistic expectations.





… (more)

A long time has passed since I gave a book a rating this low. On finer-grained scale I'd give this something higher than 40% of the scale. But definitely not something that would round up (let alone down) to 3.

Hamilton, through her ghostwriter Sarah Tomlinson, details the ways her mania drove her to act out, the principle two being obsessive mid-distance running and working as a high-end escort in Las Vegas. A lot. More than enough to get the point across. Both sections of the book devolve into repetitive tedium. Okay, okay, you ran a lot of races, you won or placed a lot (except at the Olympics). You had a lot of very rich clients in Vegas. And you don’t fail to point out how rich they were. It started to seem more like horn-tooting than relating.

Or maybe it was fill, at least partially.

I suggest this because there was nothing in the book about her treatment. Just, "And then I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and got some meds. The end." Basically, as near as I can tell, the book only adds details about what had been revealed when a reporter outed her escort persona, Kelly, as former Olympian, Suzy. And, sure, it should do that, but not only that. So, if you’re only willing to write half a mental illness memoir, adding redundant details probably looks like a good way to up the old page count.

I can't say that the writing did much for me either. It didn't make me cringe, but it lacked emotional punch. Strange, given the subject at hand. To be sure, it suffers by comparison to recent memoirs I've read, none of which were ghostwritten, but penned by the person who suffered the illness. And those people were writers or otherwise well-educated and well-spoken. Hamilton admits to having been a poor student, and it made good sense that she employ a ghostwriter. But that ghostwriter didn't experience the things Hamilton did, and her necessarily biographical point of view probably explains at least some of the flatness. (I don't know a thing about Tomlinson, but maybe this just fell outside her bailiwick too?)

In the end, Fast Girl stands in stark contrast to the almost-too-intense memoirs of [a:Marya Hornbacher|26256|Marya Hornbacher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1262098825p2/26256.jpg], and author and journalist who wrote about her struggles with bulimia, anorexia, and bipolar disorder. Nor does Hornbacher shy way from talking about her treatment and rebellions against it. That intensity made me decide to set Hornbacher's bipolar book, [b:Madness|2177563|Madness A Bipolar Life|Marya Hornbacher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348198070l/2177563._SX50_.jpg|2183241], aside temporarily to read this. I wish I'd stuck with Madness.
… (more)