Whip It by Shauna Cross

I have a friend, who for a time, was a roller derby girl skating under the name Double Splatnum. She dressed up in trashy rocker girl wear and painted her face in a stylized Kiss inspired mask. She was pretty hard core and, while I would always credit her with a certain fierceness of spirit, she was also one of the nicest people I know. Not at all violent. It's a strange dichotomy because roller derby is an inherently violent sport. On the surface, it isn't the kind of thing I would expect to find Aimee doing.

There is something appealing about dressing up as some sort of ridiculous tough alter ego. It's like a form of cosplay or LARPing* and people love it. It's a sort of underground phenomenon.

Whip It (originally titled Derby Girl) is a kind of coming of Age story. Bliss is a self described alternateen living in small town Bodeen, Texas. She is a fish out of water. Bodeen is a pretty typical small town. Bliss's mom is completely obsessed with beauty pageants and has pushed Bliss into participating in them all her life. Bliss is not a beauty pageant kind of girl. She wears old t-shirts and duct-taped boots. She listens to underground Indie rock. She wants out of Bodeen almost more than anything.

Bliss discovers Roller Derby. Suddenly, there's something in her life that she's good at and that she enjoys doing. She has something precious to her and she's willing lie to hold on to it.

Whip It is divided into short chapters reminiscent of journal entries. The voice is intimate with the reader inviting us into Bliss's innermost thoughts. It's almost like she is talking directly to us as she navigates her way through this crazy new world. Bliss's voice is full of ironic humor about her surroundings and about herself. I liked the intimacy of the voice and was impressed with hw Cross balanced humor and tension. Bliss is a teenager, so this close of a narration runs the risk of feeling either annoyingly whiney or unrealistically mature. Cross walks a narrow line between the two extremes and pulls off an impulsive yet intelligent young woman. Not at all an easy feat.

Generally, I make a point to read a book before I see the movie adapted from it. In this case though, I saw the movie before I even knew it was a book. I love the movie, probably because it reflects a lot of my experience of what high school was like. Clearly, I'm not from Texas but I did go to school in a small town and it's hard to be a teen in a small town if you aren't interested in the weird little microcosm of high school society. I identify with Bliss because I know what it is to simply not fit in and have that be excruciatingly obvious to everyone around me. The movie is excellent, the book is better. It was like getting an alternate version of one of my favorite movies.

*Live Action Role Playing