Source: From the publisher for review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
Publication Date: May 14, 2024
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
It's 1971, but for Claire Joyce and girls’ basketball, it might as well be 1871. Stilted rules (three-bounce dribbling, two roving players for full-court games, and uniforms that include bloomers) set their play unfairly apart from the boys’ basketball Claire’s older brother John has trained her in.Basketball is the only constant in Claire life, and as she enters her teen years the skills she’s cultivated on the court—passing, shooting, and faking—help her guard against the chaos of an alcoholic mother, an increasingly violent younger brother, and the downward spiral her beloved John soon finds himself unable to climb out of. Deeply cut from the cloth of the Catholic Church, Brooklyn’s working class, and the limited expectations her world has for girls, Claire strives to find a mirror that might reflect a different, future self. Then Title IX bounces on the scene. Suddenly, girls’ basketball becomes explosive, musical, passionate, and driven—and if Claire plays it just right, it just might offer a full ride to a previously out-of-reach college.Sunday Money follows Claire as she narrates her way through 1970s Brooklyn, hustling on and off the court and striving to break free of the turmoil in her home and the rulebook “good” girls are supposed to follow.
Review:
Sunday Money is a coming-of-age story of young girls in 1970's Brooklyn navigating being young women in sports and the birth of Title IX. The story follows Claire, a female basketball player whose passion, resiliance, and determination leads her to find comfort and refuge in her sport.
This was a nice read, it was a pretty short book at about ~200 pages, from Claire's point of view. It followed her experiences in 1970's Brooklyn and was mostly a book about her family and their struggles. Claire's brothers have a number of problems, her mother is a drinker, and her dad works nights, so she is normally on her own. Basketball was her outlet and with the help of the community around her, she is able to see a future in the sport.
I felt like this story left a few too many things open at the conclusion. I wanted to know more about her journey, we see a snippet of college, but I wanted more and felt like all the lead up of the story warrented it. I liked that the overall book used basketball as not only a theme throughout the plot but also for chapter headings. Each chapter used a basketball term or team that related to how the chapter was going to go/feel.
I think this was an emotional story of the evolution of females in sports, but it wan't fully for me. I wanted more conclusion, I wanted ...more turmoil. I understand that Claire went through a lot, but she was pretty easily able to navigate everything that came her way. I know that there isn't such a thing as "enough struggle" but it feel a bit flat there for me.
Overall, if you are looking for a well written book about a girl's passion for her sport, you will get that here.
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