Book Review

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track by Melissa Joulwan, published by Touchstone

Reviewed by Mike Shea

February 2007

Buy it at BookPeople

ROLLERGIRL: TOTALLY TRUE TALES FROM THE TRACK, the memoir from Austin roller derby star MELISSA “MELICIOUS” JOULWAN, proves the cliché: You really can’t judge a book by its cover. In this case, a photo of two leggy skaters in the miniest of skirts (and is that a flash of panty?) screams sexploitation without a hint at the author’s smarts and keen sense of irony. Sure, there’s sass and sex—shapely bosoms are winkingly referred to as “tickets”—but Joulwan also sincerely wants the world to know that “the girls” who skate bouts under noms de gear like Reyna Terror and Cat Tastrophe are solid citizens just like you (though clearly with more-colorful avocations) who drop their kids off at day care on the way to regular jobs. Joulwan’s up-close-and-personal accounts will thrill fans of the campy sport; for the rest of us, there is the surprisingly inspirational story of four teams of do-it-yourself women who started up a league of their own and survived to tell the tale.

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