I've never read a biography/memoir before and truth be known, in spite of the many authors, actors, musicians and historical figures I admire, no-one in the public eye has ever really grabbed my attention before now, until . . .
The 2018 football world cup and, Alex Scott.
Now, those of you who know me will know that I have little interest in football at club level but when the Euros or the World Cup comes round, I'm there, cheering on the team, following their journey. So, there I am, like the rest of the country, watching the action, getting more and more invested as we progress and more and more intrigued by the new fresh-faced pundit.
I don't know that Alex Scott is the second most capped player in English footballing history, that she's an east end girl from Poplar, that she's won virtually every footballing trophy there is to win whilst playing for Arsenal and England (which in some peoples' eyes' still didn't qualify her to comment on 'men's' football by the way!!!), but for reasons I couldn't explain, I wanted to know, and there in was the issue.
Alex Scott was an enigma. Yes, she was on Instagram and Twitter, where I learnt what I could, she was on the television dancing - Beyoncé is now on several of my playlist because of her Paso-doble - but unlike so many others in the public eye, her private life was, well, private.
Wow, I thought, how the hell has someone in her position achieve that? And it was the mystery, her infectious smile, her 'Strictly journey' as she liked to call it (she's the first person I ever voted for on any television show by the way), that fuelled my desire to know more.
So, fast forward to 2022, and as the year progressed it started to become apparent what this book was going to be about and, domestic abuse, trolling, racism, sexism and spite make for a tough read but in spite of all the abuse the author suffered through the years my overarching take from this book was love and hope, and I couldn't help but think that the (Not) in the title was profoundly wrong. For if there's one thing this author has shown throughout her life, it is strength, resilience.
For such a personal book, I won't comment on the writing style other than to say it broadly reads chronologically and sped me through in a few days - I'm not a fast reader but as I delved deeper into the book, I continued to be both fascinated and horrified in equal measure - the taxi ride in Russia and the car crash are both eye openers I can tell you - and I found the book very insightful in more ways than one.
Enjoying a book when the subject matter is so personal and to a large degree about abuse, is probably the wrong word to use but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the discovery, both mine and the author's because, having listened to a few interview/podcasts about the book with the author, I got the profound sense that she discovered something about herself whilst writing this memoir and is finding her way out of her darkness and moving towards the light - at least I hope she is.
So, a very good read in my opinion, very much a, konnichiwa rather than a, konnichi-nah (you had us laughing out loud with that one Alex), and I look forward to seeing more or you now that the football World Cup has started.
NB: All proceeds from this book are being donated to the domestic abuse charity, Refuge. refuge.org.uk
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