Susannah Dickey

'This is a raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story.' LOUISE O'NEILL 'Incredibly funny and honest . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL The darkly funny, fiercely honest debut novel about a spirited young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way. You’re strange and wrong. You’ve known it from the beginning. This is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You’re a disappointment to everyone. You’re a far cry from beautiful – and your thoughts are ugly too. You seem bound to fail, bound to break. But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body. You just need to find your place. From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalizing debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood.

Tennis Lessons

From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood

encapsulates the essence of girlhood and growing up and felt incredibly personal and brutally honest that it actually felt like i’m reading the bits and pieces of my own life.

tina

3.5 stars

def not the best idea to read this book atp in my life 🤣

4.75 ⭐

i blame the reading slump for how long it took me to finish this book, but tennis lessons by susannah dickey is a joy to read. 

this reads like a movie, and the prose and imagery depicted make the entire reading experience sublime. susannah dickey is one of those authors who knows how to punch you in the gut not with flowery prose, but with just simple words and sentence structures. 

it's also interesting how it's written in second person pov, but despite this being my first time reading a book in that pov, it worked for me, and it emphasized how certain experiences of the mc are relatable. the mc's story is told through vignettes and that made me appreciate more the slices of her life and her interactions with people, especially with rachael and her mother.

tennis lessons is honest, sad, and dark (at times) with how it explores loneliness and the feeling of being left behind and finding for a place in the world, but i loved how it ended on a lighter note. it would make anyone who relates to the mc feel more hopeful. 

overall a great read and a new favorite. i'm looking forward to reading more from susannah dickey!

Tennis Lessons

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