Practice Girl

Practice Girl

YA fiction
"'Okay...well, a practice girl is someone you practice, you
know, hooking up with.' Ty seems to check Amber for disgust level.
She's listening carefully so he goes on. So you don't get emotionally
attached and you aren't going to ever get in a relationship with
them...'"
When I was in high school fathers told their sons to sow their
wild oats with "loose" girls but only marry a girl who would have said
no to their sex requests. My classmates drew distinctions between the
girls who would be good for a blow job and those they would date in
public and bring home for dinner with the parents. Sadly it seems
like not enough has changed in the intervening decades.
Jo, protagonist of Estelle Laure's Practice Girl, wants
closeness and traditional dating--taking walks, watching movies,
meeting parents--in a relationship. She doesn't know how to achieve
this. The script of her life with guys has been all about sex
followed by abandonment. Now she is learning that the boys she's been
into have only been using her. (See first paragraph). You want to
talk about a devastating revelation!
Jo's beloved father was a wrestling coach. She'd competed when
she was younger. Now she manages the high school team her tormenters
are on. At first she is tempted to quit, to let someone else bring
the boys their water and towels.
Only she's her father's daughter. What if she rejoins the team
as a competitor? It's going to take a gruelling diet and training
regimen. But maybe she'll be able to show the boys who shamed her
that she's a lot more than a practice girl.
Her journey toward self actualization holds many revelations.
The girls, including a former best friend, she's been avoiding may
have the potential to be friends and even allies. Gotta love this
paragraph:
"'No, really,' Jen says. 'It pisses me off. Do we have
practice boys? No, because it's shitty as hell. It's misogyny on so
many levels and I'm so sick of dealing with it..."
Her long time best friend and teammate may not have her best interests
at heart. A wrestler on another team may be the boyfriend she's been
yearning for.
Practice Girl is a totally engaging and touching, but not at all
syruppy, identity quest narrative. It also sheds needed light on a
still too prevalent patriarchy practice.
On a purrrsonal note, Eugene was taking care of his mother this
weekend. So it was Tobago and me. Saturday I took the bus to
Bangor. There was nothing I wanted at Goodwill. But I did some
baking shopping at Hannaford. They actually also still had Peeps!!!
Yesss!!! I bought some for me.
Today Tobago and I went to zoom church. After I was outside almost
all day because we were in a heat wave. We're talking high fifties.
I didn't make any meals. But I did a little baking so Eugene could
come home to scrumptious apple pie a la mode. (Jules)
Just me and Jules. Quality time. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out for all who fight misogyny so that in
the future terms like practice girl won't be in anyone's vocabulary.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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