What happens when the person hired to keep you safe is fighting a system that would rather look the other way?
This week's bite-sized episode dives into Lifeguard, A Love Story, the memoir from Janet Fash, one of the first female lifeguard chiefs in New York City history, co-written with Cleo Chang. I read through Janet's decades on Rockaway Beach, from her start as a hazed rookie lifeguard in the debauchery-soaked 1970s to her years-long battle against entrenched union corruption at the top of the Parks Department. It's part coming of age story, part exposé, and I break down where each half succeeds and where the blend gets uneven, plus why that slow first third might test even the most patient reader.
I also gets into the harder threads running through the book: the tragedies Janet survives along the way, the sexism and harassment she faces climbing the ranks, and the quietly devastating stakes of what happens when a beach safety system is run for power instead of people. It's a messy, imperfect memoir about what it actually costs to be the one person willing to keep pushing when everyone else has made peace with looking away.
Give this one a listen, then let us know if you made it past that first third. Like, review, and share Babes in Bookland with a friend who needs a stubborn woman in their life this summer.
Links:
Book: Lifeguard: A Love Story
Support the show:
Subscribe on Apple
This episode is produced, recorded, and its content edited by me.
Xx, Alex
Connect with us and suggest a great memoir!
Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod