Book Notes: GUTS: A MEMOIR by Janet Buttenwieser
Completing a triathlon — a multi hour race in which an individual swims, bikes, and runs — is challenging under any circumstances, but can you imagine completing one with a colostomy bag? Janet Buttenwieser did this multiple times at multiple distances while also being a mom of young children.
Although the prologue of Buttenwieser's memoir GUTS, published by Vine Leaves Press, begins with a scene from a triathlon and she later describes her experiences training for and competing in triathlons despite several challenges, this is more of a medical memoir. The book cover copy states, "At age 24 [...] she’d developed an intestinal illness so rare she wound up in a medical journal. Janet navigated misdiagnosis, multiple surgeries, and life with a permanent colostomy. Like many female patients her concerns were glossed over by doctors." This journey was the primary focus of her memoir, and was similar to Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain by Abby Norman, another medical memoir in which the author navigated a faulty medical system looking for answers to a debilitating condition (and was published about a month after GUTS).
The book's secondary focus is Buttenwieser's relationship with her friend Beth. Although she adored and admired Beth, their relationship was sometimes complicated and a multi month gap in communication left Buttenwieser feeling like they weren't as close as she thought. But when Beth developed cancer, Buttenwieser volunteered to help Beth, often driving her to and from work. Beth's condition had ups and downs, but she died at age 38.
Beth's diagnosis, in combination with her grief from her own medical traumas, led Buttenwieser to triathlon. She joined a fundraising team for cancer research and wore Beth's name on her back as she competed.
Other than the prologue, triathlons weren't mentioned again until over halfway through the book; and even then, they only comprised a few short pages. So, as a sport story fan and reviewer, that was disappointing; however, I was not disappointed in the quality of the triathlon writing. She shared her training schedule and goal setting:
“The schedule was full of the uncertainty I craved: On Monday, bike eight miles. On Tuesday, laps in the swimming pool for forty minutes. Maybe it would feel like the endorphin-filled days in college when I tried out for the ski team, this exercising with a purpose and a goal. I also liked being able to circle a date on the calendar."
Other small details, like her hesitancy about clipless pedals on the bike and her disinterest in wearing a race belt felt authentic. Also, one of my favorite moments in the book is when she realized during the triathlon how much she had accomplished:
"Despite the fact that I am afraid of bicycles, that I'm slow, that my technique lacks finesse, I never panic during the bike portion of the race. Often, in fact, it's the highpoint of the day, the moment where I say: How about that? Not so long ago, I was so sick and weak from surgery I could barely walk. Now I'm in a triathlon. I'm a racer. I'm an athlete."
GUTS was not the sports memoir I had hoped it to be based on the cover copy, but it was a very readable book in which Buttenwieser writes openly about difficult and personal topics like her medical traumas and grief. I admire Buttenwieser's determination to train for and compete in multisport races while juggling so many other challenges. We value that spirit at Sport Stories Press.
