The Chronicles of Mad Maxine

De: Jeannine Mjoseth

Narrado por: Jeannine Mjoseth

The Chronicles of Mad Maxine tells one woman's story of training to be a lady wrestler at the Fabulous Moolah's School of Professional Wrestling. The novel, set on the 30-acre training camp in Columbia, South Carolina, is a fictionalized account of author Jeannine Mjoseth's experiences in the mid-1980s, when she became skilled at flying head scissors, the soaring suplex, and the body slam. Both hardcore wrestling fans and people who've never seen a match will thrill to the raw action both inside and outside of Camp Moolah's training ring.

Pippi is a passionate young reporter who wants to infiltrate the world of professional wrestling for a live-it, write-it journalism project. But she doesn't just observe the world of slaps, punches, and bumps, and she can't betray trainees with whom she's developed deep friendships. Instead, she throws herself into training and emerges as Mad Maxine, a 6'2" grappler with a mohawk. At the head of the enterprise is the Fabulous Moolah, an infamous lady wrestler turned manager who has clawed her way to the top from dirt-poor beginnings. Pippi gets a hard lesson about her deceitful ways during her first match for the World Wrestling Federation. Meanwhile, Pippi accepts a dangerous freelance assignment covering a KKK rally for an African American newspaper. Her wrestling and journalism worlds collide when the KKK invades Camp Moolah. Pippi and her wrestling buddies make a narrow escape from the Fabulous Moolah's clutches and speed to Albuquerque. Their mission: to rescue an underaged wrestler who Moolah has pimped out to a podiatrist with a taste for straining lady muscles.

©2020 Jeannine Mjoseth (P)2021 Jeannine Mjoseth

A powerful read and a helluva ride!

I loved this book! I especially loved that the author, Jeannine Mjoseth, read it herself. Full disclosure - Jeannine is a friend of mine, and so I partly started listening to the book to be polite, but omg, I couldn't stop. I stayed up super late and then got up and finished the book the next day and then messaged her and said, "I want to know more!"

It's a powerful coming of age story, full of shocking discoveries and the power of women sticking up for one another.

Often authors aren't good readers, but in this case, Jeannine's voice gave the story an intimacy and an authenticity that was really powerful.

I highly recommend this book for anyone with a curious mind and a love of good storytelling! I didn't know anything at all about the world of women's wrestling, so that was an amazing discovery to me, but even more, the relationships and the courage of these young women was heartening and inspiring.

Thanks, Jeannine for an amazing book!