At its very core, this is - or perhaps, should have been - a book about labor organizing, about what happens when a group of people recognize their strength and the collective power they hold. The heart of One Life, however, and what might have made the more interesting book, is when it tells the story of the USWNT's fight for equal pay. By weaving her queer identity throughout the book as she does, she also shows readers how it's about so much more than just who she dates-being gay is a core part of her identity and impacts every aspect of her life and worldview. This openness is one of book's biggest strengths.

One thing the relationships do show us is Rapinoe's queerness. While it's understandable that Rapinoe may have wanted to respect the privacy of past partnerships by not sharing too many intimate details, the relationships feel like afterthoughts that don't actually serve to show us anything about Rapinoe as a narrator. Romantic relationships, aside from the relationship with her fiance Sue Bird, are blips in the book. There is a stark lack of scene detail in One Life, which can lead it's readers to feel that Rapinoe spends the length of the book keeping them at arm's length. Through 200-plus pages, we never really learn exactly who Megan Rapinoe is. It is the hyperfocus on this goal that takes away from some of the storytelling in the book. In many ways, Megan Rapinoe seems like the perfect athlete-memoirist for the moment. Or, as Tom Hanks said at a gala honoring Rapinoe, 'a fine daughter of our great country.' Read Full Review > makes it clear that Rapinoe’s greatest accomplishments may ultimately come away from the soccer pitch. Rapinoe came of age before the rise of the youth sports-industrial complex and laments the negative messaging sent to kids who are fast-tracked for glory or dismissed as has-beens by age 12. The book is also a reminder to aspiring athletes about a world and responsibilities beyond the games they play.

It’s a big f- you (she does like her f-bombs) to the 'Shut up and dribble' crowd that tried to silence the activism of Rapinoe and the likes of LeBron James. But if neither a great nor conventional sports biography, One Life may be an impactful one. Powered by her just do it ferocity, Rapinoe isn’t an especially introspective narrator and flits from incident to incident without always revealing much about her feelings along the way. Beyond a fair amount of well-intentioned sloganeering, Rapinoe illuminates her upbringing in Redding as the daughter of loving and conservative parents.

If not exactly a Rules For Radicals, the book (co-written with British author Emma Brockes) is as much about activism as sport. One Life makes clear that Rapinoe’s battles go far beyond the struggle for pay equity and soccer glory.

One life megan rapinoe