CREDIT: WASHINGTONPOST.COM
Hope Solo in action at the 2012 Olympics against France.

"I don't like anyone telling me how I'm supposed to feel, or how I am supposed to think." That's Hope Solo in her own words. Solo is the goalkeeper for the United States Women's National Team. She debuted for the full USWNT in 2000, but has been in the team's junior leagues since she was 16. She shares her journey to soccer stardom in her memoir, Solo: A Memoir of Hope. The book chronicles the beginning of her soccer career to her most recent appearance on the reality TV show Dancing With The Stars.

Solo has made a name for herself in professional women's soccer. She received the Golden Glove Award for being the best goalkeeper in the 2011 FIFA World Cup. Also in 2011, Solo received the Bronze Ball Award for her overall performance, and was in the All- Star team of the tournament.

The memoir shows Solo's perspective on her personal life, as well as how she became the number- one goaltender in the world. Solo has an interesting relationship with her family, specifically her father; she goes in-depth about her family life and lets readers know that she did not have it easy.

On the soccer side of things, Solo goes into detail about how she did not always want to be a goaltender; she actually started as a standout forward. The memoir also gives Solo's personal viewpoint on the 2007 World Cup catastrophe.

Solo made a lot of waves in the media with her comment to ESPN about sitting for the Brazil game in the 2007 World Cup. Greg Ryan, the coach, decided to bench Solo in favour of playing Briana Scurry, who had played outstandingly in the previous World Cup goldmedal game, despite Solo having shutouts in the three previous games. The memoir shows the hard journey she went through to get back on top and to patch up relationships between veteran players such as Christie Rampone and Abby Wambach. Although Wambach is only a year older than Solo, she was close with the veterans on the team. Solo discusses how she overcame those 2007 hardships, along with her devastating shoulder injury, and how she eventually became number one. Lastly, she talked about her not so pleasant time with reality TV series, Dancing With The Stars.

The book is very well written and shows a lot of insight into what professional women's soccer is about and how cutthroat the league can really be. Readers will also enjoy how much of her personal life she put in the book, and may have newfound respect for Solo because she shows that her way to the top was not an easy one. Reading the memoir, I admired her hard work and dedication; however, I was appalled at how she was treated at Dancing With The Stars, it really made me lose faith in reality TV. Solo's viewpoint really showed how fabricated the show really was.

All in all, I think that Solo: A Memoir was a really great book. It showed how gritty and upfront Hope is, and I think she has that to thank for her career's progression. If it wasn't for her 2007 outburst, I don't think the team would be doing as well today. The USWNT just came back from winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics and is currently doing a victory tour.