The official memoir of Natalie Lowndes by author, Natalie Kile.
I had the luck to have an early reading copy of Just Nat, and it’s one of the best biographies I’ve ever read.
As someone whose knowledge of formula-1 racing starts and ends at ‘the driver sits in the car and goes vroom very fast’, I was enthralled with the discussion of how it all worked, especially the comparison in Nat’s story of how it was when she first met CL (what she calls Craig Lowndes), and how she found it later down the line.
The discussion of the boys’ club culture that surrounded the racing was frank and pulled no punches, showing Nat’s unique experiences in this specific sport in a way that even a Non-Formula-One fan such as myself was able to get what was going on.
But fascinating topics aside, this book isn’t about the racecar industry, it’s about Nat. Confession: I had never heard of Nat before this book (sorry boss!), but when reading through I was struck by how down to earth and kind she was.
Her voice is clear and consistent throughout, she treats everyone and everything with that quintessential ‘fair go’ Aussie attitude, and she honestly just seems like a lovely person.
Even if you don’t know anything about car racing, I recommend this book just because Nat herself is great to hear from. There’re plenty of interviews and quotes in the book from people who knew Nat, and all of them add an extra facet to the story as it goes.
One of my favourite moments is at the end of the book, where it collects a whole host of comments from fans and facebook people, asking them how they knew Nat, and if they had any ideas for a title.
It really shows that there’s a community there, and it’d be amazing to see if something similar springs up from this book as well!
