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Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams
RRP: £14.99
Our Price: £8.66 (subject to change)
A gripping read for anyone who's ever been driven by a goal or had low self esteem for no apparent reason
Review date: 2008-09-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
The story is both delightful and harrowing, because it is full of extreme highs and extreme lows - Sey taking you with her on the gymnastics journey from child through to retiring young adult, and life beyond gymnsnatics briefly at the end. You almost feel the mental and physical pain she endures, so very descriptive and detailed is Sey. It does make you realise that, easy as it looks on TV, this sport is one of the most gruelling. After reading this book book, you'll never be able to watch gymnatics again without knowing what it took for them to get there.
I could not put this book down, I normally lose interest in a book after the first couple of chapters, or it takes me 3 months to read a chapter, but I read the whole thing, all 300* pages in 6 days!!!
The story is backed up by the many videos of young Sey on youtube. After reading the book I immediately checked footage of Sey out and witnessed how good she was. I recommend you do this before or during reading as it helps picture the people mentioned, as well as Sey herself. There is a selection of black and white photos in the book but youtube is brilliant. It shows how Sey really was a world class performer, and, although the book is very self indulgent (all about her) not once in the book does she actually acknowledge how amazing a gymnast she was, clearly even as an adult she will always be one who plays down her efforts - so see for yourself - and see how skinny she was too even though she thought she was fat!
*can't remember exact no. of pages but it's around 300.
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Reviews
a fascinating book
Review date: 2008-07-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
I was dying to read this book after hearing so much about it but it was hard to find in the u.k. so i was made up to find it here.I found jennifers story very intersesting,she talks about when she first started gymnastics right up till she gave it up.She does say a few things that are quite shocking such as girls being called fat bitches and being slapped by the coach for messing things up.However she admits that she had a bad time mainly due to the fact that she pushed herself all the time and was like that in all parts of her life anyway.I thought this book was really good especially if you like gymnastics (obviously!).
Product Details/Specifications
Authors:
Jennifer Sey
Recording label: William Morrow & Company
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Company
EAN: 9780061351464
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey decimal number: 796.44092
ISBN: 0061351466
Number of items: 1
Number of pages: 304
Publication date: 2008-05-01
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Published)