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iancolby's review
3.0
Come into it with the right mindset: it's a coffee table book, not a serious book.
Killian Jornet's pictures of Emilie + backdrop are stunning, and there are a few times where I was engrossed by her experience. I didn't mind the grab bag structure either (short narratives, workout plan, platitudes, recipe book, yoga instructional, etc.)
But the writing is not good. A lot of the writing is "fluff" meant to provide enough text to fill a picture book. There's too much needless information, forced similes, and bromides.
Examples that irked me include:
"...and I had decided to quit the race at the next aid station. I was completely convinced - as convinced as I was that my ski season would start two weeks later." (did you need convincing that ski season started soon?)
"Playfulness is to be focused, wanting to perform at my very best, and to allow myself to live in a bubble, completely without distance from my sport. It is so real. And it is not only real, it is reality." (I'm pretty sure playfulness is the opposite of focused, and thank you for clarifying 'playfulness' is 'so real it's reality').
"All changes must come from within" (my brain hurts from the eye roll).
She clearly has experience in running, coupled with a fun bubbly/positive personality. But there's not enough substance, paragraph to paragraph, to make it a readable book. Lovely to place on a coffee table, though.
Killian Jornet's pictures of Emilie + backdrop are stunning, and there are a few times where I was engrossed by her experience. I didn't mind the grab bag structure either (short narratives, workout plan, platitudes, recipe book, yoga instructional, etc.)
But the writing is not good. A lot of the writing is "fluff" meant to provide enough text to fill a picture book. There's too much needless information, forced similes, and bromides.
Examples that irked me include:
"...and I had decided to quit the race at the next aid station. I was completely convinced - as convinced as I was that my ski season would start two weeks later." (did you need convincing that ski season started soon?)
"Playfulness is to be focused, wanting to perform at my very best, and to allow myself to live in a bubble, completely without distance from my sport. It is so real. And it is not only real, it is reality." (I'm pretty sure playfulness is the opposite of focused, and thank you for clarifying 'playfulness' is 'so real it's reality').
"All changes must come from within" (my brain hurts from the eye roll).
She clearly has experience in running, coupled with a fun bubbly/positive personality. But there's not enough substance, paragraph to paragraph, to make it a readable book. Lovely to place on a coffee table, though.
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