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A review by avalydia
Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything by Aly Raisman
3.0
More like 2.5.
Solid, and Aly's glasses are certainly less rose-colored than Simone and Gabby's (though, to be fair to them, any book pushed out by an Olympian and their team only a year after winning gold is likely going to gloss over the hardships in favor of inspirational messages)... but still there wasn't much substance to this memoir. A two-time Olympian in her early twenties, Aly has the experience, maturity, and clout to address and even sometimes criticize USA Gymnastics's training program. She reflects on the abuse she suffered at Larry Nassar's hands and how difficult it was for her to come to terms with what he had done; on a "minor" note, she also has a couple of anecdotes showing the US team's draconian approaches to dieting and discipline.
Apart from these short sections, however, most of the memoir feels like a fast-forward recap of her various competitions leading up to and including the Olympics. Her opening floor tumbling pass, once considered impossible, is barely addressed except when she's reminding herself to take a small step at the beginning - but surely that pass took hours and hours of work, and it would have been nice to read more of the details on that (although perhaps this might have been too much for the non-gymnast reader). I also would have liked to read more about Aly's relationships with her teammates and what went on behind the scenes at the Ranch, Worlds, Olympics, Tour of Champions, etc. Instead, there were a couple of lines about bad cell service at the Ranch and all the girls having crushes on Justin Bieber. But maybe this is only the sort of thing that you can write about with more distance, like Dominique Moceanu did in her memoir - especially because most of the gymnasts involved are still public figures.
Overall, a decent read, but there wasn't really anything a gymnastics fan wouldn't already know.
Solid, and Aly's glasses are certainly less rose-colored than Simone and Gabby's (though, to be fair to them, any book pushed out by an Olympian and their team only a year after winning gold is likely going to gloss over the hardships in favor of inspirational messages)... but still there wasn't much substance to this memoir. A two-time Olympian in her early twenties, Aly has the experience, maturity, and clout to address and even sometimes criticize USA Gymnastics's training program. She reflects on the abuse she suffered at Larry Nassar's hands and how difficult it was for her to come to terms with what he had done; on a "minor" note, she also has a couple of anecdotes showing the US team's draconian approaches to dieting and discipline.
Apart from these short sections, however, most of the memoir feels like a fast-forward recap of her various competitions leading up to and including the Olympics. Her opening floor tumbling pass, once considered impossible, is barely addressed except when she's reminding herself to take a small step at the beginning - but surely that pass took hours and hours of work, and it would have been nice to read more of the details on that (although perhaps this might have been too much for the non-gymnast reader). I also would have liked to read more about Aly's relationships with her teammates and what went on behind the scenes at the Ranch, Worlds, Olympics, Tour of Champions, etc. Instead, there were a couple of lines about bad cell service at the Ranch and all the girls having crushes on Justin Bieber. But maybe this is only the sort of thing that you can write about with more distance, like Dominique Moceanu did in her memoir - especially because most of the gymnasts involved are still public figures.
Overall, a decent read, but there wasn't really anything a gymnastics fan wouldn't already know.