Review of The Most Unlikely Champion
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Effie Cherotich
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Review of The Most Unlikely Champion
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Most Unlikely Champion" by Vera Koo.]
Just how much do you know about sport shooting? Well, you’re not alone if you’ve never heard of this sport. I first learnt about it in this book. I must say that it is so much more than I had imagined.
The Most Unlikely Champion by Vera Koo is a memoir about the author’s life. Vera is a Chinese-American woman who grew up with the traditional Chinese values. She was born and partially raised in Hong Kong before she and her family migrated to USA. While in America, she met Carlos, her future husband, while in high school. Together, they had three children. It was not until she got to her 40s when Vera ventured into sport shooting as therapy to deal with a major betrayal in her life. Since then, she rose to become an eight-time winner of the Bianchi Cup, one of the most prestigious action pistol shooting championships of the National Rifle Association. This is not a mean feat for anyone. However, what made Vera the most unlikely champion? She discusses it in great length.
Even though the author talks about family, her childhood, marriage, business and her faith in God, sport shooting takes the centre stage. Vera was honest and vulnerable enough to discuss her tragedies, challenges, pain and weaknesses. This aspect happens to be my most favourite element of the book. I also loved the format of the book that made it easy to read through the story quickly.
I must point out that I disliked the fact that the author did not explain in details what happened in the 2014 Bianchi Cup. Even though she stated that she did not win it, I believe she owed the readers a proper flow of events of that day given that she built momentum about this specific event from the start of the book. Besides, it was common for her to explain every single detail of her previous major contests. I also felt a little irritated by some repetitive statements made in the story. For instance, she was very persistent in repeating that she was raised to attend to her family, be supportive of her husband and to never overshadow him. The emphasis was too much.
The book had only a few grammatical errors. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy memoirs of people who break the glass ceiling. It is worth mentioning that the author’s intimate relationship with God, as shown in the story, may be a turn off to non-believers of God hence I would not recommend this book to them. Regardless of the factors I disliked about the book, this story really meets its main objective of telling us how Vera is an unlikely champion. It is for this reason that I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
******
The Most Unlikely Champion
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Just how much do you know about sport shooting? Well, you’re not alone if you’ve never heard of this sport. I first learnt about it in this book. I must say that it is so much more than I had imagined.
The Most Unlikely Champion by Vera Koo is a memoir about the author’s life. Vera is a Chinese-American woman who grew up with the traditional Chinese values. She was born and partially raised in Hong Kong before she and her family migrated to USA. While in America, she met Carlos, her future husband, while in high school. Together, they had three children. It was not until she got to her 40s when Vera ventured into sport shooting as therapy to deal with a major betrayal in her life. Since then, she rose to become an eight-time winner of the Bianchi Cup, one of the most prestigious action pistol shooting championships of the National Rifle Association. This is not a mean feat for anyone. However, what made Vera the most unlikely champion? She discusses it in great length.
Even though the author talks about family, her childhood, marriage, business and her faith in God, sport shooting takes the centre stage. Vera was honest and vulnerable enough to discuss her tragedies, challenges, pain and weaknesses. This aspect happens to be my most favourite element of the book. I also loved the format of the book that made it easy to read through the story quickly.
I must point out that I disliked the fact that the author did not explain in details what happened in the 2014 Bianchi Cup. Even though she stated that she did not win it, I believe she owed the readers a proper flow of events of that day given that she built momentum about this specific event from the start of the book. Besides, it was common for her to explain every single detail of her previous major contests. I also felt a little irritated by some repetitive statements made in the story. For instance, she was very persistent in repeating that she was raised to attend to her family, be supportive of her husband and to never overshadow him. The emphasis was too much.
The book had only a few grammatical errors. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy memoirs of people who break the glass ceiling. It is worth mentioning that the author’s intimate relationship with God, as shown in the story, may be a turn off to non-believers of God hence I would not recommend this book to them. Regardless of the factors I disliked about the book, this story really meets its main objective of telling us how Vera is an unlikely champion. It is for this reason that I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
******
The Most Unlikely Champion
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Unlikely Righteousness by Tina Kowalski
