Friday, October 21, 2011

Book 87: The Long Program: Skating Toward Life's Victories



Peggy Fleming’s “The Long Program: Skating Towrd Life’s Victories” was an alright book. If it wasn’t for her spirit and personality, I think this book would have fallen flat.

I love sports memoirs especially ones related to figure skating. I’m a figure skater and a ballet dancer at heart, despite all my interests in other sports. So I’ve always been particularly drawn to reading about the champions over the years. Plus I love the fact that in many skating memoirs, there have been so many ideas for me to chew on for both the sport and the out of sport aspect.

One of the things I liked about this book was the fact that that Peggy was very introspective. She really got into it where she realized how her mindset has changed over time and how her mother’s views impacted her own. I liked that aspect.

But the book was fairly cluttered in its timeline. Stories would meld together quite frequently. At times, it worked since they would help place other stories but often the jolts in the timeline were just distracting.

Plus I hated how this book actually failed to give me much insight into figure skating itself. She would touch upon skating topics but didn’t go in depth. She kept trying to use how skating helped her off the ice to navigate life-which is a good message but at the same time, I wanted more about the sport.

Overall, the Long Program was decent. I wasn’t in love with the book since it didn’t give me as many gems and didn’t have a strong continuity. But really enjoyed seeing her insight on her own personality and how she infused that into the book.

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