I could have skipped it
Written: Jun 20 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inspiring story, quick read
Cons: Not enough detail, uninspired writing
The Bottom Line: It's a good overall story, but it's not about the bike and it's not about cancer and it's not really about anything in particular.
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| amartinezfonts's Full Review: Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins - It's Not About... |
Am I going to hell for not recommending this book? Everyone else who's reviewed it has given it a glowing review, but, to be totally honest, I could have skipped it.
I should give credit where credit is due. Lance Armstrong is an amazing man. He is blessed in a tremendous way to have endured the pitfalls of his life and to have capitalized on his talent and good fortune. The story of his rearing in Texas by a single mother and "escaping" to spend long hours in the saddle is very poignant. The stories of his climbing the rungs of the cycling world are exciting. The chapters about his fight with cancer are heart-wrenching. And ending the book on the high of his marriage and the birth of his son is a nice touch.
There's something about the book, though, that's strangely insincere. Because he has this amazing story, the reader wants to believe that Lance Armstrong is also a smart man, but the writing belies that desire. He used a co-author, but the style is so casual and laid-back that you sometimes wonder if this is actually Lance's writing style (in which case he's just not a good writer), or if the co-author somehow created a writing persona for Lance (in which case it's just obnoxious). Anyway, I would have preferred a more direct, refined style.
My mother bought me this book for Christmas because she knows I'm a cyclist. I can imagine that some people would also buy this book for a cancer patient, or even for a couple considering in-vitro fertilization (a topic he covers at the end of the book for the birth of their son). But to do that would be a mistake, since none of these topics are really covered in enough depth or honesty that it's worth reading for those reasons. If you're reading this book, you really have to be interested in Lance for Lance's sake, not because he's a cyclist or because he's a cancer survivor or anything else.
There's one last thing about this book that bothers me a little bit. The premise behind "It's not about the bike" (if you didn't pick it up on one of the numerous Olympic vignettes about Lance), is that Lance Armstrong used to be a really cocky, arrogant cyclist, and cancer changed that aspect of him in a basic, dramatic way. He addresses this throughout the book, but from the style and the way he talks about himself, I had this nagging feeling that the arrogance really didn't leave: he just focused it on other parts of his life (like cancer, his family, etc.). So, from that perspective, the book left me a little disheartened.
It's not a horrible book, but I definitely could have skipped it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
amartinezfonts
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Member: Andrew Martinez-Fonts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 3 members
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