loopyker's #CBR7 Review #07: Unsinkable: A Memoir by Silken Laumann

Many Canadians like myself remember Silken Laumann's amazing perseverance after a severe leg injury, to win a bronze medal only 10 weeks later at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.  Even without the gold, she was one of the hero stories of the game, and certainly an important one for Canada.

One day, I happened across an interview to hear her talking about her memoir, Unsinkable.  She sounded quite passionate and open about her life, so I looked forward to reading it. After a long wait on my library's list, I was expecting something like a Canadian version of Kevin Sorbo's book True Strength, that I enjoyed reviewing in 2012.

But, maybe my expectations were just too high.  Many people give Silken's book top reviews, but it fell a little flat for me.  It had a lot of interesting parts to it.  But, I didn't connect with it much personally, like I did with True Strength.

I did find the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the rowing community, her injury and women's sport interesting, but not gossipy.

loopyker's #CBR4 Review #13: True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life by Kevin Sorbo

OK, I admit that I kind of had a crush on Kevin Sorbo during his Hercules:The Legendary Journeys days. I've always had a weakness for tall guys with long hair - but, he also seemed like a decent guy when giving interviews. I hadn't really thought about him in years, but was extremely disappointed to find out recently that he is now into some of the more extreme Christian fundamentalist propaganda  . It didn't seem to fit with his past public image, so I was curious. In looking him up, I discovered that he had a serious illness and had written an autobiographical book  about it. “Aha!”, I thought. “That might explain the extreme religious views.”

I was pleased to discover that my online library had the audiobook of True Strength, narrated by Kevin himself and his wife, Sam Sorbo.  I hoped to find an explanation for this fundamentalist approach in this book. I was disappointed in that respect, but really enjoyed and connected with the book in other ways.

We all know we are mortal, but many of us like to forget about that at different times in our lives. Kevin Sorbo probably wasn't thinking of it too much when he was in peak physical condition and playing the half-god, Hercules on one of the highest rated syndicated television shows in the world in the 1990's. But, he was was forced to confront that in a sudden, terrifying way. Unknown to all but his closest family, friends and co-workers, at this peak time, Kevin suffered three strokes after an aneurysm in his shoulder caused clots to travel through his body. These resulted not only in damage to his arm, but both long lasting and permanent symptoms such as partial blindness, dizziness, weakness, headaches and ringing in his ears just for starters.

This struck while on hiatus from Hercules, between the 4th and 5th seasons, just after the release of Kull the Conqueror (1997). It was at a crucial point, both in his career and for the continuation of Hercules where a lot of other people depended on Kevin as the star to keep the show going. Hercules hadn't yet reached that magic 100 episode number for the best syndication deals. But fortunately, everyone had a little time to figure things out before filming began again - and it took a lot of creative solutions.

It's been a long time since I've seen Hercules, but I still can remember when the writing suddenly changed with Kevin missing in strange ways - like one episode where he had been turned into a pig or was missing altogether. At the time, I was annoyed at the writing. Now, after reading True Strength, I'm amazed they pulled off hiding Kevin's recovery and disability so well! I found it really interesting to hear about all the little tricks they did to make it look like he was there more than he was and what they used to hide his weakness. He went from doing many of his own stunts to needing a body double to even lift a sword for awhile. He was never able to return to doing even many of the previously easy-to-him stunts.

Besides relating to True Strength as a fan of Hercules and then Andromeda, I very much connected with the personal struggle Kevin went through with his sudden disability. I couldn't be further away from the TV business, or the physical fitness enthusiast Kevin was. But, as someone who became disabled after a car accident, I could relate to a lot of the things he felt and encountered - from the broader implications of not knowing what you are going to be able to do with your life, to the little strange things like developing random food allergies.

I too was knocked down at a high point in my life. It doesn't matter how much money you have or how famous you are - it is the same process of discovery to figure out what exactly happened to your body and what is your “new normal” state mentally, physically and emotionally - and then what to do to move forward with all of that.

Like many people, Kevin had a tough time with his doctors. Some dismissed his symptoms and thought he should get better quickly, while others said the opposite. It became a struggle to know who to trust and believe and to know when to trust and believe his own body too. It is hard enough for us “regular” people to work through this just with ourselves and our families. Kevin had to go through all of this while presenting a public image of a demigod. He had been so good at doing this before his strokes that even doctors and emergency care workers afterwards weren't always taking him completely seriously because he was Hercules.

I read a review of True Strength that criticized Kevin as just a whiner - that he had lots of money to afford doctors and alternative treatments etc. when this particular disabled reviewer didn't. I think they are missing the point of the book. Yes, he had it easier than many people in some ways. But, as I said above - money doesn't really matter when it comes to the internal, personal struggle you go through. Kevin openly admits there were times when he got self-absorbed and depressed and took it out on people like Sam. I think it would be a very rare person indeed who didn't experience that at some point with a big life adjustment like that. It is refreshing to see a real portrait of that kind of roller coaster rather than the myth that disabled people are only inspirational and good people if they are passive, meek and grateful just to be alive and for any charity they receive.

That view of the disabled is perpetuated to make the the charity givers feel good about themselves. It does not treat the disabled as well-rounded human beings - and that is why I am very happy that Kevin Sorbo wrote this book! His celebrity can make other people think about disability in a way that the average person can't. Hopefully, in a way that also makes them more compassionate towards us.

True Strength is an inspirational book. As a disabled person it is good to see that even celebrities deal with the exact same things as we do and that they can rebuild successful lives, both personally and professionally.

Back to the original reason I listened to this book - Kevin's Christian fundamentalism. He talks about coming to terms with his faith in the book, but I didn't really pick up on how he got to the more extreme views. In fact, he talks about some decidedly non-fundamentalist views about things too. I still suspect the strokes had an impact on his more extreme beliefs, but this book is more about Kevin as a whole person and at an earlier time in his faith, so there were no good answers about that.

As an audiobook, Kevin and his wife were excellent narrators and it made the book more personal. It was one of my favourite books of the year and I highly recommend it in audio or print version.

True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal--and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life
Author: Kevin Sorbo
 

Audiobook

Narrator: Kevin Sorbo and Sam Sorbo

Publisher: Oasis Audio

Duration: 9 hours, 36 minutes

ISBN: 9781608149285

Release Date: January 19, 2012

Hardcover: 296 pages (also available in paperback and e-book versions)

Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0306820366
ISBN-13: 978-0306820366

loopyker's #CBR4 Review #12: Tailwavers by Sally Watson

Don't let the self-publishing and home photo cover fool you.  Sally Watson is an accomplished and well-loved author of several juvenile and young adult fiction books published in the 1950's - 1971.  After taking a break from writing she began self-publishing new books, juvenile-adult level in 2006. Among these, is Tailwavers, her first autobiographical book, about her life with a variety of cats and her cat rescue work in England and the US, including correspondence with other cat-loving friends about her thoughts on many things, but always coming back to the cats in her life.

With the conversational tone of Tailwavers, it is less polished than her earlier books, but still highly entertaining.  Sally's humour and intelligence shine through as strong as ever.  If you are already a fan of Sally Watson, you will enjoy this glimpse into her real life.  But, you do not need to be familiar with Sally to enjoy the stories of the joys and sorrows of living and care-taking of cats which any cat owner can appreciate. 

Sally is a true ailurophile (cat lover) and has written this book for like-minded people.  My own Mr. Cat sat on my lap through much of time reading this.  I was moved to both laughter and tears several times throughout the book and found it a nice, fun read.

(Full Disclosure: I am the web designer for booksbysallywatson.com and received a free copy of Tailwavers from Sally as payment.  But, I do not receive any compensation for sales of her books, or for my review.  I'm just a big fan!)

Tailwavers
Author: Sally Watson

Paperback:
242 pages  (also available in e-book versions)
Publisher: iUniverse (Sept 14, 2010)
ISBN-10: 9781450253772
ISBN-13: 978-1450253772
ASIN: 1450253776
e-book ISBN: 9781450253789

loopyker's #CBR4 Review #01: Audition: A Memoir by Barbara Walters

My very first book review ever!  This review refers to the *unabridged* audiobook version of Audition: A Memoir narrated by Bernadette Dunne.  There is another audiobook available - an abridged version, read by Barbara Walters herself, which I have not listened to.

I really knew nothing about Barbara Walters' personal life and hadn't thought too seriously about her work, besides irregular watching of 20/20, her interview specials (Oscar Night Specials and 10 Most Fascinating People) and even less often, The View.  But, I've paid enough attention to know that she is a well-respected broadcast journalist who has interviewed, not only celebrities, but many important political personalities as well, so I was interested to learn more about her life and personal feelings about the people she interviewed.  I wasn't disappointed.

This was one of the longest audiobooks I've listened to at 26 hours and 46minutes  (624 pages in the print version), but it kept me interested much more than I expected.  Bernadette Dune does a wonderful narration job, sounding similar enough to Barbara in maturity to have the same feel, while leaving out the quirks of Barbara's voice and speaking style which I think I would have tired of well before the end.   Bernadette is also a talented voice actor for reading the quotes from a variety of different well-known people from Barbara's personal and professional life.

Barbara begins by introducing her mentally challenged, older sister Jackie - a subject she has been very private about before.  This sets the tone of the personal aspects of the book with Barbara looking at her family-life from her earliest memories forward with the maturity of hindsight and the courage to reveal her own faults and, at times, selfishness.  I found the the stories of her father's great successes and failures and the toll on the family interesting and revealing.  And to me, the details of Barbara's marriages, other relationships with men and the challenges of motherhood vs. career, made her seem more human than her TV persona. 

Since Barbara's career was already well-established during my childhood, I hadn't thought much about a woman's difficulties in entering a broadcasting career.  I found the stories about her struggles to get taken seriously professionally, for herself and for women in general, to be enlightening.  It was a big deal for a woman to finally be recognized as a "co-host" and not just a decoration beside the male host.  Women today often forget that it really wasn't all that long ago when things were so different.

Audition then touches on details of many of the interviews that had the biggest impact for Barbara, personally or professionally.  For myself, I found this interesting even though most of the political figures were before my time (or age for me to have have noticed).  One problem, for me at least, with an audiobook - it can get a little confusing hearing foreign names in different sections and remembering exactly who is who.  Apparently, the print version of Audition has a comprehensive Index and list of interviewees to help interested people follow this better.

As we follow Barbara's career through 20/20 and The View we can see how the American audience moves more and more towards celebrity culture and gossip at the cost of political awareness.  This is then the ultimate reason that Barbara gives for deciding when it was the right time to leave 20/20.  (Another problem with doing reviews from library editions of audiobooks, is that I can't find the quote I really wanted for this since I no longer have access to it - but, IIRC, she had a scheduling conflict between a President and a reality TV star - the producers chose for her to interview the reality TV star.  I found this telling.)

Overall, Audition was one of the few books where I found myself wanting to discuss it with others afterwards.  I think a big part of why I found it compelling was that I really had no expectations of who Barbara was as a "real" person.   If you are expecting Barbara's book to be a shining example of professionalism and virtue, you are going to be sadly disappointed in her.  She is human and she has faults, but I think Audition gives you a real feel for her motivations, whether you agree with her choices or not.  She is not always the best writer, but she has lived an interesting life and met a lot of interesting people and is not afraid to give her thoughts and opinions on much of it in this book. 


Audition: A Memoir by Barbara Walters
Unabridged Audiobook narrated by Bernadette Dunne.  (not to be confused with the abridged version read by Barbara Walters)

Duration:  26 hours, 46 minutes
Publisher:  Books on Tape (a division of Random House Inc.)
ISBN:  9781415943687
Release date:  May 20, 2008
Category:  Nonfiction, Autobiography