Simon & Schuster's Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu, Paul Williams, Teri Williams

Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu
Description
AT FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team, the first and only American women’s team to take gold at the Olympics. Her pixyish appearance and ferocious competitive drive quickly earned her the status of media darling. But behind the fame, the flawless floor routines, and the million-dollar smile, her life was a series of challenges and hardships.

Off Balance vividly delineates each of the dominating characters who contributed to Moceanu’s rise to the top, from her stubborn father and long-suffering mother to her mercurial coach, Bela Karolyi. Here, Moceanu finally shares the haunting stories of competition, her years of hiding injuries and pain out of fear of retribution from her coaches, and how she hit rock bottom after a public battle with her parents.

But medals, murder plots, drugs, and daring escapes aside (all of which figure into Moceanu’s incredible journey), the most unique aspect of her life is the family secret that Moceanu discovers, opening a new and unexpected chapter in her adult life. A mysterious letter from a stranger reveals that she has a second sister—born with a physical disability and given away at birth—who has nonetheless followed in Moceanu’s footsteps in an astonishing way.

A multilayered memoir that transcends the world of sports, Off Balance will touch anyone who has ever dared to dream of a better life.

My Review: I got caught up in this book, and tried to imagine not really ever having a childhood. Dominique Moceanu started gymnastics at the age of three. She began competing at such a young age and winning Olympic Gold Medals at the age of 13.
We explore her home life, and the moving and practicing. Finally ending up with the Karolyi's and their style of training!
Be prepared to wish you were able to help this young child, and then along comes another secret....the missing piece?
With the 2012 Olympics approaching, we are given an eye opening look into the inner sanctum of and Elite Gymnast.
While the book does seem to keep repeating facts, it does tell a good and true story.

I received this book from Simon and Schuster and was not required to give a positive review.

View all my reviews