This was an insightful glimpse into the ups and downs of living in the sporting spotlight, as Monica Seles did. I was rather horrified to find out she had been stabbed at a tennis match and can understand her struggles in the subsequent years. ( )

There really wasn't anything earth-shattering about the book but it was a good read. Now when I watch tennis, I shudder when a commentator says that a player needs to "up their fitness" because it's code for "fat" (at least according to Monica). ( )

I picked out the book out of curiosity. I was as close to being a fan of Seles as I could be during those years, considering my lack of interest in women's tennis. But when I learned on the news about the stabbing incidence, I couldn't help to pay attention to her in the next years. I wanted to see how a person could possibly cope with something that horrible, and somehow pick themselves up and carry on with life.

I can't help to think that those words aren't all Seles's. A lot of them have been given to her by someone who abuses cliches and popular-culture type language. I resented that aspect and so didn't care to finish reading the book. I flipped through the pages and found what I wanted to know, and decided to drop this one and move onto other things.

This is not a fair review at all to this book. I have given it a half-star rating simply because that indicates that "I haven't finished reading a particular book and I don't think I would pick it up again in the future". It's not to show how "bad" this book is, not at all. In fact I think a lot of people would find this interesting to read.

Nonetheless, it's not a book for me. And I never had the intention to read through it all along, and I apologize for that. ( )