Customer Reviews

Edge of Glory: The Inside Story of the Quest for Figure Skatings Olympic Gold Medals

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Edge of Glory is a reasonable, entertaining quick-read account of the run up to the 1998 Olympic Figure Skating events. Starting in early '97, the book follows key US, Canadian, and Russian skaters along the path to Nagano.

If you know little of skating and are interested, this book is worth a read, but it goes into very little depth, and much of it is painfully written. It presents no insight into the controversial judging process, and doesn't seem interested in asking questions about how the sport is run, or contextualizing the '98 Olympics in terms of skating history.

Author Brennan is apparently a USA Today columnist, and that's exactly how Edge of Glory reads, minus those colorful graphs.

Brennan is well-known for her wonderful writing on figure-skating. I for one like Brennan because she always has great things to say about Michelle Kwan and this book is no exception. I learned so much about some figure skaters from this book, especially on the men's side. It's truthful and very informative and written superbly. It is obviously non-fiction, yet at times it tells like a story, including dialogue between characters. I like that because it was entertaining to read it as if it were a story, but you know that all of it is true. I also enjoyed how Brennan didn't write about one skater, then move onto the next, then next, etc, like a chapter per skater. All the skaters' stories were intertwined so the book wasn't predictable at all. Instead, the chapters were divided by time periods-- before 1998, on the road to 1998, etc... Every die-hard figure skating fan should get their hands on this, esp die-hard Michelle Kwan fans like myself!

This book is a great commentary of the 1997-1998 season, as well as a chronicle of all the events that led up to the season AND the Olympics. It's an easy read, and even though most readers know the outcomes of the events she describes before they read the book, seeing them from the perspective she presents makes you feel as if you're seeing them for the first time. Most specifically, there is a wonderful chapter about Alexei Urmanov which opened my eyes to this skater's life as well as what it is truly like to skate in modern Russia today. The only thing missing is any commentary on the controversy-ridden ice dance competition at the 1998 Olympics -- hopefully we'll see this in Ms. Brennan's next book (which I am looking forward to and am hoping is coming out very soon!)

I am a huge fan of the sport of figure skating, so when this book came out, I had to read it. I found that it was very interesting and read the whole book in a few hours. While some people do not care for the format of the book (Brennan jumps around from chapter to chapter writing about various skaters), I did not find it confusing. Brennan does a very good job of brining insight about what goes on "behind the scenes" where the cameras and lights do not shine so bright. I thought that Brennan was not biased with her writing, rather she did not attempt to "cover anything up" or fluff up reality. She told the stories and facts like they are, whether or not they gave a favorable impression on the skater. I also enjoyed how she focused on many different skaters and covered a broad range. Some of the major highlights include Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan, Nicole Bobek, Elvis Stojko, Michael Weiss, Rudy Galindo, Ilia Kulik, Todd Eldredge, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeny Plushenko, Alexei Urmanov and Lu Chen. Brennan did a good job of blending both the past and the present. She told of how the skaters got where they are today, as well as writing about the current competitions and issues surrounding the skating world during 97-98 season. I had hoped for a better quality photo section in the book. The hardcover edition has a small black/white section of photos. This is my only true complain. This book is a must have for any skating fanatic.

This disjointed narrative covers the 1997-98 skating season ending with the Nagano Olympics, with some description of 1996 as well. Ms. Brennan covers her time frame chronologically, but jumps from describing one skater to the next with little or no transistion. Despite using numerous quotations and paraphrasing, she apparently sees no need for footnotes, which seriously damages her credibility. The reader gets the distinct impression that much of the book is based on rumor, rather than the careful research required from a journalist.

In addition to the credibility problems, her style is disturbing. She seems to go out of her way to focus on the negative characteristics of just about every skater discussed. Tara Lipinsky gets the lion's share of criticism, but Michelle Kwan and her father are victims as well. The only skater who comes off sympathetically is 1994 Olympic Gold Medalist Alexei Urmanov. Each of the 10 or more skaters described gets dinged for something!

However, human nature being what it is, there is an attraction in reading rumor and inuendo. This is a book that should be taken with a large grain of salt, maybe a whole salt shaker, in fact, but it is engrossing. Skating fans should skip the parts about their favorite skaters and read the parts about the ones they don't like!

I read Brennan's first book, "Inside Edge" and enjoyed it immensely, so I eagerly bought this one, hoping it to be the same. While the book is entertaining and informative regarding the buildup to the 1998 Olympics, half of the book is simply a rehash or the same information that was from her first book. She even borrows the same phrases from her first book for this one. That's either laziness on her part or an attempt to plump up the size of the book. She could have easily focused on the lead up to the 1998 Olympics and still have a substantial book. I also found her to be more one-sided and biased in this book. While I am not an ardent Lipinski fan, I felt that Brennan was trying to diminish Tara's Olympic accomplishment by portraying Tara and her parents in a most unflattering light. While Team Tara is pretty obnoxious, it was unnecessary for Brennan to constantly take potshots at them. I also detested the way Brennan glibly referred to pairs skater Elena Berenzhnaya as "Skate In The Head". Mean-spirited references like this, along with one-sided Tara trashing diminish Brennan's writing and brings this book down to the level of a snippy supermarket tabloid.

After reading The Inside Edge I was looking forward to this book and was not disapointed. I loved reading about the lives of all the skaters. Especially the ones such as Tonia Kwiatkowski that not much is heard about. Though many believe that the book is biased against Tara, I don't believe that is criticizing her at all. The author was not able to interview Tara and her family, but did talk to Michelle and her family extensively. Of course there is going to be more about Michelle. If there is no material, there isn't going to be as much in the book. Also, at no point in the book did she say anything about Tara. She may not like her mother's attitude, but she seems to like Tara as a person and skater. She just believes that Tara needs more time to improve her skating. She portrays Tara as the young bubbly 15 year old that she is. It is an excellent read and a great book for all figure skating fans (Even Tara fans).

If you've always wondered what really goes on behind the scenes at international skating competitions, you won't be able to put this book down. Especially fascinating is the material about Tara Lipinski and family, but many, many other personalities are covered. EDGE OF GLORY is a page turner without being cheap or tawdry. It's suprisingly well-written and thorough. I recommend it!

I have to agree that this book is not as smoothly constructed as INSIDE EDGE, but, as a figure skating fan, I found much of interest. I particularly liked the chapters on the less "visible" contenders like Scott Davis and Tonia Kwiatkowski (who did just great later at the 1998 Worlds). Although, the bias was there--I am also a little dismayed at the trend towards younger and younger figure skating champions. Even Michelle Kwan could profit from a few more unpressured years to develop artistically. I would like these athletes to be able to attend regular school as Brian Boitano did. I felt that this book did address these issues. I would love to see similar books on earlier figure skaters!!!

This is book is a nice book, but it seemed to focus on Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan, along with the Tara-Michelle thing a little too much. Skaters listed in the front are supposed to be the ones the book focuses on, although some of these skaters get only one paragraph of writing about them. In the final part, "The Olympics", the whole thing was basically about Tara's win and Michelle's silver. There was a little bit about the mens' event, but I found it confusing.

My other complaint about the Olympic section is that it mentions nothing about Elena coming back from 'Skate in the Head', or Artur/Anton (I forget which one) becoming the first man to win two Olympic gold medals with two different partners. I am not a big ice dancing fan, but not a single ice dancing couple was mentioned, which annoys me. Overall, it's a great read that could be even better.