A Skating Life: My Story [Hardcover]

Dorothy Hamill (Author), Deborah Amelon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

The dazzling smile, the signature haircut, the staple spin. "America's Sweetheart" Dorothy Hamill grew up on the ice, working toward the dream she was to accomplish by age nineteen: winning Olympic gold in figure skating. But life was not the picture of perfection it appeared to be. Dorothy faced a painful inner struggle from the time she was a young girl that followed her into adulthood -- though she would not know about the depression that ran in her family until much later in life. Weeks and months away from home to train and compete took a difficult toll, yet little reprieve could be found in the tumultuous and fragile relationship she had with her parents.

Dorothy went on to marry the man of her dreams, only to have the partnership end in heartache and a tragedy that almost pushed her to her breaking point. Then, just when a light at the end of the tunnel finally began to appear, a second failed marriage tried and tested Dorothy's trust and strength yet again -- a travesty that could have led her to give up. But, she found a remarkable strength in what she did have -- her greatest love, her daughter Alexandra.

"Thank goodness, I had my skating. There was certainly a pattern to my life. When times were tough, I went skating. It was only while I was out on the ice, enjoying the freedom of movement and my love of music, that I was able to escape from my bottomless heartache."

In her deeply moving and honest memoir, Dorothy opens up for the first time about love, family, courage, and what it means to truly win both on and off the ice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From age eight, when she discovered she loved skating, to age 19, when she won her Olympic gold medal, Hamill's parents sacrificed and scraped so she could train. This memoir is her homage to them, as well as her frank recounting of the difficulties women faced in professional sports in the 1970s. Hamill's father worked to support the family, so her mother, Carol, would drive her to most practices and competitions, battling the sport's old boys' network on her daughter's behalf. After the Olympics, it was up to Hamill to figure out what to do. She was young and unschooled in life off the rink, with no female role models for the professional career she wanted. She struggled to pay back her parents, find a man who'd love her, and keep skating beautifully, but she couldn't do it all. She ended up suffering two difficult divorces and a custody battle, alienating her parents and going bankrupt trying to make the Ice Capades successful. Frequent mentions of Carol's mental problems distract from Hamill's story, but that won't dissuade the skater's fans from devouring this quietly charming book. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Dorothy Hamill charmed America at the 1976 Olympics with her irresistible smile and her stellar performance, which brought home the gold in figure skating. One might have thought that the national attention and endorsements that followed—not to mention popularizing a cute wedge haircut and having an ice-skating move named after you (the Hamill Camel)—would have resulted in a satisfying and relatively carefree life. Not so. Hamill reveals the truth in this candid memoir, exposing a litany of woes: the silent curse that afflicted both her parents (untreated depression); her father's alcoholism; financial hardship; her two failed marriages; and her self-doubt as life dealt her blow after blow. Watching her parents try to treat their depression with drinking or indifference made her face her own demons, and with proper treatment, she is able to keep her depression in check. On the plus side, Hamill celebrates the two loves of her life, skating and her daughter, Alexandra. A poignant, revealing look at a life we might have imagined differently; the story will touch the hearts of skating fans everywhere. Wilkens, Mary Frances

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401303285
• ISBN-13: 978-1401303280
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Winter Sports > Ice Skating & Figure Skating

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read this cover to cover without putting it down!, October 8, 2007

By 

Georgia Lancaster - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Skating Life: My Story (Hardcover)

You don't have to be a skating fan to be totally enthralled with this story. I literally could not stop reading. It is written with such honesty and is so heartfelt that a few times I cried. I also laughed. The book is quite a ride. I want to read it again and make it a part of my book group so I can talk about it to others.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt and gripping, December 5, 2007

By 

Anton Karidian (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Skating Life: My Story (Hardcover)

Dorothy Hamill's A SKATING LIFE is one of the most interesting and gripping books I have read in a long time. As the cliche goes, I could hardly put it down! The book is definitely an emotional roller-coaster as it swings from triumph to despair over and over, and is very well-written so that the reader vividly shares her emotions at those times. There is quite a good balance between personal aspects of her life and descriptions of her ice skating career, although in later years the personal dominates. I did sometimes wish that she had described in more detail the technicalities of skating - double axels, the Hamill Camel, lutzes, and other such skating jargon.

But as famous as Dorothy Hamill is, why are there so few DVDs available of her performances?! The only ones I have found are Mannheim Steamroller - The Christmas Angel: A Story on Ice and an appoximately 6-minute segment of her at the 1976 U.S. Figure Skating Championship on the DVD "Skating Through Time, Volume 3" (which at the moment is not showing on Amazon). There are others available on VHS tape, such as Dorothy Hamill's Ice Capades Cinderella, Frozen in Time and Nutcracker: Fantasy on Ice (I have the latter one, and it's excellent.)

Dorothy candidly describes the numerous difficulties she has faced, including family depression, friction with her parents, two failed marriages, and financial difficulties. Yet at the opposite extreme she also recounts the many triumphs in her life. One such incident was at the 1980 winter Olympics, four years after she won the Olympic gold medal for skating. She and her future husband, Dean Paul Martin, were in the audience as the amateur, underdog hockey team from the United States defeated the professional and government-subsidized team from the U.S.S.R. Dorothy recounts, "As the crowd was hailing the American victory, Dean proudly turned to me (and said) 'You know, you did that once.' Not until this moment, and not until Dean said this, did I fully realize the magnitude of winning an Olympic gold medal and what....a great pinnacle of achievement it was in the eyes of the world, especially when an athlete was up against the extraordinary talent of the Eastern bloc countries."

This book is full of many such incidents that often brought tears to my eyes. I have seldom read a book as moving as this one. When I came to the end I felt as though I know Dorothy Hamill very well, and, as she was dubbed after her Olympic win, that she still is "America's Sweetheart." And mine too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this book down! LOVED IT!, October 16, 2007

By 

Blondskatr "Mom of Baby Girl" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Skating Life: My Story (Hardcover)

The book is written in Dorothy's voice. I so enjoyed hearing her speak on Larry King Live, so I bought the book. Dorothy tells her story with such beautiful honesty. I thank Dorothy for sharing her story so intimately. Thank you for opening up your life for us all the know and in turn see our own lives more clearly. Revealing her depression and complicated relationship with her Mother and men in her life, took a huge leap of faith. I so appreciate Dorothy telling the story behind that beautiful smile. I highly recommend this book to all people - young, old, sports enthusiasts, and on and on. GREAT BOOK!