In this book review, by kemmy11, it states that Vera Koo’s life is one that is worth emulation. Keep reading to find out why.

Life indeed is not a bed of roses. It doesn’t matter how many times life challenges tear us down, our response to it is what matters. As detailed in this book, the life of Vera Koo is a life that is worthy of emulation. The Most Unlikely Champion, a memoir by Vera Koo with Justin Pahl is the first book written by the author. A life of pain, losses, dedication, unconditional love, betrayal, and successes were all captured in these 188 pages of a book.

Vera Koo is a Chinese-American woman from Hong Kong who moved to San Francisco with her family at the age of 12. Despite being brought up in a traditional Chinese way, where a woman’s place is her service to her family, she still chose sport shooting as her career path. Vera Koo started sport shooting at the age of 40 in a shooting world dominated by men and became one of the best sport shooters of her time by becoming a multiple-time champion of the NRA National Action Pistol Championship women’s division. During the course of her life, she suffered injuries, loss of a child due to terminal illness, her in-laws were strict and abusive, loss of family members, and even betrayal from her husband. However, her faith in God, determination, and sport shooting served as a form of therapy for her during these downtimes. What later became of Vera Koo and the tragedies that befell her was made known as I journeyed through this book.

I loved her determination for success. Despite being mocked by her fellow male sport shooters, she excelled by beating them in their games. The book was quite emotional for me as I felt most of her pain. I understood her not easily forgiving her husband’s betrayal because when you give your all to someone, especially your husband, and he betrayed you, it hits and hurts differently. However, the book was so inspiring and captivating that there was no part I dislike about it.

The message was loud and clear enough. There were three great lessons I learnt from the book. Firstly, I realized that age is never a barrier to achieving desired goals and unleashing our full potentials. Secondly, I learnt that no matter what tragedy or situation life presents to us, it is not an excuse to stay down or defeated; instead, it is a wake-up call to stand firm and strong to overcome those challenges. Finally, I learnt forgiveness. Once trust is broken, it cannot be mended. When Carlos betrayed Vera, it was the worst feeling ever, yet she forgave him. Although Carlos had to work for it, she eventually forgave him no matter how long it took.

I will rate this book four out of four stars because it was professionally written and edited. I found no typographical or grammatical errors while reading. I also gave it that rating because of the originality of the book. The entire book was exceptionally flawless, well detailed, and easy to understand that I finished reading it in a day. Overall, the book was amazing.

I recommend this book to everyone, especially people who love sport shooting. There were no records of profanity or erotic scenes in the book.

Read the original review here.