Review: A Source of Inspiration and Motivation

In this review of Vera Koo’s memoir “The Most Unlikely Champion,” Sally77motors says that the book serves as a source of inspiration and motivation for her life.

“The most spectacular rise can only come after you fall.” Vera learns this from her experience in life, as God uses everything that she has been through to prepare her for her future. The Most Unlikely Champion by Vera Koo with Justin Pahl is a 172-page memoir about the life of Vera Koo, an eight-time winner of the NRA National Action Pistol (Bianchi Cup) Championship. At the age of 12, she moved from Hong Kong to the United States with her parents. She was repeatedly told by her mother that she was plain-looking and needed to develop her inner beauty. She develops insecurities but surprisingly uses this as a drive in order to achieve her goals.

She had grown up and was raised as a traditional Chinese girl, where a woman’s place was already defined and limited to her husband and children (family). Despite being raised as a traditional Chinese girl, she ventures into sports shooting with the intent of learning gun safety but discovers a unique passion for sports shooting. She faces a lot of challenges and makes shocking discoveries about her husband and her childhood, but uses this as fuel for her drive in sports shooting with the help of God (her faith in God) and her undeterred determination to always give her best in whatever she does.

In 2013, she is faced with yet another challenge which prevents her from participating in the 2013 Bianchi Cup that she had spent the whole year preparing for. This might seem less compared to the challenges she has faced in the past, but this will determine the future of her sports shooting career. Vera’s ability to handle loss and get back up after each challenge in a short period of time and move forward without wallowing in self-pity was really fascinating.

 I could relate a lot of her story to my personal life and couldn’t possibly dislike anything about this book. Vera’s story was a source of inspiration and motivation for me. This book is a great self-help book, and I’m glad that after reading this memoir, I’ve found a new role model and mentor. Vera is my new role model as she is a portrait of how I want to be myself. This book contained a plethora of lessons. Among the few are balance and hard work. Despite her responsibilities as a mother, wife, and businesswoman, she managed to balance everything while pursuing her sports shooting career.

Pictures of Vera Koo and her family were included in this book. Although this helped me visualize every aspect of the story, the pictures were in black and white and weren’t really clear. This story was narrated in a clear, concise, and understandable manner. And overall, I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because it was not only interesting, reviving, and motivational, but it was also professionally edited as I only spotted one error throughout the book. This book would be mostly enjoyable for people who love non-fictional and self-help books with inspirational stories.

Click here to read the original “Review: A Source of Inspiration and Motivation” at onlinebookclub.org.