Review: Journey from Novice to Champion

In this review of The Most Unlikely Champion, Miriam Kenneth appreciates that the author, Vera Koo, was able to explain her journey from shooting novice to champion. Read on to find out what else Miriam likes about this memoir, and why she rates it “4 out of 4 stars.”

There is this satisfaction one gets from contradicting people’s impression of you, especially when you are underestimated or looked down on. The Most Unlikely Champion written by Vera Koo is about a woman who always found herself in what she called ‘the men’s world’. So, she was always underestimated by them. And she, in turn, always surprised them with her skills.

Vera was born in a traditional Chinese setting where a woman’s place is supposed to be at home taking care of her husband and family without being noticed. When she grew up, she met and fell in love with Carlos, who later became her husband. She described him as a person with a very active sports life. He engaged in sports like skiing, surfing, horseback riding, and others. So, she spent most of her time trying to keep up with him by joining him and trying to be as good as him. But all this while, she had never handled a gun, she was even scared of them. Yet, in the book, she was an excellent sport shooter who had won so many awards including the Bianchi Cup. How did she move from being a novice at the age of 40 to be a champion who had won many awards?

Vera interested me. She was a hardworking, strong, and unselfish woman. Hard working in the sense that no matter how much sport shooting expected from her, she never lacked behind in caring for her family, home, and business. Unselfish because, when she found out that her husband had cheated on her, she didn’t go for a divorce, even though, she had considered it. She thought of the effect it would have on her children especially her son. I admired her strength in how she channeled her emotions, during that period, into something productive and not destructive.

There was only one thing I disliked in this book. It was the arrangement of its pictures. Though the use of pictures by the author was good, the pictures were packed to a side and the description at another side. It made it difficult to understand what was happening in the pictures. Since I read the e-book, I had to zoom and do a lot of scrolling in other to read the descriptions and match them to the pictures. But, if the descriptions were at the bottom of each picture, it would have made things easier and the picture more understandable.

The book was written well. I found only one error. It was professionally edited. The author wrote in such a way that the book wasn’t a bore. The book was so interesting that each time I took a break, I was always compelled to continue reading. I thereby rate it 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend the book to those who enjoy or engage in sport shooting and to women who are looking to make a mark in this world. They would be motivated by this book.

Read the original review (“Journey from Novice to Champion”) at OnlineBookClub.org.