Vera Koo: Online Book Club Review Compilation

This compilation of reviews from Online Book Club was first published at Women’s Outdoor News, and has been reprinted with permission.

Vera Koo’s first book, her memoir, is titled “..” This book is an easy read, and tells an incredible tale of a woman who immigrated to the United States from China at a young age. Vera explains her life story, and spares no details – no matter how intimate or challenging.

There are quite a few reviews of Vera’s memoir that exist online, including those found on our own website. The site OnlineBookClub.org is another great source for “The Most Unlikely Champion” reviews. We’ve selected a few that we feel echo our feelings about this piece of literature: an inspiring tale, told by a brave woman who overcame tremendous odds to become a champion. Read on to see portions of these posts, written by other people who rate this book four out of four stars.

Nouria el saftawy

This review by Nouria el saftaw was originally published at Online Book Club on August 21st, 2021.

. is a memoir written by Vera Koo. In this book, she talks about how she became an amazing competition shooter and how she won many prizes. Vera Koo also talks about her life struggles and how she overcame them and continued to achieve incredible successes in the shooting world. She’s also one of the top female shooters in the shooting world and a national and world titleholder in action pistol shooting. If you’re interested in Vera Koo’s life and want to know more about her astonishing achievements; read this book and you definitely won’t regret it.

這本書還有另一面讓人得到啟發。方蓁的故事感動觸及人的靈魂深處。她歷經驚濤駭浪，卻不輕言放棄；一生吃了那麼多苦，卻成就了那麼多事。她的故事抓住了我，我一心想知道她生活中的方方面面。她經歷的一件最令她心碎的事是兒子的夭逝，這對我而言也是書中讓人傷感的一部分。她一生的故事講述的不僅是不輕言放棄射擊，對生活也是如。 

本書從頭到尾充滿正面能量，非常高超。作者在面對困難時展現了真正的力量，確實鼓舞人心，讓人心生有為者亦如是之感；她的射擊生涯同樣如此。更難能可貴的是，她進入一個她能力泰半會被低估、受人懷疑的世界，卻仍然選擇堅持到底，實在令人讚歎。我欣賞作者納入照片，讓我在閱讀本書時看見作者風貌。

此書我的評分是四星中的四星。它編輯得非常好，從始至終都讓人激賞。我推薦這本書給任何想要展開射擊旅程的人，也推薦給任何想要受大啟發、想瞭解更多關於方蓁一生的人。 （滿分四星）

原文見於： full review

Review: Success in the Face of Great Odds

This review by Victoria Muthyoi was originally published at Online Book Club on September 4th, 2021.

成功非以成就測度，而是由你遭遇的阻力與你無視於劣勢、奮戰到底的勇氣來衡量，而後者正是在香港（譯按：應為秦皇島）出生、四個孩子的母親，當然也是巾幗槍神顧方蓁移民美國後的人生濃縮寫照。

. is a story of determination in the face of great odds. Vera, whose culture taught her that a woman’s place is to serve her family and her household and nothing more, takes interest in Action pistol shooting sport, a sport that is dominated by men. As it is to be expected, she faces a great deal of challenges and setbacks. For instance, she has to shoot alone while training because the other shooters couldn’t believe she was a shooter too. The men in the field discriminate against her and in turn she has to work harder than everyone else. Vera also gets a spiral fracture of her right tibia and fibula while preparing for the Bianchi cup competitions. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it helped her learn critical lessons that she would later use in her practice for the shooting competition. Did she win the Bianchi cup? Find out!

此書我的評分是四星中的四星。它編輯得非常好，從始至終都讓人激賞。我推薦這本書給任何想要展開射擊旅程的人，也推薦給任何想要受大啟發、想瞭解更多關於方蓁一生的人。 

 It didn’t have any error and it also posses a message of hope that failure and setbacks are not fatal. It also sets clear that anybody can succeed in the face of great odds if they are willing to put in the effort. I recommend it to fans of Christian memoirs, as it will renew their faith in God as they go through life struggles, and to women who were raised in cultures that believe men are always better than them. Vera portrays so well in her book that what a man can do, a woman can do better.

原文見於： full review 

Review: A Tale of Bravery

This review by Etini Willie was originally published at Online Book Club on May 27th, 2022.

The book, ., is an autobiography of the author, Vera Koo, as she relays her life experiences and foray into the world of Sports Shooting where she left an imprint and achieved remarkable feats. Sports Shooting started as a pastime for the author but in the midst of deep personal crisis, she found her peace toeing that path. Vera, a Chinese-American defied many odds in her lifetime to get to the peak of Sports Shooting. A tale of a woman venturing into a traditionally male dominated profession, the odds were already against her from the onset. This was aggravated by her petite physique which was an anomaly for a sport shooter, Vera rose beyond the limitations and achieved tremendous success in the sport while also proving that a woman can break barriers in the seemingly male dominated profession.

This book is a tale of bravery, persistence, belief, determination and hard work. I admire Vera a whole lot because she is an embodiment of all the virtues listed above. I love how she achieves great feats by setting small achievable goals at a time before aiming higher. This is portrayed in the book when she started her shooting class. At first, she aimed to be the best female shooter in the class, done with that, she aimed higher to become the overall best shooter in the class. One step at a time, she got everything she achieved in Sports Shooting. I also love Vera’s ability to rise above life’s challenges. The loss of her son, the loss of her brother, the shakes in her marriage and financial challenges were enough setbacks for her to roll over and give up. She never did though, but with every setback, she found strength to achieve great things. Vera is a perfect model of a hardworking and supportive wife. She had to clean 120 doors a day to help keep their business afloat in times of crisis and bankruptcy. This is highly admirable.

The book is an excellent book. It is written in simple and direct language. It is professionally edited as I could not find typos or grammatical errors in the course of reading the book. I rate the book （滿分四星）. I give this rating because I found so many things to learn from the book. I have learnt that as humans, we should always be deliberate about the course of our lives and not rely on fate and luck.

Read the full “Review: A Tale of Bravery” （原文出處為線上讀書俱樂部, at OnlineBookClub.org.

Additional Online Book Club Reviews

Be sure to read additional thoughts, from Online Book Club members, of Vera’s book “The Most Unlikely Champion.” A catalog of these reviews can be found at Vera’s website.