Review: A Tale of Bravery

In this book review, by Etini Willie for onlinebookclub.org, many of Vera Koo’s virtues are mentioned: bravery, persistence, belief, determination and hard work. These facets of her character allowed her to succeed in the male-dominated field of professional shooting, as well as overcome some of life’s hardest adversities. Read on to hear more of why Etini admires Vera and enjoyed reading her memoir.

The book, ., is an autobiography of the author, 顧方蓁 , 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.

One thing I practically disliked about the book is the show of absolute patriarchy in the Chinese culture. This is seen in the salient endorsement of extra marital affairs by Chinese men. Marital infidelity should be frowned at regardless of the gender that engages in it.

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.

The book is suitable for everyone to read. It is suitable even for very young audiences. I recommend the book specially for people aspiring to have a career in sports. This is because the book contains some of the ingredients that can help a sportsman achieve success. It is also recommended for women globally because it is an eye opener to the fact that women can break boundaries in fields that are traditionally reserved for men. All it takes is hard work, grit and perseverance.

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