A Scottish-Canadian Blethering On About Books

An overview of figure skater Sarah Hughes' career up to the fall of 2001 - that is, until just months before her surprise win at the 2002 Olympics.

This "unauthorized biography" of a teenager is aimed at other teenagers (and pre-teens), and as such is framed in fairly simple language. It does, to its credit, attempt to give a picture of what the world of elite figure skating competition is like, including the omnipresence of television, the pressures on "normal" life (Sarah attends selected classes at a real high school, etc.), and the incessant travel. It omits the more discomfiting details about finances (it doesn't mention prize money at all, for instance), and there is next to nothing about the actual process of creating and choreographing a program. For an "unauthorized" biography, it is unfailingly polite and admiring about Hughes, her family, her coaches, and her rivals. Everything is, it appears, drawn from material on the public record, including internet interviews (Sivorinovsky/Adams makes occasional appearances on internet mailing lists, etc.) I would not have been particularly pleased at the original $14.50 (Can) retail price for this slim paperback. Having bought it on the internet from a remainder dealer - and probably paid almost as much once shipping is factored in! - I feel a little better about it. I do wish Sivorinovsky had held off just a little longer to publish, so that she could have included material about two events which had a profound impact on Hughes - the Olympic win, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.