Adam Rippon

Remonstrating the congenital disappointments of sports memoirs, the genius writer David Foster Wallace wrote, "Great athletes usually turn out to be stunningly inarticulate about just those qualities and experiences that constitute their fascination." When we read the-whole-story books like Adam Rippon's Beautiful on the Outside, Wallace said what we are wishing for is the undisclosed secret to athletic genius that will reveal a formula we can apply to ourselves, athletically, creatively... show more in whatever endeavor we fall short of Hermes and other mythical Greek Olympians. According to Wallace, sports memoirs ordinarily fall short of interesting because one, they are rife with insipid bromides, e.g., challenged to be the best, one event at time, best defense is a good offense, giving 110%; and two, such books are often not really written for fans but composed as marathon thank-you letters to the parents, coaches, massage therapists, and Christ Our Lord and Savior who made the real sacrifices behind the kiss-and-cry stage. Well, fuck off, ordinary, because Adam Rippon's memoir does neither. One, Rippon ditches the sports memoir compulsories to give we, the fans, his gauche, hilarious, and articulate accounts of his athletic clunks and personal vices; and two, although not unkind to specific people, his coming-up-gay journey has spill-the-tea-Honey candidness that lets fans in on the never-revealed sex and sk-ossip in conservative (big and small C) international competitive figure skating.
But, I ask myself if Rippon's polished delivery of off-ice personality and shat-my-pants anecdotes are truly what I want as a figure skating fan. To be real, maybe this shit is too hot for me. I do not doubt Rippon as an ontologically funny person, but is he the true comic genius sewing all the soc-speak sequins like, "I picked up my things and moved fulltime to Hackensack, a town with a sad Billy Joel namecheck," or "Come on, I was twenty years old. I could get a boner if the wind hit my pants?" Does it matter if jokes in a sports autobiography feel like meshuggeneh punched up by a late-night show writers room? Am I such a genius to judge? The book's icefloe of if-you-know-you-know references to everything from the Olsen Twins to Drag Race, are really funny, but coming from an athlete, even one as abnormally funny as Rippon, the schtick feels demonstrative of Wallace's postulate overly in the opposite direction. What I mean is, where's the boring stuff? There is a of lot sincere Rippon-stylized reflection, on the influence of his ice mom as both a 110% motivator and antagonist, his anxious imposter syndrome that accompanied collecting medals and fame, and coming out in a gay/please-not-too-gay sport one skate stroke at a time. Still, I might be in the audience to watch for more of the venerable banalities. Rippon's rink is at capacity LOLs, but maybe what I actually want from such a book is the monotonous alarm-clock-at-dawn sacrifices, overanalysis of mind versus physics, eyelid-heavy computations of points, and the plodding platitudes of personal commitment that just maybe combine with someone's natural talent to produce supernatural success. Wallace wrote, "To be a top athlete... is to be that exquisite hybrid of animal and angel that we average unbeautiful watchers have such a hard time seeing in ourselves." Call it the Greek duality of Eros and Thanatos, Beautiful on the Outside made me endeavor to remain an unbeautiful mortal. show less

This was laugh-out-loud funny. It also really gave a vivid picture of how hard it is to make it as a world-class skater--the sacrifices families and individuals make, what it's like to deal with injuries. It talked a fair amount about switching coaches--how one makes that decision. I appreciated how Adam expressed his love of skating. At a couple of points, I wasn't sure I wanted to read that much about his sex life, but I realized that a lot of young people (and older people, too) can show more benefit from his frankness. I like his outlook, about how he views the people he meets as friends who just don't know him yet. Also, he doesn't target others with his humor--most (if not all) the humor in his book is at his own expense. show less

Book on CD performed by the author
3.5*** rounded UP

Memoir of Olympic medalist and self-proclaimed America’s Sweetheart Adam Rippon.

Gosh this was fun! Rippon details his life growing up as the oldest (and obviously most responsible) of six children, and the sacrifices his mother made to help him achieve his dream of being a competitive figure skater and making it to the Olympics. From his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania to the years he spent living with a Russian coach in Toronto to show more the independent Adam being too poor to eat anything but the free apples at his gym, he covers it all with grace and humor, while sharing the life lessons he learned.

But Rippon is more than just a pretty face (and the world’s BEST spinner), he’s also a thoughtful and assertive spokesperson for LGBTQ rights.

I’ve always loved his skating, but now I love HIM even more! (And to make up for those judges who marked him down … I’m rounding UP! So there!)

He narrates the audiobook himself, and I cannot imagine anyone else doing a better job of it. I mean, NO ONE can deliver those snarky quips better than Adam, himself. show less

Short, highly readable memoir by one of my favorite skaters. Rippon tells the tale of his rise from his first time on the ice (hated it) to Olympic glory at the ripe age of 27. He reveals his embarrassing moments in somewhat grim detail, from boyhood to adult (some things never change). And he does it all with a sense of humor that seems to come naturally.

Rippon made headlines when he came out shortly before the Olympics in 2018. It isn't unusual, of course, for skaters to be gay, but most show more do not come out, or at least didn't. For Rippon, coming out was the least of the issues he had to deal with growing up. His parents were divided on his skating obsession, with his mother moving heaven and earth to make it happen and his father thinking it wasn't worth the trouble. Adam himself had to take long bus rides to rinks, live with coaches and relatives, and move to different cities over the years. His mother found work at the first rink, managed to work her way up to management positions, and managed Adam's arrangements as well.

Until he rebelled at the tender age of 22. When he finally took on adulthood, he had some very grim times, just finding enough food to eat, and may have developed some unhealthy relationships with food. He also had to move from coach to coach, depending on where he was in his development, and some were more helpful and inspiring than others.

Rather belatedly, Adam learned how to make and keep friends, as he had been home-schooled for a long time. He found that outgoing part of himself, relying in large part on humor but also on a natural compassion for others.

Through the hard times and the good, he didn't give in to despair. There were times when a disappointing loss had him hiding in his room, watching television, but it never lasted long. It also seemed that help came at the right times to pull him out.

Rippon was lucky to have good people in his life, including his mother, his siblings, his friends, his coaches. But he was especially lucky in having a drive that kept him going, kept him picking himself up and moving on, and learning from his bad choices.

It's fun to read and an interesting tour of the life of a skater ("skate years are like dog years"). Having a grandson who is a figure skater gives me some insight into that world, but every skater's life is different. I enjoyed Adam's story because I like him as a skater and as a person and this book reveals that he is most certainly beautiful both inside and out. show less