Review: Success in the Face of Great Odds

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

Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. The latter epitomizes the life of an immigrant born in Hong Kong, a mother of 4 and certainly the most unlikely champion, Vera Koo.

 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!

There are several things I liked about this memoir, to begin with, the lesson learnt from the story. I learnt that anybody can succeed at anything they want if they work hard enough. Vera’s life was characterized by hard work and determination to succeed( amidst a great deal of challenges) in every aspect of her life, be it in sport shooting, parenting or even being a wife. The author also used a few characters which I was able to trace easily. Her choice of words was also simple and easy to understand without using a dictionary. Lastly, l liked her use of pictures. It helped a lot in putting faces to the names as well as matching the pictures of the events that took place in her life as a shooter.

I disliked nothing about the book since it had no grammatical errors, no erotic scenes and didn’t not use vulgar words.

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.

original review at Online Book Club.