05 Dec 2012 23:31:15
Inspiration. That's the theme and message of the "autobiography" of teenage athlete Gabrielle Douglas, whose against-the-odds journey to triumph at London 2012 was manna for grateful US morning show producers. Douglas's co-author, Michelle Burford, is a founding editor of O – or, as she describes it, "the fabulous Oprah magazine", so the tone of the book – Grace, Gold and Glory: My Leap of Faith – is heartwarming, tear-jerking, and highly readable.
"Journey" of course, in O language, means so much more than getting on a plane. This is the story of 16-year-old Douglas's eight-year dream to win Olympic gold. We get the ups and the downs, the struggles and the sacrifices. There's a great deal of crying and innumerable mentions of God. Mothers of teenage daughters might marvel at the prose style of this particular teenager, especially when compared to her Twitter feed, which has a more, shall we say, authentic feel to it. But maybe heart shapes and smiley faces sell fewer books than passages from the Bible. Still, the book is targeted at teens, so it could have benefited from more than the occasional LOL.
Douglas's story is portrayed as almost Dickensian. Her beginnings were extraordinarily harsh: her parents (her father is a shadowy figure at best) were part of a movement called Word of Faith, "a set of teachings that involves claiming and standing by God's promises in the Bible". That money was tight (make that non-existent) is a recurring theme in the book – at one point, baby Gabby and her three older siblings slept in the back of the car. In addition she was a sickly child. She couldn't process protein and had a terrible cough. Her impoverished mother could do nothing but pray. So that's what she did.
"As it turns out, God answered Mom's prayers and came through with a miracle: by the time I was six months old, the disease had gone away. Completely."
And in case you were wondering, the name Gabrielle means "God's able-bodied one".
"Unless you've been vacationing on Saturn," the story continues, "You've probably heard that my oldest sister, Arielle, a former gymnast, showed me how to do a perfect cartwheel when I was just three."
I haven't been vacationing on Saturn but this was news to me. Yet that statement is an indication of the target audience for this book. They are the Douglas faithful, fans who already know every detail of the "journey" but want to reread it again anyway in her own words.
The fact that the story is so clearly not in Douglas's own words becomes increasingly problematic as the book goes on. It may be readable, but it's completely inauthentic.
"So many times in life, we're faced with a choice," Douglas says at one point. "When a task becomes super difficult, will we flip out and quit or will we stay focused and keep fighting?" (aka Things A Grown-Up Thinks a Kid Might Say.)
The general outlines of Douglas's progress to London and Olympic gold are pretty well-known. Gabby trains, she's brilliant but unfocused, her mother pushes her on, the rest of the family sacrifice things they like for their baby's dream, the dad leaves for good, Gabby leaves too, but to go train in another part of the country. When times are hard (and when are they not?) she has the biblical tale of David and Goliath to lean on.
"Beginnings and endings, endings and beginnings – that's just the way life goes," she comments when her pet rabbit dies.
"And whether or not we like what happens after we've taken a courageous step forward … the next experience will forever change us. Just ask David."
By the time she's counting down the days until the 2012 Olympic Games, the chapter headings have moved on from the biblical to the blues. "I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been," is the Billie Holiday caption at the start of Chapter 19. This is the point when Gabby competes at Madison Square Garden and catches the media's attention. In other words, it's the real turning point of the journey. There's a lot of technical detail about how this happens, but that's for the truly devoted. The rest of you will be happy to know that from now on Gabby paints her toenails to match her leotards and continues to pray throughout her performances.
And then she's in London, with no time for sightseeing. It's straight to the Olympic Village to train for five hours a day before "the greatest test of my life".
Spoiler alert for Saturn dwellers: Gabby Douglas won two gold medals – one individual and one team in the women's gymnastics. The book doesn't end there, but on life back at home,with a phone call from Barack Obama, an appearance with Michelle Obama on Leno, a meeting with Oprah (and practically every other celebrity in the country), a hosting gig on America's Got Talent, advertising opportunities from Kellogg's, a cover appearance on Essence. You name it, she's done it.
The hard days are over. The journey is ended. By page 224, she's done it all and 16-year-old Gabby Douglas's autobiography is complete.
