That’s So Chalked Up part 2
May 6, 2008 by northernriver
(I haven’t gotten the book, and if I do it’s because I want to read the tidbits about the Mrs. Oh, and about how tyrannical USA Gymnastics was.)
A somewhat vocal consensus is that Jennifer Sey is loopy and we shouldn’t listen to her because her ideas are OUTDATED and everyone is more LALALA HAPPY now than back in those antiquated days so she is a liar and irrelevant, so no one should listen to her or buy her book.
What do you think?
I think gymnastics is having the same problem as horse racing is having right after the freak tragic accident of Eight Bells last Saturday at the Kentucky Derby. Everybody’s now saying “oh horse racing is bad, yada yada, yada” But they don’t know the sport and only watch 1-3 times a year. I think the most important to remember that these are her opinions and that they may or may not reflect everything in the industry.
The book wasn’t all that bad, some parts were well-written while others seemed very bogus and untrue. Calling Jen Sey a liar isn’t entirely fair, though I think she specifically changed things in the book that didn’t happen to sell more copies.
I wrote a review of the book at:
http://polish101-gymnastics.blogspot.com/2008/05/analysis-on-chalked-up-and-parkettes.html
I think it is a fascinating, compelling, well-written but sad book that every gymnastics-phile will devour. Some facts may not be accurate - how the hell could anyone not involved with Jennifer’s life actually know? - but I don’t think Jennifer wrote the book with any malicious intent. People who trash the book because of their personal loyalties without commenting on anything but the supposed inaccuracies are ignoring everything important the book has to offer.
Jennifer’s history (coaches, competitions, etc.) isa matter of public record, so she could not have written about her life without mentioning names. While she does write about the negative impact on her life caused by some people, she unfailingly lists the help that they gave her and the fact that their intentions were good.
The only person whom Jennifer completely savages is herself.
p.s. We should be grateful for the fact that ANY interesting gymnastics-related book has been published! I hope “Chalked Up” starts a trend in gritty, salacious tell-alls!!
I liked the book. And I think that it fits nicely into the whole Parkettes picture - that is what I found via google; a little incident, just a chat, that took place at Parkettes in 2005 (scroll down to January 22
And it is a quite balanced book: Sey says that many of the bad things that happened to her in the sport of gymnastics was part of her own compulsive personality and she also recounts the wonderful experiences she had at her first (and last) gym (”Lolo”). In NO way the book is bashing gymnastics.
Sorry, forgot the link: http://www.malepatternfitness.com/story/2008/4/24/93026/3894