My Sergei: a true love story

by Ekaterina Gordeeva with E. M. Swift

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Genres: Memoir

364 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Eden Rayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super engaging for a non-fiction piece, and wasn't any less tragic at the end than it would've been had the ending not been known already. Caused manifestations in my head of being ice skater.

[Susan Chaltain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story about ice skaters who fell in love with each other. They had a nice life. His untimely death was too soon. I felt for Katie.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember watching this couple on TV skating, the Sergei dying, then Ekaterina choosing to be a solo skater because she could never be a partner skater with another. It's hard to believe it's been ~30 years.

The book gives you a glimpse into Sergei's and Ekaterina's lives and into the machine that was Russian sports. It was known at the time that promising young athletes were funneled into extensive training. Near the end of the book you see the effects of the "iron curtain" coming down.

You see how demanding a career in skating can be, particularly if a couple starts a family. And, I don't know if I thought Ekaterina was fragile at the time but in this book I see that she was devoted to Sergei who sheltered her, and that's what I saw.

[Meaghan Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need an entirely different rating scale for memoirs that I've known for years would be so deeply impactful and then I read them and they are even more lifechanging than I could have imagined. This absolutely reignited 2year old meaghan's obsession with Ekaterina Gordeeva and I'm truly in awe of everything she does and will be continuing to think about this book for the rest of my life. Frequently had to pause for tears.

[Melissa Looney]

I always enjoyed watching this ice-dancing pair skate together. They were exquisite, sheer poetry on ice.

Katerina Gordeeva gives an intimate portrait of her life with Sergei Grinkov- from the time they began skating together (she at 11, he at 15), though years of pairs training and competitions, falling in love and marrying, the birth of their daughter Daria, to his death during practice.

[Lori Congdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was truly a beautiful and sad book of the young skaters and their love story. It was such so tragic that their love was cut short by Sergei’s sudden death. I sobbed while reading this book.

[ElizabethD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember watching this Olympics since I was young and I liked this couple and was saddened at his sudden loss. The book was an insight into his life and the rigors of skating.

[Betsy Maher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reread for me. I liked it.