Thin Ice: The Complete, Uncensored Story of Tonya Harding

by Frank Coffey, Nellie Coffey, Joseph Layden

Book by Coffey

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Memoir, Biography, Sports, Celebrity, Biography Memoir

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Frank Coffey is the author of the critically praised humor books The Complete Idoit's Guide for Dumies (sic), The All Time Baseball Teams Book, and The Wit and Wisdom of George Steinbrenner, as well as grownup books like 60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television's Finest Hour. He is the author of four novels, has written for television and movies, and been a book, newspaper and magazine editor. A New York City native, Frank lives in chilly Venice, California and is currently editor/publisher of the sports parody website eTrueSports.com.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think when you write a biography about someone, no matter what your opinion of them is, you should tell the reader about that person in way that your own opinions don't shine through.

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a little more intrigue and frightfulness. It felt more like a middle school report with a repetitive description of the facts. I think when it was published, it was probably trying to capture the audience that was eating up the drama. Now so many years later, it reads like a yawn. The content was okay, but there lacked a punch to the book.

[Kayla Tornello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tonya Harding's life story is interesting, but this book feels hastily put-together. It doesn't go into great detail and repeats itself in places. I really wasn't impressed with the writing.

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. Yay!

[MAP · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this as a goodreads giveaway.

I don't know if this book truly deserves 1 star because it's not actively, maliciously bad so much as...lazy. This book was clearly rushed out in 1994 (prior even to several events in the scandal taking place) to cash in on the scandal and it was clearly re-released just now to cash in on I, Tonya. The book appears to have no (few?) primary sources and is cobbled together from several different interviews with various sports magazines. It doesn't really tell you much of anything new or insightful that we, 24 years later, don't already know. Honestly I, Tonya is a more insightful, more informative work than this.

1.5 stars? Again, not BAD just...disappointing.

[Charlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

I'm the same age as Tonya Harding so obviously I was old enough to know what happened. Only thing is, I really didn't. Why? Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about figure skating and after hearing and seeing tidbits on the news about the scandal, cared even less about Kerrigan and Harding. I had no desire to keep up with the story or read the "where are they now" articles, but here we are. All these years later, the story has resurfaced and I have no idea why. I'm sure there is a reason, but I didn't have enough interest to find out what that was. Regardless, when I saw this book listed in a giveaway, I decided to enter. You might be wondering why someone would enter to win a book about an event that they had no interest in involving people who they found to be utterly unlikable (yes, I'm speaking about Harding AND Kerrigan). All I can say is.....I don't know. Sometimes I do things with absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. This is one of those times. Needless to say, I won! Why am I telling you all this? Simple. Many people have stated that this book offers nothing new to the story. Well, for me, it's almost all new. Oh, don't think I went in believing it all word for word. I don't do that with any book regardless of what it's about. People lie or embellish when they have no reason to. But it's still new. To me anyway.

Now. About the book. Surprisingly I actually enjoyed it. Not the topic of course. That would be rude. I just liked the way it was laid out. Simplistic. That's the word I would use to describe it. It's not bogged down with long winded details to make the page count higher. It just kind of sums things up....at least to a point. Apparently this book was written in 1994 so obviously much happened after that. Or at least I assume it did. I really don't know. Anyway, whether it be fact, fiction or a mixture of both, it held my interest. I do admit that my mind wandered when the author droned on about Kerrigan being America's princess or some nonsense like that, but overall it gave you the gist of what happened, with the possible why and who. Even though many see this as a rehash of events gone by, it was interesting to me. I didn't know fully what had happened, who was involved or why they did it. I didn't know the backgrounds of the people who were on pace for the Olympics or, well, virtually anything about the sport. No, it doesn't make me want to tune in nor does it make either Harding or Kerrigan seem more likable to me, but it was a decent book that covered all the basics and included some photos. Good enough.

A copy of this review is available on my blog at Once Upon A Book

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Tonya Harding and her possible involvement in the January 1994 attack on fellow ice skater Nancy Kerrigan has come back to the surface in light of the movie I, Tonya and all of its award nominations. I was an ice skating fan in 1994, so I remember the broad details of the attack and its aftermath. But the details have gotten fuzzy. 

So I was excited to find that I had won a copy of On Thin Ice: The Complete, Uncensored Story of Tonya Harding by Frank Coffey and Joe Layden in a Goodreads giveaway (side note: enter those giveaways, people! You can win!). 

On Thin Ice takes you back to when the 1990s, when hair was big and Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan owned the ice. They were both driven young women from less privileged backgrounds than most skaters. But where Nancy had the willowy beauty and natural grace of the typical figure skater, Tonya was decidedly less refined and more independent. In other words, Nancy fit the mold and Tonya smashed it into pieces. 

Taken from articles and interviews from then and now, On Thin Ice tells the story of how Tonya Harding became an ice skater as a child, what her life was like while she was growing up, her competitions, her relationships, the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, and how she was implicated in the crime (even though she denied any involvement and was never prosecuted).

The book is a quick read and well-researched if you are wanting a glimpse into the situation, something longer than an article but not as time-consuming as a 300-page book about it. It's basically the print equivalent of a documentary. My biggest problem with the book is the subtitle. Any book of this length cannot be "complete" and "uncensored." I'm sure there's a lot more to the story than what I read here. But that being said, I really liked what I read. It was exactly what I wanted, concise but informative. I would recommend it to anyone who wanted more information on the attack and on Tonya Harding. It's a really good companion to I, Tonya or as a stand-alone to get a feel for the time and the climate of competitive women's ice skating in the early 1990s. 

[Mary Keen · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, but too much IMO unnecessary details, especially regarding the Nancy Kerrigan attack plans and communications among the "gang" of her ex-husband and friends. Unclear about Tanya's involvement, altho she has admitted over-hearing some of the plans.

About Tanya Harding, I feel sad that she didn't reach her potential --and the main honor she got was taken away from her. Saddest is that she is forever banned from professionally skating, including teaching and passing on her talent to young skaters.

I remember all the drama re Tanya, including the broken shoe lace, etc. at the Olympics. I've read that she's at last happy with her 3rd husband and son living in Vancouver, WA, across the river from where she grew up. Several years ago, friends were eating at a senior center in that area and they recognized her as working there, probably carrying out her court-ordered community service.

Kindle Paper White eBook --took me several days to finish as the pages kept messing up!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. It shows that there was much more to the background of Tanya Harding than I had realized. She had a truly difficult childhood and early adult life-a lot due to her mother. It appears that she just didn't have the necessary tools to combat her dismal life. She does not really strike a chord of sympathy because, in the face of everything, she was not a sympathetic woman. I would recommend this book because it does give you insight into Tanya Harding, woman and figure skater.

[Melinda M · Rating 3 out of 5]

hin Ice: The Complete, Uncensored Story of Tonya Harding by Frank Coffey was written and published in 19994and has no updated. It gives some interesting information but was done at the time of problems with Tonya and Nancy. It needs an updated as it reads like something rushed to publication because of the interest at the time.

I received a copy thru a GoodReads Giveaway.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, what lets it down is it seems to have been rushed out in 1994 as the case was still unfolding and there's been nothing added to it in later editions. (At least not the ebook version I read). As such it draws no conclusions and it has no ending, which is very unsatisfying. It just ends out of the blue. It's very short too.

[Calette Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a very exciting read to finish the year. Ultimately, the writing style was lacking and read as if it were a high school essay on Tonya Harding. Full of unnecessary details, poor sentence structure, and elementary vocabulary, I wouldn’t say I particularly enjoyed this book. I was so looking forward to reading this after watching the movie I, Tonya when it came out, but I was let down by the execution of such a fascinating true story.

[Katie B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was originally published in 1994 and despite the fact it has recently been made available in ebook format, there are no real updates to the cast of characters. In fact what I found extremely odd was the book ends without any discussion of what took place at the 1994 Olympics. To put it simply this book just feels like it was rushed to print in 1994 in order to capitalize on the public's interest in the story. The book does provide info about Tonya's troubled background and there were some random details about the attack and people who I had long since forgotten. However, there isn't any new info provided that hasn't already been reported before. I'd recommend checking out one of the documentaries about Tonya or even just reading some old articles on the Internet because this book isn't exactly a must-read.

I won a free copy of this book in a giveaway. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

[Diane Waddington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a real good book being a figure skater myself and old enough to understand what was going on and watching it on tv. Being a figure skater I always try to catch the competitions that are televised.

[Katja · Rating 2 out of 5]

To say that this is the uncensored version is misleading as the book is based on other people’s articles. Actually, the whole book feels like an article that just didn’t fit inside of a magazine. There was nothing new and the text kept repeating itself. Felt like sloppy work.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting look at Tonya Harding's involvement in Nancy Kerrigan's attack. I remember the news and events around this time.

I received this book from Goodreads giveaways.

[Mandie Crago · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, I did give it a 5, but maybe a bit lukewarm......Very detailed, events were very well described!!!!! Gave some details I didn’t know or remember.......

[Dee brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't too bad a read. Writing flowed smoothly. Not a lot of back story to it.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads giveaway

[Lizzy w · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a good book overall however feels little rushed in a sense however I really enjoyed it !

[Bonni Sweet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing I havent read elsewhere or heard on TV.

[Surreysmum · Rating 2 out of 5]

An "instant book", this volume was, incredibly enough, published in February of 1994, and doubtless did very well while the Olympics were shown on TV. The last entry in its chronology is February 1. As for its accuracy? Well, very obviously it was thrown together from media articles, most of the biographical preamble coming apparently from Sports Illustrated interviews. It shows little knowledge and less interest in figure skating on the part of the authors. And for an inside view of the 1994 affair, the other "instant paperback" of the time, written by the staff of the Oregonian, is more satisfactory. However, as a summary of events as they unfolded, and a reminder of the bizarre media frenzy of those days, this item has its place on the shelf.

[Tori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just ok

I thought this book was going to be more informative than it was. Some of it seemed like information solely pulled from old news articles and video. There was no fresh information to someone who lived and remembered the circumstance. There was no closure and no information about what happened afterwards. I was hoping there would have been more follow up since this happened so long ago instead of ending with, “Tonya Harding still hasn’t been charged.”


I received this book free through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trash on trash. It doesn't get any better. There're some great photos of Tonya and her scary coach and Tonya at her wedding (high-necked lace, if I remember correctly).