Like many Americans, I didn't become aware of Lance Armstrong until he started racking up the Tour de France victories. Even as he blew through records, I wasn't much into cycling. Things have changed. With Lance back from retirement and me getting ready to watch my third Tour de France, I thought it a good time to pick up this book. I didn't expect much (it is a sports autobiography, after all), but was surprised with the honesty, balance, and just good storytelling that Armstrong and his co-author Sally Jenkins put together.
The more I've learned about Armstrong, the more it seems that he has always tried to live a straightforward life, and the book is no different. He doesn't let his reader get very far before coming right out and telling them what's in store. Usually, I'm not a fan of direct author-reader interaction, but here it works. "I'm sure you'd like to hear about how Lance Armstrong became a Great American and an Inspiration To Us All .... You want to hear about faith and mystery, and my miraculous comeback," he says on the third page. He's not far off, either, I'm sure. Many people probably approach this book looking for a lift, ignoring the gritty details of his illness. Armstrong won't do that, however. He continues, "People die [from cancer]. And after you learn it, all other matters seem irrelevant. They just seem small."
I was absolutely thrilled to find such a frank tone being set so early on. In the paragraphs I've excerpted, Armstrong eliminates the possibility of melodrama. There will be no sap or cheese involved in his narration. In telling about his pre-cancer years, even the successful bits, it doesn't come off as a life you would want to live. There's arrogance and anger, plus family issues galore which go a long way to pulling him off the pedestal of fame. A cynic would argue that this an authorial trick, setting up a Cinderella scenario, but that's wrong. The reader has to understand his personality before the illness in order to appreciate the depth of change it inflicted on his life. That said, the narration has a slightly resigned air, as though he would rather not dwell on that time in his life. Besides, if you want rags to riches, it doesn't get much more ragged than cancer.
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