Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
267th out of 1,894 books
—
5,094 voters
My Sergei: A Love Story
They were two mismatched kids teamed by the Soviets to perform for the state, but they grew up to win four World Championships, two Olympic gold medals -- and the adoration of millions. Along the way, they fell madly in love and married. By 1995 they were the most celebrated pairs skaters ever -- until Sergei died of a sudden heart attack that year. In this moving love let...more
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Published
October 1st 1997
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published November 1st 1996)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,524)
I read this book in high school, and last night I was having one of those "your mind is going crazy as you're falling asleep" moments that popped this book in my head. I have to be honest and say I can't remember many details (setting, certain events, etc), but I do remember that it was incredibly touching and heartbreaking. You have to understand - until I had my son, I never read romance. I was actually one of the mockers *dodges flying insults*. I read horror; King, Koontz, Saul, etc. In fact...more
Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were gold medal pairs figure skaters from Russia. This story goes through the initial pairing up at age 11 for Katia until more recent times.
The training and rigorous regimen required by their coaches for their amateur careers was impressive. Beside the talent and obvious attachment this must of helped them win their medals. Katia also describes the slow growing of their love and eventually marriage and the birth of their daughter.
Their move to the United St...more
The training and rigorous regimen required by their coaches for their amateur careers was impressive. Beside the talent and obvious attachment this must of helped them win their medals. Katia also describes the slow growing of their love and eventually marriage and the birth of their daughter.
Their move to the United St...more
A touching reflection on a life of skating and love, but dated now that Katia has remarried and had another child. Still, the insight into the USSR and their sports machine contrasted with the "Wild West" atmosphere of the new Russia were very interesting.
For the skating lovers, the most fascinating parts were in the relationship with their choreographer, Marina Zueva, who is now coaching the top ice dance teams in the world in Canton, Michigan: Virtue/Moir and Davis/White.
I always loved how e...more
For the skating lovers, the most fascinating parts were in the relationship with their choreographer, Marina Zueva, who is now coaching the top ice dance teams in the world in Canton, Michigan: Virtue/Moir and Davis/White.
I always loved how e...more
I picked this up because I'm fascinated by figure skating, and thought it sounded really interesting. And it was in parts, but unfortunately Ekaterina Gordeeva is obviously not a writer, so certain sections of the book were rather clunky making the emotions difficult to relate to.
Two things really effected my experience of the book though. The first was discovering that I may actually have seen Ekaterina and Sergie perform 'live'! At least I remember my mum taking my sister and me to an internat...more
Two things really effected my experience of the book though. The first was discovering that I may actually have seen Ekaterina and Sergie perform 'live'! At least I remember my mum taking my sister and me to an internat...more
1 like · like · see review
view 2 comments
This book, MY SERGEI:A LOVE STORY, by Ekaterina Gordeeva, was a heartwarming, but sad story of their lives together, first as ice skating partners then as a family. A person would just feel so terrible about the tragic death of her young husband , but she seems to have found a way, through skating and the young daughter of theirs, to continue a life that is so changed in just one instant. I know the feeling, it happened to me, although at a somewhat older age, but just as quickly and unexpectedl...more
Katia Gordeeva is obviously not a writer and the writing is very young, but she really takes everything back to the moment it was happening and leaves a fair insight about the Soviet Union and the New Russia and the impression of America. She pretty much experienced for reality what our concept of an ideal romance is. Yes, she may seem emotionless sometimes, but I can understand this among many other things and relate to the weakness of not being able to put every thought, feeling, and notion ad...more
One of the most widely distributed and read skaters' biographies, this is, for a retiring young woman, remarkably frank. Nonetheless, perhaps one of the most interesting aspects is her discussion of her odd and it seems rather troubled friendship with choreographer Marina Zoueva. One gets the sense that here, at least, the whole story has not been told. Interesting, too, to see a relatively unsanitized and foreigner's view of the Stars on Ice "family." Her observations on the "New Russia" were a...more
This has to be one of the most tear-jerking books I have ever read. It is a beautiful story and I can remember watching the TV when this happened. It was so sad. Read this book.
Back Cover Blurb:
Thrown together as children by the Soviet regime and told to skate for the good of the state, Sergei Grinkov and Katia Gordeeva became the most celebrated pairs skaters in the world - falling madly in love, marrying, and have a beautiful baby daughter. But after winning two Olympic Gold medals and four Wo...more
Back Cover Blurb:
Thrown together as children by the Soviet regime and told to skate for the good of the state, Sergei Grinkov and Katia Gordeeva became the most celebrated pairs skaters in the world - falling madly in love, marrying, and have a beautiful baby daughter. But after winning two Olympic Gold medals and four Wo...more
This is the sweetest love story I have ever read. I loved watching figure skating competitions in the late 80's, early 90's mostly because Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were a worthwhile pair to watch. They found each other at such a young age and the respect and tenderness they shared was evident in the programs they executed on the ice, even before they fell in love and married. There are some heart wrenching moments, especially when Ekaterina describes her despair after Sergei's unexp...more
Jul 19, 2011
Sandra
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
memoirs-autobios
This is the true story of Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva, the famous figure skating pair that won medal after medal in the 80s and 90s. This is the story of how they began skating together and over the course of the years fell in love, married and had a daughter. This is the story of Sergei's death at 28 due to an unknown heart defect and Katia's struggle to find her way back from the darkness of her loss.
I can only recommend this to anyone who ever watch them skate in their day - they we...more
I can only recommend this to anyone who ever watch them skate in their day - they we...more
I felt like he was my Sergei too just reading this. I am always so appreciative that people will write books and let us in their lives for a little while. Through the happy and heartache... it is just so thrilling to me to share a human life and story. Like Petra's book which I read recently, I found myself googling them and then reading all about them after I finished the book. I also had to squeeze this book into two days because I just simply had to keep going. My heart broke with Katia, but...more
This review is somewhat skewered as I was a huge fan of Gordeeva and Grinkov and find their tragic story as moving now as it was when Sergei died. I could criticize the writing style of the memoir, but what purpose would that serve? After all, everyone knows Ekaterina is not an author, just a very young woman (at the time this was published) dealing with the loss of her husband, the father of her child, and her one and only skating partner, and attempting to put into words the brief life she sha...more
The morning after Sergei had his massive heart attack I remember waking up to the radio and having this sinking feeling in my stomach after hearing about it. They were always my favorite "pairs" skating couple and seemed to have such a wonderful, "fairy tale" marriage. I have yet to see another couple that have the "magic" that they brought to the ice. This is a sweet, yet sad, biography written by his wife. Since it is written in Ekaterina's words, the writing is not especially great and lacks...more
I've always loved figure skating but had never read about a pairs skater plus there's pictures, so I was super excited! I'd give the first chapters 5 stars no doubt. But once she talks about them being in love and not about skating for chapters on end she lost me. It's just me personally. But i loved the childhood parts!
Ps. I've read reviews complaining about her writing and I have to say- Im sure glad she spent her time skating and not at writing college because this story wouldn't exist if sh...more
Ps. I've read reviews complaining about her writing and I have to say- Im sure glad she spent her time skating and not at writing college because this story wouldn't exist if sh...more
I've decided I really like autobiographies. I loved reading Ekaterina (Katia) Gordeeva's thoughts, impressions and feelings about her fascinating life. She was paired with Sergei Grinkov at the age 11 as Russian figure skating partners. When she was in her late teens, they fell in love, got married and had a baby. During that time they won 2 gold medals. Then Sergei, at the age of 28 dropped dead of a heart attack. Their daughter was just 3 years old. I knew of this story before, but I loved rea...more
This review is for the abridged audio version.
Horrible, terrible, waste of my time. One of my students encouraged me to read this, and because she continually asked me, I finally picked up the abridged audio version. I'm glad I got it cheap. The recording sounds like it was recorded in a tin can half a world away. The accent was strong and hard to understand. The story is touching, but is told in such a sappy way that it is just about unbearable. Save your time. Find another book to read or list...more
Horrible, terrible, waste of my time. One of my students encouraged me to read this, and because she continually asked me, I finally picked up the abridged audio version. I'm glad I got it cheap. The recording sounds like it was recorded in a tin can half a world away. The accent was strong and hard to understand. The story is touching, but is told in such a sappy way that it is just about unbearable. Save your time. Find another book to read or list...more
Read this for bookclub. It's not something I normally would pick up since I'm not really into figure skating or Russia or romance stories. But I liked it more than I thought I would. On the plus side, I found it interesting to hear Gordeeva talk about Russian politics. On the minus side I really couldn't relate to Gordeeva as I never had anyone take care of me as she did in young adulthood, and in general this book was a little more fluffy than something I normally read. It was however a quick r...more
I didn't know much about this story before reading it. Someone mentioned it in passing on Facebook and I thought it sounded like something I'd enjoy.
I did enjoy the book for the most part. The love story was beautiful. I found the overall story quite interesting. The way Russia grooms these children to be athletic stars. I thought many times that they should train them for life off of the ice as well as life on the ice. Many of Sergei and Katerina's choices were questionable. They were lucky th...more
I did enjoy the book for the most part. The love story was beautiful. I found the overall story quite interesting. The way Russia grooms these children to be athletic stars. I thought many times that they should train them for life off of the ice as well as life on the ice. Many of Sergei and Katerina's choices were questionable. They were lucky th...more
Ekaterina tells both her story and Sergei's, intermingling stories of their childhoods, of growing up in the Soviet Union, learning to skate and their pairing together. The book truly is a "love story", living up to its subtitle -- Ekaterina brings the reader through their courtship, marriage, and foray into parenthood with their daughter, Daria. Their brief but illustrious figure skating career is described throughout; the book would be incomplete without it.
But Ekaterina's real purpose in thi...more
But Ekaterina's real purpose in thi...more
In my opinion, "My Sergei" is an excellent read. She tells all about her life, which is very interesting because she has a unique occupation. Figure skating is very fun to read about. Also reading about her and Sergei's love story is really captivating. When I was reading it, I could hardly put it down because I always wanted to know how Katia and Sergei's love was going to progress next. I highly recommend this book for people to read, especially girls. Katia and Sergei have a great story of lo...more
I remember seeing them skate on TV and being totally mesmerized by them. I was still a child and I was cheering them on and cried from joy when they got gold medals. I was heartbroken when Sergei died so young. As much as I loved this couple, I was disappointed in reading the book. Obviously, Ekaterina is NOT a writer by profession, so I can't expect a great prose from her, but still, I thought the book sounded like a teenage girl diary. Simple, naive, fairy-tale romantic.
This was a heartfelt story of a young Russian skater who knew nothing but the ice and Sergei. So interesting to compare her young life to that of American skaters!!! And how tragically her husband's life came to an end at such an early age. I think she has been deeply scarred and her book tells that she has not yet gotten over it. I am glad she has her daughter to give her a sense of purpose still. Overall though, it was rather a depressing book. :(
The details of this book are a little fuzzy since I read it in high school, but I do remember that it was a very powerful read. Their love story on and off the ice was very touching, inspiring and beautiful to watch. His tragic death at a young age was heartbreaking, but there are many happy moments as well. I would highly recommend this book to avid figure skating fans (or in my case former figure skaters) and romance lovers alike!
I read this pretty fast, because it had a simplistic writing style and wasn't too long. It made me sad, even though I knew what was going to happen. I feel like it also gives a lot of insight into the world of figure skating, and that was very interesting. I don't have a lot to say about this book, other than that it was sad, and interesting, and pretty sweet.
I wish people could live happily ever after.. Only I know that there aren't any happily ever afters this side of heaven.
I wish people could live happily ever after.. Only I know that there aren't any happily ever afters this side of heaven.
I remember Gordeeva and Grinkov...I followed them from the 1988 olympics when I saw the most beautiful and flawless performance I had ever seen. This is a beautiful love story as well as a look into the world of ice skating and of living in Russia. I was sad that she was set on being sad at the age of 24 and thinking she would never be happy again. This book was written the year after Sergei died. I remember watching her tribute on ice to Sergei and it was interesting to read about that and how...more
This is one of the most touching and sincerely heartfelt books I have ever read. I have been fascinated and in love with the sport of figure skating since I was a very small child, and the couple in this book are my favorite skaters. This biography has comedy,romance, basically everything a girl could ask for in a curl-up-and-cuddle sort of book. DEFINITELY a permenant add to the bedside table.
This was a great love story. Unfortunately, it is a true story. This is the story of a couples skaters from Russia. He died about a year before I read the story on the ice of a heart attack. He had just gotten the Olympic gold in Calgary. She was just sixteen and a lonely girl. All of the rest of the skaters were 21. This was a great love story. Of course, there were many thoughts on death.
I absolutely love this book. Sergei and Katia are two of my all time favorite pairs skaters. I love the way they expressed their love on ice. When he died, my heart broke for her. I loved the pictures and stories she told of their life on and off the ice, in public and in private. Sergei will forever be missed in the world of skating and in the hearts of those that love a classic love story.
I first came across the magnificent pair team of Gordeeva and Grinkov when I was 12-years-old (1985) and I was enchanted by them ever since; now, years after Sergei Grinkov's death, I have yet to come across another pair team that has been able to captivate the way they did. This book was a gift to the fans of G&G and couldn't have been written any better. I believe I read the book in one day and was thankful for the opportunity to be privy to their personal story, as well as their skating c...more
I've always loved the skating magic of G&G and therefore I was heartbroken upon hearing about the tragic and untimely death of Sergei Grinkov. The skating world suffered a huge loss, as did his family and child. This book was difficult to read - and yes, I shed many tears during the process. But it was also a beautiful testimony of the love these two amazing skaters shared.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
