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Unraveled: A Climber’s Journey Through Darkness and Back
As a teenager in the 1990s, Katie Brown was one of climbing’s first "comp kids"--a young natural who, along with her peers, redefined the image of a strong and successful climber. After climbing for less than two years, Brown won her first junior national title. The next year she became the Junior World Champion at age 14 in Laval, France. In 1996 she won both the Rock Master--a prestigious international contest in Arco, Italy--and the esteemed X-Games. From 1996 on, Brown won every US Adult National that she entered, as well as a World Cup Title in France in 1999.
Yet even as she reigned on the podium, Brown felt her life begin to unravel. A quiet child, she struggled with a home life that was very different behind closed doors than it seemed on television. A fundamentalist version of Christianity was at the center of the household, and Brown fought to live according to rules that were strict, ever-changing, and irrational. Isolated and feeling hopeless, Brown latched onto food as something she could control. She quit competitive climbing and bounced in and out of the industry, eventually disappearing in her late twenties.
Now, more than two decades later, Brown is ready to share her story. Unraveled answers the question thousands of fans worldwide have wondered: "What ever happened to Katie Brown?"
Yet even as she reigned on the podium, Brown felt her life begin to unravel. A quiet child, she struggled with a home life that was very different behind closed doors than it seemed on television. A fundamentalist version of Christianity was at the center of the household, and Brown fought to live according to rules that were strict, ever-changing, and irrational. Isolated and feeling hopeless, Brown latched onto food as something she could control. She quit competitive climbing and bounced in and out of the industry, eventually disappearing in her late twenties.
Now, more than two decades later, Brown is ready to share her story. Unraveled answers the question thousands of fans worldwide have wondered: "What ever happened to Katie Brown?"
306 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2022
13 people are currently reading
1323 people want to read
About the author
Katie Brown
2 books6 followersKatie Brown is the young woman Rock & Ice magazine dubbed “The Best Female Climber of the Millennium.” An influential and groundbreaking climber among both genders, she began climbing at age thirteen and quickly dominated competition at the national and international levels. Now in her mid-twenties, she is a freelance writer and the author of Vertical World (FalconGuides).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 20, 2025
I’m so thankful to Katie Brown for this gripping book. It reminds me of “I’m Glad My Mom Died” from Jennette McCurdy, but minus the Hollywood and more outdoorsy. I didn’t know anything about competitive rock climbing, but the seemingly impossible to navigate mother/daughter relationship was all too recognizable. I found this book at a local bookstore while visiting Denver and couldn’t put it down.
It was raw and real. I saw a lot of my own evangelical Christian mother in Katie’s mom (I’m estranged from my mom too). Reading Katie’s story made me feel less alone and less crazy. I feel like this book even helped me make sense of and reflect on some of my own thoughts and experiences with my mother. Katie is an amazing writer that put the Christian guilt I have always struggled to describe into words that were spot on.
As someone that also has an anxiety/panic disorder my only wish is that there was a Book II where I could learn more about Katie’s experiences addressing her mental health challenges. How does she ultimately navigate her own emotions and wellness in finding love, when she finds her husband? What is the day to day like for her now? What is she proud of? How does she self soothe and nurture her daughter and herself without her mother’s support? I feel like there is a lot we could have learned there that was missing.
In any case, I’m so glad she told this story. I happened to pick up this book the week of Mother’s Day, which is always a little tough for me to get through. It was so wonderful to have this book to hold onto. Thank you so much Katie. I am ever grateful. 💓
It was raw and real. I saw a lot of my own evangelical Christian mother in Katie’s mom (I’m estranged from my mom too). Reading Katie’s story made me feel less alone and less crazy. I feel like this book even helped me make sense of and reflect on some of my own thoughts and experiences with my mother. Katie is an amazing writer that put the Christian guilt I have always struggled to describe into words that were spot on.
As someone that also has an anxiety/panic disorder my only wish is that there was a Book II where I could learn more about Katie’s experiences addressing her mental health challenges. How does she ultimately navigate her own emotions and wellness in finding love, when she finds her husband? What is the day to day like for her now? What is she proud of? How does she self soothe and nurture her daughter and herself without her mother’s support? I feel like there is a lot we could have learned there that was missing.
In any case, I’m so glad she told this story. I happened to pick up this book the week of Mother’s Day, which is always a little tough for me to get through. It was so wonderful to have this book to hold onto. Thank you so much Katie. I am ever grateful. 💓
March 7, 2023
Such a moving book. Recommended for all (adolescent) climbers, their parents & coaches.
Thank you Dan Rosca.
Here some of the lines that touched me:
"I didn’t like the feeling of wanting things. Wanting things meant dealing with the inevitability of loss, and I needed to shut that down before its tidal wave consumed me. It was safer to not want anything, to be more dead than alive." (p. 91)
"Back then, I often felt like a silent doormat, being run over by everything. But when I climbed, I allowed myself to feel, to need, to want, and it all exploded out of me in a fierce, there’s-no-fucking-way-I’m-letting-go mindset. Nothing could control me up there— nothing. It was just me." (p. 93)
"If I was making him happy, then he could end up needing me, and when someone needs you for their own happiness, it leads to immeasurable pain. I didn’t want to be needed, not ever again." (p. 193)
"It can be easy to confuse a good climbing partnership with a romantic relationship. Climbing is a sport that bonds you to your partner. You are literally tied to one another, holding each other’s lives, witnessing the other person at their most scared, most jubilant, most vulnerable. It can be easy to think, Well, it works so well here, it should work romantically, too." (p. 253)
"Eating disorders are prevalent in climbing, as they are in any sport with a strength-to-weight ratio component. Although I stopped eating in an effort to regain control over something in my life, food and weight, for me, were very tangled up in my relationship with climbing. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to watch someone you love slowly kill themselves. How that fear and worry might lead to anger. But trust me: anorexia can become a monster so massive that you have no control over it. It is not about willpower. When I was in the throes of anorexia, I did not want to be there. I wanted nothing more than to eat normally. And yet, my fear of eating had grown into a living thing. If I ate too much, if I ate outside of what I had deemed ok, or if I gained weight, I believed something horrible, something catastrophic, would happen. I desperately wanted help, but I probably would have denied it had someone offered. This is a common experience for people struggling with eating disorders, and anger is never the best approach when it is your loved one who is struggling. Only a professional is prepared to help someone with an eating disorder." (p. 291)
"When someone is starving, they lose their ability to focus and concentrate. A starving mammal becomes less creative, playful, and optimistic, instead becoming very serious. The brain shrinks and focuses on surviving. Your world becomes very small. You may feel as if you are living with blinders on, or perhaps you experience a sense of unease, a need to be on guard from predators." (p. 291)
"In a well-fed state, we eat food, and the carbohydrates consumed provide glucose, because the brain and heart—particularly the heart—can really only run on glucose. Say I develop a GI bug and can’t eat for two days. The glycogen that is stored in my muscles and liver gets put into my blood. And I have roughly 2,000 calories of protective glycogen that can emerge and sustain me. Now, say this goes on for more than two days and I can’t manage to eat enough to sustain what my body needs glucose-wise. Then it will start tearing apart my muscles and fueling it with my fat in order to synthesize that glucose for me. Your body is literally getting rid of your lean muscle. And that can go on for a while. But when you have anorexia—and especially anorexia AND an emaciated body—when you’ve gotten down to your bare minimum of muscle and have no fat left, your body can’t synthesize glucose anymore. And you’re not eating it. And you have no glycogen in your muscles and liver." (p. 293)
"It’s not that the heart eventually goes slow enough that it stops— bradycardia, or slow heart rate, is very common—but when the blood sugar goes low enough, the heart muscle will just stop beating. And so you were basically living a Russian roulette in which 90 percent of the chambers had a bullet in them. All the time. It is miraculous to me that your body managed to keep going. And the only reason you did is that you have what is called survivor genetics." (p. 294)
"The medical system is complicated and doctors have a profound weight bias. We are taught it, and not much has changed in the past few decades. . . . I suspect that when doctors saw a very thin—frankly, profoundly emaciated—but young, successful athlete, their brains shut off. They didn’t have the capacity (to see anything else) because of their own biases and the problems in our society around what women’s bodies should be. So, it was their fault. They came in with blinders on. And this is universal for my patients." (p. 296)
"But please, if you have started restricting or dieting so that you can climb harder or perform better in competitions, it will never be worth the shit that you will go through." (p. 298)
"When someone is recovering from anorexia, bingeing is common and can lead to a lot of shame. I felt so out of control and was ashamed at how rapidly my body changed in size. I would like to normalize bingeing, though, as simply part of recovery." (p. 298)
"The only way through binge eating is to tell yourself the following: eat what I want. I’m safe in my body. I eat regularly. I will not deprive myself. It is only when I fuel consistently, adequately, and abundantly that my body will settle down." (p. 299)
Thank you Dan Rosca.
Here some of the lines that touched me:
"I didn’t like the feeling of wanting things. Wanting things meant dealing with the inevitability of loss, and I needed to shut that down before its tidal wave consumed me. It was safer to not want anything, to be more dead than alive." (p. 91)
"Back then, I often felt like a silent doormat, being run over by everything. But when I climbed, I allowed myself to feel, to need, to want, and it all exploded out of me in a fierce, there’s-no-fucking-way-I’m-letting-go mindset. Nothing could control me up there— nothing. It was just me." (p. 93)
"If I was making him happy, then he could end up needing me, and when someone needs you for their own happiness, it leads to immeasurable pain. I didn’t want to be needed, not ever again." (p. 193)
"It can be easy to confuse a good climbing partnership with a romantic relationship. Climbing is a sport that bonds you to your partner. You are literally tied to one another, holding each other’s lives, witnessing the other person at their most scared, most jubilant, most vulnerable. It can be easy to think, Well, it works so well here, it should work romantically, too." (p. 253)
"Eating disorders are prevalent in climbing, as they are in any sport with a strength-to-weight ratio component. Although I stopped eating in an effort to regain control over something in my life, food and weight, for me, were very tangled up in my relationship with climbing. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to watch someone you love slowly kill themselves. How that fear and worry might lead to anger. But trust me: anorexia can become a monster so massive that you have no control over it. It is not about willpower. When I was in the throes of anorexia, I did not want to be there. I wanted nothing more than to eat normally. And yet, my fear of eating had grown into a living thing. If I ate too much, if I ate outside of what I had deemed ok, or if I gained weight, I believed something horrible, something catastrophic, would happen. I desperately wanted help, but I probably would have denied it had someone offered. This is a common experience for people struggling with eating disorders, and anger is never the best approach when it is your loved one who is struggling. Only a professional is prepared to help someone with an eating disorder." (p. 291)
"When someone is starving, they lose their ability to focus and concentrate. A starving mammal becomes less creative, playful, and optimistic, instead becoming very serious. The brain shrinks and focuses on surviving. Your world becomes very small. You may feel as if you are living with blinders on, or perhaps you experience a sense of unease, a need to be on guard from predators." (p. 291)
"In a well-fed state, we eat food, and the carbohydrates consumed provide glucose, because the brain and heart—particularly the heart—can really only run on glucose. Say I develop a GI bug and can’t eat for two days. The glycogen that is stored in my muscles and liver gets put into my blood. And I have roughly 2,000 calories of protective glycogen that can emerge and sustain me. Now, say this goes on for more than two days and I can’t manage to eat enough to sustain what my body needs glucose-wise. Then it will start tearing apart my muscles and fueling it with my fat in order to synthesize that glucose for me. Your body is literally getting rid of your lean muscle. And that can go on for a while. But when you have anorexia—and especially anorexia AND an emaciated body—when you’ve gotten down to your bare minimum of muscle and have no fat left, your body can’t synthesize glucose anymore. And you’re not eating it. And you have no glycogen in your muscles and liver." (p. 293)
"It’s not that the heart eventually goes slow enough that it stops— bradycardia, or slow heart rate, is very common—but when the blood sugar goes low enough, the heart muscle will just stop beating. And so you were basically living a Russian roulette in which 90 percent of the chambers had a bullet in them. All the time. It is miraculous to me that your body managed to keep going. And the only reason you did is that you have what is called survivor genetics." (p. 294)
"The medical system is complicated and doctors have a profound weight bias. We are taught it, and not much has changed in the past few decades. . . . I suspect that when doctors saw a very thin—frankly, profoundly emaciated—but young, successful athlete, their brains shut off. They didn’t have the capacity (to see anything else) because of their own biases and the problems in our society around what women’s bodies should be. So, it was their fault. They came in with blinders on. And this is universal for my patients." (p. 296)
"But please, if you have started restricting or dieting so that you can climb harder or perform better in competitions, it will never be worth the shit that you will go through." (p. 298)
"When someone is recovering from anorexia, bingeing is common and can lead to a lot of shame. I felt so out of control and was ashamed at how rapidly my body changed in size. I would like to normalize bingeing, though, as simply part of recovery." (p. 298)
"The only way through binge eating is to tell yourself the following: eat what I want. I’m safe in my body. I eat regularly. I will not deprive myself. It is only when I fuel consistently, adequately, and abundantly that my body will settle down." (p. 299)
February 11, 2023
I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about eating disorders and competition climbing. I would’ve enjoyed hearing less about her late twenties and more about her healing and recovery in her thirties. Therapy, motherhood, marriage, all that stuff. Either way, thank you Katie Brown for sharing your story with the world.
September 26, 2023
This is not a climbing book but rather a memoir of an amazing sport climber surviving a super controlling, hardcore, evangelical, christian mother, maybe partially through climbing. It is mostly about her fighting the internal demons of self doubt, anorexia and depression. While apparently she, at least partially recovers from near suicidal depression it is not clear how this is done nor how or even if climbing played a major role. While with plenty of empathy for her difficult childhood I found much of the book repetitive and not very educating in how one really recovers (if ever) from this sort of up bringing.
August 14, 2023
My daughter went to grade school with Katie and they were our neighbors. You never know what goes on behind closed doors.
July 8, 2024
Rounded down from 3.5 stars.
In many ways, I struggle to review memoirs. This one was no exception. Katie Brown was an accomplished rock climber, whose secretive inner life was a chasm of emotional and physical abuse by her parents, plus anorexia and religious fundamentalism. Her memoir details her entire life’s journey, finally ending in the present; she is now a wife and mother, who has for the most part stopped climbing.
Elements of this book were interesting. I’m a rock climber, so I enjoyed hearing about the competitive climbing scene in the 90s. I also was able to more intuitively understand the climbs Katie described than perhaps a non climber would be. Some names (Ben Moon, Chris Sharma, Robyn Erbesfield) will be familiar to folks in the modern day climbing scene.
In other ways, I had to push myself to get through this memoir. The prose became repetitive after a while, with essentially everything after age 22 sounding the same – a string of unhealthy romantic relationships, impulsive decisions, and deep inner pain. I also at times struggled to keep track of the narrative, as there seemed to be some pieces missing. How did Katie end up at Seattle Pacific University, for example? How did she get an agent and sponsors as a teen?
Overall, despite the so-so writing and narrative, I think this is an important book for anyone to read – especially those in the climbing or competitive sports worlds. Kids who are disconnected and isolated (as Katie Brown was) are a huge red flag for abuse occurring in the home. For no other reason than being able to more accurately spot abusive situations, this book is a deeply necessary addition to the world of climbing writing.
In many ways, I struggle to review memoirs. This one was no exception. Katie Brown was an accomplished rock climber, whose secretive inner life was a chasm of emotional and physical abuse by her parents, plus anorexia and religious fundamentalism. Her memoir details her entire life’s journey, finally ending in the present; she is now a wife and mother, who has for the most part stopped climbing.
Elements of this book were interesting. I’m a rock climber, so I enjoyed hearing about the competitive climbing scene in the 90s. I also was able to more intuitively understand the climbs Katie described than perhaps a non climber would be. Some names (Ben Moon, Chris Sharma, Robyn Erbesfield) will be familiar to folks in the modern day climbing scene.
In other ways, I had to push myself to get through this memoir. The prose became repetitive after a while, with essentially everything after age 22 sounding the same – a string of unhealthy romantic relationships, impulsive decisions, and deep inner pain. I also at times struggled to keep track of the narrative, as there seemed to be some pieces missing. How did Katie end up at Seattle Pacific University, for example? How did she get an agent and sponsors as a teen?
Overall, despite the so-so writing and narrative, I think this is an important book for anyone to read – especially those in the climbing or competitive sports worlds. Kids who are disconnected and isolated (as Katie Brown was) are a huge red flag for abuse occurring in the home. For no other reason than being able to more accurately spot abusive situations, this book is a deeply necessary addition to the world of climbing writing.
March 13, 2023
I bought this book immediately upon learning about it and finished it in two days. There was a small bit of a personal connection as I knew Katie up until the time I was around ten years old, upon which time her family moved. I remember seeing Katie on TV from time as a teenager and being astonished at her skills that she developed over a relatively short time. Little did I know about the pain, hurt, torment, and isolation behind closed doors. Looking back as an adult, I can see it in her eyes, but I was too young at the time to understand. My heart feels crushed, saddened, and broken, learning what Katie endured in silence. I was horrified to learn of the abusive theology that isolated Katie and the overwhelming mental unwellness in her home that led to toxic parenting, which resulted in so much brokenness and destruction. I applaud Katie for taking back her story, breaking the chains, stopping the cycle, and bringing awareness and education. It's important to understand others' lived experiences so that we can better understand our fellow humans. While I know this book must have been difficult to write, I am proud of Katie as her story will help others, whether it's helping others find a connection or bringing awareness or educating.
November 2, 2023
Take a fanatical christian narcissistic control freak of a mother, give her a meek introverted freakishly talented climbing daughter, and see what horrors arise. Katie Brown writes about her outward climbing success as a teen while inwardly she was starving herself (the one thing she could control) hoping to die. The climbing career enabled her mother to control almost every aspect of her life. Homeschooled (which actually seems to have meant not schooled) and not permitted to have friends, her mother was her sole companion. Satan was everywhere and the only reason people might want to interact with her was to *get* something from her.
Katie's young adult life predictably is a disaster.
The book is a bit of a mess. Relationships start & stop without much explanation. And her dog - what happens to her dog? One moment she has a dog and while she isn't the best dog caretaker the dog seems an important part of her life. Then she goes off to Australia. What happened to doggo?
The afterward is great - a description of anorexia and its effects.
All in all a difficult read.
Katie's young adult life predictably is a disaster.
The book is a bit of a mess. Relationships start & stop without much explanation. And her dog - what happens to her dog? One moment she has a dog and while she isn't the best dog caretaker the dog seems an important part of her life. Then she goes off to Australia. What happened to doggo?
The afterward is great - a description of anorexia and its effects.
All in all a difficult read.
March 3, 2024
What an interesting life. But this is so unpolished — as if the contract to publish superseded the time to plan well and edit. Some terrible writing; I’m sad to say it was a slog, distracted from the story of a challenging life in a fascinating world: competitive climbing. This setting was ruined by so many assumptions on behalf of the writer and editors. — who is your audience? Other climbers, or Jane Q Public, and does she know me even one of the esoteric (and no-doubt complex and worth-the-effort-to-describe) hand-holds and ledges, and the climbing moves deployed to overcome them? Otherwise the reader is left to hike thru endless repetition of the telling (not showing) of eating disorders, self-flagellation and family trauma. It’s the book that represents my own fears of writing memoir: Without editing or art, we vomit nothing more than a diary of complaints, regrets and vaguely connected anecdotes.
April 14, 2025
What an interesting life. But this is so unpolished — as if the contract to publish superseded the time to plan well and edit. Some terrible writing; I’m sad to say it was a slog, distracted from the story of a challenging life in a fascinating world: competitive climbing. This setting was ruined by so many assumptions on behalf of the writer and editors. — who is your audience? Other climbers, or Jane Q Public, and does she know me even one of the esoteric (and no-doubt complex and worth-the-effort-to-describe) hand-holds and ledges, and the climbing moves deployed to overcome them? Otherwise the reader is left to hike thru endless repetition of the telling (not showing) of eating disorders, self-flagellation and family trauma. It’s the book that represents my own fears of writing memoir: Without editing or art, we vomit nothing more than a diary of complaints, regrets and vaguely connected anecdotes.
December 31, 2023
This was a harrowing read. Katie Brown was a climbing phenom in the late 90s, and considered one of the best women to ever participate in competitive climbing but all along she was dealing with mental health issues and a severe eating disorder. I've never before read an account of emotional abuse and manipulation in such unflinching detail. Katie details her life from children through her competitive heydey and eventually breaking free of her mother's control, where her life continues to spiral out of control.
It sounds like she eventually found a measure of peace and stability, and I would have liked to have learned more about her post-climbing, more-settled life.
It sounds like she eventually found a measure of peace and stability, and I would have liked to have learned more about her post-climbing, more-settled life.
June 28, 2024
A biography written (and read in the audio version) by Brown, I was fascinated with this woman's life. Her journey as a premier rock climber from youth, her completely dysfunctional relationship with her mother, and her traumatizing eating disorder, Brown shares it all in a multi-colored fashion. Reading her story made me think through just how much unknowing pressure we put on our children, many times a reaction to our own childhood. I highly recommend reading Brown's book, soaking in the nuggets of truth she shares. She owns her pain, shares deep sorries and comes out scathed but alive at the end.
April 22, 2023
Interesting book. I can't help but think that she had mental issues all along. I was particularly troubled about her dog Cody and how she let him run wild while she was climbing. There was some talk of him coming with her when she didn't have any money to feed herself. How can someone take a dog with them while living in a car with not enough money to feed yourself let alone a dog? Then not another word about him for the rest of the book. Not even at the end. What happened to Cody!? Poor dog. Unhinged woman.
April 14, 2025
If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. Katie Brown writes with a brutally honest realism that every girl who was an athlete, struggled with food, or struggled navigating complex mother-daughter relationships needs to read. This was the book I needed at 16, the story that would’ve helped escape some of my own traps that felt all too hard to rid of. I am happy at 24 I can read it. It also provides a deep insight to faith in the lens of mental health, and how that spiritual wrestling intersects with living and working through negative internal experiences. Fantastic read.
July 2, 2024
Brown bravely and honestly documents her relationship with an abusive parent, overbearing religion, and an eating disorder, all while somehow becoming a climbing phenomenon. This was a compelling read, with the only major criticism being how brief the final section was. After going through so much suffering during the book alongside the author, I was sad to miss the payoff of things finally going right - instead, the resolution seemed to happen off-screen.
September 15, 2024
Book was interesting to read from beginning to end.
Even though she had very strict parents being raised with a controlling mom, she used that energy to focus away from her family and turned it into becoming a successful rock climber.
Yet things catch up to us… sometimes you need to opej your eyes and start to deal with things.
Such a great encouragement for everyone to look within ourselves.
Even though she had very strict parents being raised with a controlling mom, she used that energy to focus away from her family and turned it into becoming a successful rock climber.
Yet things catch up to us… sometimes you need to opej your eyes and start to deal with things.
Such a great encouragement for everyone to look within ourselves.
June 30, 2025
Intense and gripping and at one point I had to put the book down and go on Youtube and reassure myself that Katie becomes an adult with some degree of independence.
I wasn't raised in a fundamentalist home, but I can resonate with many of the themes that came up around faith, guilt and the confusion it brings.
Helpful for empathising with someone living with trauma that's still in process, and makes me question my own patterns of disappearing from people and places.
I wasn't raised in a fundamentalist home, but I can resonate with many of the themes that came up around faith, guilt and the confusion it brings.
Helpful for empathising with someone living with trauma that's still in process, and makes me question my own patterns of disappearing from people and places.
November 30, 2022
Very honest account of her struggles with anorexia, depression, codependency with her mom and sex addition. She doesn’t make herself nice and I appreciate that honesty. Defo a user and opportunist with men . Sometimes I wondered if she was on the spectrum as she has zero ability to understand why the men she abandoned felt bad . Or her trauma didn’t let feel anything for anyone else .
February 22, 2023
Goodreads giveaway. Quite the memoir of a top notch mountain climber, from childhood and the battles she overcame, both internally and externally. Ending was rushed, when things finally came together for her, I wanted more details. Really great read. Triggers for eating disorders and child abuse - verbal, mental and physical.
March 7, 2023
I learned a lot about anorexia from Brown’s stories of her years climbing competitively and the sheer havoc it can have on your body. Her writing will hopefully lead to a youth climbing scene that shares a more healthy relationship with food.
January 2, 2025
End left me wanting to know more. There were many many descriptions of failed relationships with friends and lovers alike all throughout- it would have been nice to end with happy relationship details from her relationship with her husband
March 26, 2023
All the trigger warnings, but strongly recommend for anyone struggling with their relationship with a parent
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2024
I love a good nonfiction. Her story is good.
March 12, 2024
It was powerful and emotional. I wanted more about how she overcame the issues of her childhood.
May 3, 2024
V sad, made me want to climb a lot though
December 21, 2024
An unbelievably accurate, honest and brave book. Spot on.
January 5, 2026
Heartbreaking but a crucial for anyone involved in performance, sports m, or raising or mentoring youn people, or
July 23, 2024
Vibes of I’m Glad My Mom Died. Relatable internal narratives. Couldn’t put it down. Should be recommended reading for young competitors.
February 11, 2024
In short, she has run away from her demons (her mother and faith) and their dwelling place (climbing).
The book is really sincere. Yes, it is repetitive as our patterns truly are. It's hard to read, but it is also therapeutic. It illustrates double standards regarding women as well as the indifference of medics who never mentioned her apparent underweight as a possible cause of health problems.
The way out of that was tricky, but she is strong enough to cope with all that shit on her own.
The book is really sincere. Yes, it is repetitive as our patterns truly are. It's hard to read, but it is also therapeutic. It illustrates double standards regarding women as well as the indifference of medics who never mentioned her apparent underweight as a possible cause of health problems.
The way out of that was tricky, but she is strong enough to cope with all that shit on her own.
September 4, 2024
I did not know much about Katie Brown's career but I'd heard great things about her book. Definitely check the content warnings if you choose to read this. Katie has one of the most successful climbing competition careers, but behind the scenes she was suffering and all of the adults in her life failed her. Like with Beth Rodden's book, I appreciate Katie's honesty and vulnerability.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews