Finding The Edge Book Report

This book is called Finding The Edge by Karen Chen. This nonfiction book is an autobiography, which means it was written by her. It is a combination of text structures and is organized into stages of life with chapters. The author's purpose is to inform and entertain. In my report, I will be focusing on Karen Chen, and how she combats her struggles in her skating career, the intense training and diligent mindset she had to become successful, and her childhood.

Karen Chen has combatted many challenges in her skating career. She was an amazing figure skater, winning many national titles. In Chapter 8, Karen tells us how she gets rid of stress after a devastating skate. “I knelt down and, with my fingertip, started to draw figures in the snow.

She began homeschooling in 6th grade to have more training time. This sacrifice allowed her to skate more and have emptier sessions on the ice. Chen skates 2-3 hours a day, and goes to the gym 2-3 times a week for cardio and core workouts. She also eats very healthy in order to stay fit for skating. Her mindset is to always work hard, and have a positive outlook while skating in order to have success. In chapter 4, Karen Chen writes, “I hate to be lazy. I hated the word lazy. I always worked hard and gave everything 100 percent. . I’d do things over and over and over again until they were right,” (44). This suggests that she knew that she must work hard to achieve her goals. She explains that “anytime we fall, we’ve already fallen in our minds before our bodies even come close to hitting the ice. The best skaters compete against themselves to overcome internal and external forces,” (73). In other words, when you fall, the biggest challenge is the feeling of failure. You have to figure out how to control your mind, body, and emotions when you go through hardship. As one can see, her determination and driven mindset made her who she is today: a U.S. national