"... Nadia’s plan to escape was simple, and she put it into effect without the help of any intelligence service, be it Romanian or foreign. (Kindle location 5237)"

I put this quote at the top because the publisher of the English-language translation, in its advertising for this book, implies absurdly that the book will contain revelations of intelligence-service meddling:

"[The book] reflects on burning questions surrounding the heart-stopping, border-hopping defection to the United States that she successfully undertook in November 1989. Was the defection organised by CIA agents? Was it arranged on the orders of President George Bush himself? Or was Nadia aided and abetted by some of the very Securitate officers who were meant to be watching the communist world's most lauded sporting icon?"

These accusations are very briefly addressed at the end of the book, including but not exclusively in the quote above. Most of the book is about Comaneci’s struggle with, and abuse by, her trainer during her time as a world-famous athlete.

Since the word “abuse”, in our time, is usually associated with sexual abuse, especially when the subject is male trainers and female athletes, I want to make clear that there is absolutely no evidence of sexual abuse presented in this book as far as I could tell. (I must admit I skimmed a bit at times.) The abuse made explicit in this book is mostly in the form of verbal insults, and there is also the starving of Comaneci and her cohort to keep them at performance-level weight.

Here at Goodreads, there are many positive reviews, written in Romanian, of the original text. I lived in Romania a long time ago, during the twilight of the Ceaucescu family’s grip on power, that is, part of the period covered in this book. I have retained (barely) enough of the language that I learned to determine that at least one native speaker of Romanian, here on Goodreads, felt that the book, in the original, was well-written, and another felt it was rigorously documented. I can’t comment on the former, but the English translation is, to be charitable, not very readable. However, concerning “rigorously documented”, there is no argument: yes, it is. The author clearly spent a lot of time combing the archives.

This book, it seems to me, was written by a Romanian to make sure that a small slice of a long difficult period is not forgotten or twisted to suit someone’s particular ends. If written history can ever be healing, this book might help Romanians accurately remember their past and come to grips with it. This is a worthy goal. However, for the non-Romanian, the long, drawn-out, detailed descriptions of Comaneci’s deprivations, given to the secret police by the legion of people close to her who informed on her every activity with apparent enthusiasm, will be of limited interest.

I don’t know if there would be any way to make this book compelling to most non-Romanians without rewriting it from beginning to end.

However, if you are a native-English-speaking historian (or student historian) of Eastern Europe, this book may be useful, as people, even if they are a great scholar, usually cannot possibly master all of the diverse and often difficult languages of Eastern Europe. Romanian, especially, as a non-Slavic language, sometimes is the odd man out.

I was given, free of charge, an advance electronic review copy of this book by Bloomsbury Publishing via Netgalley. However, the book was virtually unreadable as distributed in this form. There was no evidence that a human being who takes any pride in their work looked at the electronic file before sending it into the world. The words “Proof not for distribution or sale” appeared, sometimes in whole or sometimes in part, sometimes in recognizable order and sometimes as individual words in various fonts, seemingly at random on every page throughout the text. Sentences often ended abruptly, sometimes in mid-word, with no indication of how much text was missing.

This, as you probably can tell, annoyed me while reading. However, I think I understand why “Proof not for distribution or sale” needed to appear on every page. One charming and admirable characteristic of Eastern Europeans (including Romanians) was that (at least when I lived there) they still cherished the power of the written word, and took books more seriously, than in my native culture of the US. The upshot of this was a vigorous, efficient, and ubiquitous market in pirated books, both in local language and in translation. I believe, by making advance copies difficult to read, the publisher was protecting his content for as long as possible. Certainly understandable, but once a nice clean copy of this book in English translation is published, you may shortly afterward be able to buy a cut-rate knock-off at your local Bucharest street kiosk.

Nadia Comaneci is what most Americans knew about Communist Romania in the 1970s and 1980s. This amazing young gymnast even as a person from an ideologically enemy state still amazed us. Unfortunately, she was also controlled and persecuted with virtually no control over her own life and physically abused by her coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi as well as the Romanian secret police. What price must be paid by children for the entertainment of adults?

While the content of the book is good, the translation from Romanian to English is terrible and did not flow at all. It was so confusing to read. The book analyses the performance between sports and politics during the communist regime. For the Romanians to keep control of the gymnasts they have massive surveillance and informants reporting every move the gymnasts make. National prestige must triumph over verbal emotional, and physical abuse at all costs to win and to keep dictatorship alive.
If you are interested in a look into what happened with Nadia Comaneci or if you are a gymnastics fan, then I can recommend this book but just be aware and maybe wait and see if the editing from the ARC to the final publishing may improve. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a really interesting book. Using Romanian secret police files, and other government documents, this book tells the behind the scenes story of Nadia Comăneci, Béla and Marta Károlyi, abusive training practices, and the government’s oppressive control and surveillance. Due to secret informants, bugged houses, and phones being wiretapped there was evidence all the way back in the 70s of how Béla Károlyi lied about discovering Nadia and the abusive way he trained her and other gymnasts. It’s sad to read about Nadia being so young and fighting so hard to get away from Béla.

While the content of the book is captivating, the actual writing held me back from being able to love this. I don’t know if it’s because the translation is trying to stay closer to how it was written in Romanian instead of structuring it for English, but so many of the sentences were incredibly clunky and did not flow well at all. I was constantly having to reread sections because the way they were written was so confusing. I did read an early copy of the book, so maybe there will still be some editing from the ARC to the final published version. But it’s not like it was just random sentences here and there that were off, it was all throughout the book.

I still think that if you’re a massive gymnastics fan and are interested in a look into what happened with Nadia and the Károlyis in Romania then I’d recommend checking the book out. While you might have to struggle through some confusing writing, the information that you get is really fascinating.

It was a pain to read this book and not because of the subject. I know that it's an not proof copy but it's hardly readable. The paragraphs are cut of suddenly, sentences not finished and the language..... it looks like the book was translated by one of the google translators. One star for trying.

In 1976, with her dazzling gymnastics performance at the Olympics, Nadia Comaneci won the hearts of the world. Little known beforehand, she emerged an idol to many, an inspiration to others, such as a young Michelle Obama, who begged to take gymnastics classes, while others simply wanted the fame and fortune that surely followed. Right?

Well, that was what most thought. The reality, as this book reveals in occasionally excruciating detail, was far from ideal. In fact, Nadia was living a nightmare, surrounded by manipulative coaches and spies, spies everywhere, taking photos and notes, and both physically and mentally abused.

This book made me sad and angry. I found myself having to take frequent breaks from reading as it detailed life under the microscope of autocratic rule. Toss in harsh training, abuse at the hands of trainers Bela and Marta Karolyi, and being largely separated from family and friends, with no freedom to simply disappear for awhile, and you have her life. Decisions were made for her, not always for her own good.

I cringed as I read of not just physical abuse but how Nadia and teammates training with her were kept on near starvation diets, belittled, overworked, and forced to compete despite illness or injury. I couldn't help flashing to thoughts of American gymnastic star Simone Biles and her decision to skip several event competitions in a recent Olympics. Nadia never had that option. Her life wasn't her own. She was a hero, true, but quite frankly, used as a tool of the state. She was pretty much under surveillance 24/7.

Based on information found in formerly secret files, the author has done a superb job ferreting out information on not just Nadia, Bela and Marta Karolyi, but some of the behind-the-scenes going on with scoring and such. Much of the focus is on Bela Karolyi, however. I should note that neither Bela nor Marta Karolyi responded when asked by the author for comment. I'm not going to detail the long list of facts here -- the research was in depth and there is a wealth of information here on not just Nadia's situation but life in autocratic states. It isn't an easy read but is well worth the effort. If you're like me, you'll find yourself both drawn to and repulsed by what is revealed. Like many, I, too, watched Nadia shine in 1976. If only I had known....

Thank you #NetGalley and #BloomsburyAcademic for giving us the hard, unsettling truth.