Review: "Unstoppable!" by Maggie Nichols

Unstoppable! by Maggie Nichols
Published January 2024 via Roaring Brook Press
★★★

Nichols is a gymnast, and by the time she was a teenager she was used to exceeding expectations—and then exceeding them again, and again. She had good reason to hope for a spot at the 2016 Olympics. Instead, she became Athlete A in the case against Larry Nasser...and was frozen out of USA Gymnastics, the (now scandal-ridden) governing body for the sport in the US.

As a story, I appreciate this—Nichols is not shy in calling out the many, many people who were complicit in Nasser's actions, from ignoring reports of abuse to explicitly working to discredit victims and protect their abuser. This is one of numerous recent gymnastics memoirs that talks about Nasser's abuses, and the scope is breathtaking. I also hasten to note that Nichols' primary focus is on her life in gymnastics, not on the actions of adults who perpetuated and enabled abuse; Nasser is not (and should not ever be) the beginning or end of her story.

As a book, it's not great. Nichols is well educated and clearly intelligent, but I think her expression comes across better in the gym than on the page. I was so full of emotion. (loc. 1055) It was just so awesome. (loc. 1059) We all stuck our bar dismounts, and it was just like the craziest feeling ever. (loc. 1597) It was just magical. (loc. 1603) I was ecstatic. It was just so super exciting. I was so happy. (loc. 1808) There's a ghostwriter credited on the book, but this might be a case of hewing a little too closely to how a young twentysomething speaks. An okay read for teenage gymnastics fans, but there's quite a lot out there in terms of both gymnastics generally and recent scandals more specifically, and this wouldn't be one of the first books I recommended for those interested in either of those things.

Nichols went on to have an extremely successful college gymnastics career, and it's sort of nice to think that her continued success—and the doors open to her—is a middle finger in the face of USA Gymnastics.