Author:Matthew Pinsent
With his last-gasp victory as part of the Great British coxless four team at the Athens Olympics, Matthew Pinsent clinched an historic fourth Olympic Gold to add to the three already won with his legendary rowing partner Steve Redgrave. In an uniquely exciting and evocative autobiography, Pinsent interweaves the build-up to Athens 2004 with the extraordinary story of his career and unforgettable partnership with Redgrave. Plucked from obscurity at the age of 20, told to partner his hero, and trained to within an inch of his life, Pinsent's story is uniquely revealing about what it takes to be a champion and the mixed blessings of success. Culminating with a nail-biting final chapter detailing the team's extraordinary victory in Athens in blow-by-blow detail, A Lifetime in a Race is a sports book in a different mould.
A very honest book - not in a sensational way - but more revealing in the realities of training, competing and racing ... Extremely enjoyable
—— Daily TelegraphA good book, well-written, informative, engaging, revealing ... The insights Pinsent brings to his sport are worth the price alone
—— Sunday TimesThe most insightful of the post-Olympic books in which the super-human rower demonstrates a reflectiveness that is rare among sportspeople ... He writes superbly
—— Independent on SundayPinsent tells his own story in A Lifetime in a Race, and tells it truthfully ...This is another tale that rips off the page and says big, powerful things about sport, and about the frailties of big, powerful men
—— The TimesA gripping account of his life and most recent times. He deftly conveys the sheer effort needed to survive the brutal training regimes in top-level rowing, as well as the obsessive intensity that brought him his Olympic haul
—— IndependentI much enjoyed Matthew Pinsent's A Lifetime in a Race, partly because he wrote it himself, partly because he turned out to be such a likeable and interesting guy, and partly because it gently taught me a great deal about rowing
—— John Gaustad , Evening StandardAn honest and evocative read which details how winning a gold medal takes much more than "merely" winning a final
—— Daily MailPinsent is a person of many talents. One of them is writing an autobiography
—— The TimesGood looking, rich, a sublimely talented athlete and an excellent writer ... an incredible story adeptly told
—— Scotland on SundayIt's a good, funny, moving book... [Sullivan] is unfailingly good company, always curious, often very funny
—— Theo Tait , GuardianSullivan knows how to craft a paragraph and tell a story
—— Sunday Business PostReads as what it is: a great first book
—— Jon Day , New StatesmanThis morning Blood Horses showed up in the post. It’s Sullivan’s first book, a memoir about his late sportswriter father as well as a study of equine racing and breeding and obsessing over. We’re only 30 pages in but we’re convinced Sullivan wins it by a length and then some. He’s the best thing to come out of the south since 2 Chainz
—— Dazed and ConfusedA truly fascinating and brilliantly written memoir recounting Sullivan’s relationship with his writer father but also a detailed examination of horse racing, the love of his father’s life, as well as an entire treatise on the relationship between man and horse
—— Doug Johnstone , The Big IssueBlood Horses blends history, reportage and personal essay. The book is an excellent example of the mixed form that the critic Northrop Frye once called an “anatomy”. [Sullivan’s] enthusiasm rubs off
—— John Sunyer , Financial TimesBrilliant, sometimes maddeningly discursive memoir… Sullivan writes beautifully. Blood Horses makes better reading than the smoothly finished works of less witty and accomplished writers
—— Nick Rennison , Sunday TimesAll the elegance and craft [Sullivan] displayed in [Pulphead] are present once again
—— Tim Lewis , ObserverLuminous, hard-to-characterise book... By the sheer fizzing excellence of his writing [Sullivan] carries off the difficult task he set himself triumphantly
—— Simon Redfern , Independent on SundayIt’s a daring approach combining memoir and reportage and, beneath it all, the autobiographical theme of his attempt to understand his father, but it works magnificently
—— Christena Appleyard , Literary ReviewThe prose is relaxed, the choice of material telling; it is once more a delight to be in his company
—— Paul Laity , Prospect