Here in Scituate we all love hockey, but have we ever thought about how dangerous the sport really is? The autobiography of Travis Roy in Eleven Seconds is an inspiring book that follows Roy in his journey as a young but very talented hockey player. Roy and EM Swift, the co-writer of Eleven Seconds, hook you in right away with his story and he becomes very easy to connect to. Eleven Seconds was a wonderful book about a strong willed young man.
Travis Roy grew up in Maine and his dream was always to play professional hockey. He worked at it throughout his life and he was an extremely talented young hockey player. Travis ended up making it to a Division I hockey school, Boston University. His dreams were coming true and he was getting the opportunity of a life time to play on the defending national champions’ team. Travis’s life all changed though, in the first eleven seconds of his time on the ice. As he went to check an opposing player in the first game of the season, he hit the boards wrong and he was never able to walk again. Eleven Seconds is about his recovery and triumphs after his accident and how Travis’s life changed for the better and for the worse.
Eleven Seconds was so well written that you can’t put down. As you read, you want to learn more and more about Travis’s life and how he has progressed in his recovery. His family and girlfriend all contribute to the strength of the book because of their involvement in his life and how the reader can tell how much they all love and support him. One of my favorite parts from the book is when he returns to Tabor Academy and gives a speech after his accident. It is about his goals in life and is very inspirational, it made me think of how I should live my life and was a very positive speech. One strong aspect of the book were the picture pages. It sounds like a kid’s book but it really helped the reader to connect and picture what Travis was going through.
For me, Eleven Seconds had very few flaws. One thing that I did not like about the book was how at some points in the story you could tell where EM Swift was projecting his voice more than Travis. It made the story a bit less personal but did not affect the overall story in a big way.
I would give Eleven Seconds five out of five stars. I really connected with the book and thought that it was an amazing story. Although it is a very sad story, it is a “feel good” kind of book because of the love and passion each character has for life. Eleven Seconds was truly inspirational.