Beautiful on the Outside: A Memoir

U.S. Olympic athlete Rippon shares unfiltered stories of his childhood and progress to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where he won a bronze medal in the figure skating team event, in this delightful memoir. The tone is breezy and cheeky (“a lot of the major events of my childhood revolved around whatever outfit I would get to wear”), but Rippon is clear that becoming an Olympian takes serious work and focus. He discusses getting shuttled to practices as a kid by his hardworking but smothering mother; being teased for being gay; putting up with eccentric, former Soviet-bloc coaches; and being so broke as a young skater that he sometimes had only pilfered apples for dinner. He candidly talks about failing to make the Olympic team in 2010 and 2014, and of breaking his foot in 2017 and struggling to get healthy. Some of the most intriguing sections come at the end of the book, where Rippon discusses becoming the first openly gay man to make the U.S. Winter Olympic Team, publicly criticizing Mike Pence during the games for not supporting gay people, and, of course, securing his triumphant bronze medal win. This fun, inspirational memoir will appeal to ice-skating fans who enjoy personality-driven narratives. (Oct.)