Double Take
Written by Kevin Michael Connolly
Narrated by Kevin Michael Connolly
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
“Kevin Connolly has used an unusual physical circumstance to create a gripping work of art. This deeply affecting memoir will place him in the company of Jeanette Walls and Augusten Burroughs.” — Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants
“Charming … Connolly recounts growing up a scrappy Montana kid—one who happened to be born without legs... [Double Take] makes for an empowering read.” — People
As featured on 20/20, NPR, and in the Washington Post: Kevin Connolly is a young man born without legs who travels the world—by skateboard, with his camera—on his “Rolling Exhibition,” snapping pictures of peoples’ reactions to him… and finds out along the way what it truly means to be human.
Kevin Michael Connolly
Born without legs, raised in Montana, and now a skateboarding world traveler, Kevin Michael Connolly has seen the world in a way most people never will. His internationally acclaimed photo series, The Rolling Exhibition, which encompasses seventeen countries and more than 30,000 photographs of people staring at him, has been featured in museums and galleries around the world.
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Reviews for Double Take
30 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The cover drew me in during a bookstore excursion, and when I flipped through I was delighted to see a lot of photography interspersed.
Kevin (because we're close like that) was born without legs. It's not a disease or the result of anything his mother did or didn't do - it just happened. But his book isn't about that. Well, ok, to an extent it is, because you can't just gloss over something like that. But I guess because he was born that way, he didn't have much adjusting to do. It was simply how he always lived.
As a kid, he played like everyone else – running around getting dirty, getting into trouble - but he walked with his hands. He addresses some of the problems with bullies, trying to ask girls out, typical school stuff. On the other hand, he talks about being fitted for prosthetic legs that made him look "normal" but didn't help him walk, how his mom hemmed special pants for him, and how exciting it was to finally buy a pair of shoes. When these topics came up, I had to pause for a second and remember why they were noteworthy; it was easy to forget he doesn't have legs. Every other line wasn't a "pity me!" statement - in fact, it was the opposite.
Kevin became a skier and competed in the X Games. With the money he won for finishing 2nd place, he bought a camera and traveled to foreign countries on a skateboard. From this unique angle, he captured the stares he'd been getting all his life. The results are some great stories, interesting introspection, and a set of amazing photographs.
It made me think of Adam Shepard's Scratch Beginnings, even though I feel like the two shouldn't really be compared. The only similarities are that they're written by two young men (it makes me proud to be in their age bracket) who are trying to make a difference in some small way. Adam (because WE'RE close like that...) wanted to prove that the American Dream was still alive - and wrote a really inspiring book about it. Kevin addresses a lot of the things strangers thought about him regarding why he was legless and what he was capable of. In a different way, I also found his story inspiring: it made me think about assumptions, personal goals, proving people wrong, etc. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born without legs, Kevin Michael Connolly has seen the world from a customized “MacGuyvered” seat on a skateboard. From his home in Helena, Montana, Connolly traveled the United States to compete in mono-ski races and eventually traveled abroad as a student and photographer. After spending twenty years as the object of other people’s stares, Connolly turned the tables by stealthily photographing people staring at him—doing the double take he learned was the most common reaction to seeing a legless guy rolling around on a skateboard—and came to understand human nature and his own perspective on disabilities in the process.Double Take is a candid, often humorous memoir that provides a glimpse into a very unique life. Connolly writes openly about his childhood, his parents’ creative adaptations to his disability, and his experiences with dating and relationships, exploring the ways in which being legless made even the most mundane experiences remarkable.