Unbreakable
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Having read it
★★★★☆
No doubt it was a cathartic exercise in discussing and guiding what’s in this book but I felt it did take a while to get beyond just the snooker and into his own character and life story.
But, about halfway through a little more about him, his demons and troubles, his family and his methods for living today started to be explained and it ended up being a decent read, demonstrating he has done well, despite his early pro years involving quite a bit of self-sabotage.
As the book sort of gets across, life is a little like a travelling cue ball on a journey of many facets and opportunities and his own shenanigans, love of snooker and dealings with family and the many other people often swirling around him and his success add up to a read that is an honest account and maybe its narrative and reveals were all part of the biographical journey, to make it seem a little like one of his hard fought snooker wins!
A good passage
The things that are really important in life come free most of the time. You don’t have to pay for peace of mind and serenity. You just have to find whatever it is that creates it for you.
I started to realise that it’s not what I spend, it’s not what car I drive, it’s not where I live. It’s about being comfortable in my own skin, and I think that will never leave me. I realised that no matter what situation I am in, being fit and being healthy is so important. Walking the mountains, taking time out, reading, switching the phone off. The food I put in my body. All of these things have become really important to me.
A second good passage
I need coaching, I need solid technique. I’m instinct but I’m science as well. As a mate of mine said, you need scaffolding in place before you can build a beautiful house. To put it another way, Jimi Hendrix could play those insane note-bending solos because he understood scales and arpeggios and chord progressions. All the creative arts are about discipline before they’re about anything else. There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way and you have to do it the right way.
A third good passage
This is the Worlds. We’re here to win. Get your winning head on. Give it the full bollocks.
It would be Judd Trump in the final, after he got past Mark Williams. My preparation, the Sunday morning it began, was to pop over the road to Marks & Spencer’s and have a cup of tea in the little café there.
I didn’t want to be cooped up in my room. I didn’t want to be downstairs in the hotel, getting badgered by people, and I didn’t want to be walking the streets, bumping into everyone on their way to the Crucible. At 11 a.m. on a Sunday the café in Marks is lovely and quiet. They make a nice cup of tea. I could pick up my scone and clotted cream for later on and then stroll into the main store for some fresh socks and underwear.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, rock ’n’ roll rebel.