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A Life Too Short
- Author
- Ronald Reng
- Narrator
- John Telfer
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 14 June 2012
- Run Time
- 13 hours 25 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Why does an international footballer with the World at his feet decide to take his own life?
On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty two years old.
Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. Here was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona. Enke was destined to be his country's first choice for years to come. But beneath the bright veneer of success lay a darker story.
In A Life Too Short, award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his lost friend's life. Reng brings into sharp relief the specific demands and fears faced by those who play top-level sport. Heartfelt, but never sentimental he tells the universal tragedy of a talented man's struggles against his own demons.
Critics Review
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One of the most remarkable sports books ever written… A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke… stands as the definite work on mental illness in football
Daily Telegraph
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Incredible… It’s a stunning, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of work that has done so much to further the understanding between mental illness and sport. It is also a reminder that, for all the status and all the luxury which come with being a professional footballer, those lucky enough to make a career from the game are still human beings, too
People
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An intensely moving book that transcends football
Raphael Honigstein, Guardian
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Deeply affecting
Sunday Times
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A tragic book, but a brilliant one. Reng's is one of the best sports books to have been published in years
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Ronald Reng
- Narrator
- John Telfer
- Duration
- 13 hours 25 minutes
- Release Date
- 14 June 2012
- ISBN
- 9781448124626
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Biography: sport, Association football (Soccer), Coping with / advice about anxiety and phobias, Suicide: Coping with / advice about suicidal thoughts and suicide of others
Synopsis
Why does an international footballer with the World at his feet decide to take his own life?On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty two years old.Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. Here was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona. Enke was destined to be his country's first choice for years to come. But beneath the bright veneer of success lay a darker story. In A Life Too Short, award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his lost friend's life. Reng brings into sharp relief the specific demands and fears faced by those who play top-level sport. Heartfelt, but never sentimental he tells the universal tragedy of a talented man's struggles against his own demons.
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