Many would hear the words “eleven seconds” and they would not know what to think. In this case, Eleven Seconds is a true story based on a young man who had his dream cut short due to a tragic accident: Travis Roy, who wrote this book with E.M. Swift. In this book, Travis talks about, not only the game of hockey, but his life before, during, and after his accident. Hockey is the main focus of his life. In my own opinion, there are no weaknesses to this book, only strengths. In terms of plot, there really is none. Instead, Travis sets his own goals in life and, for him, that is the plot and he does a very good job of describing them. The writing style has very friendly tone and is easy for the reader to read. This story can also be characterized as a life lesson.

The three themes of Eleven Seconds are tragedy, courage, and triumph. These themes fit this story extremely well because Travis Roy achieved his goal of playing college hockey, even though it was only for eleven seconds. Also, there was a major tragedy when Travis had his accident when he cracked his fourth vertebra and became paralyzed from the neck down. Finally, he had enough courage to talk about it and make a book about it.

After reading Eleven Seconds, I realized that, in life, you really cannot take anything for granted. I would recommend this book to others also because in our society, people just assume something will happen and they take things for granted. Remember, work hard to succeed.