- Published: 15 July 2012
- ISBN: 9780224091664
- Imprint: Yellow Jersey
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $29.99
A Life Too Short
The Tragedy of Robert Enke
- Published: 15 July 2012
- ISBN: 9780224091664
- Imprint: Yellow Jersey
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 400
- RRP: $29.99
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
Sam Wallace, Daily Telegraph
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
Tom Hopkinson, People
An intensely moving book that transcends football
Raphael Honigstein, Guardian
Deeply affecting
Ian Hawkey, Sunday Times
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
This is a powerful book which transcends football.
Sport Magazine
Deeply affecting
Matt Dickinson, The Times
Moving...after reading it, I felt I not only understood depression a little better but also determined never again to believe the myth of the sporting superman, impervious to criticism or pressure
Sarah Crompton, Daily Telegraph
A Life Too Short is a sports biography about as much as BS Johnson's classic The Unfortunates is a sports novel. Both are books about grief. But football runs through the heart of Enke's story and this book belongs to the first rank of publications on the game of minds and souls that exists behind the beautiful game that is seen on the field. It is both a fitting tribute to a lost friend but it is also a salutary warning to the great football clubs of the world
Keith Duggan, Irish Times
Enlightening and visceral...An indispensable insight into a man and an illness, Reng's book is a sobering yet brilliant account and may yet restore faith for the disenchanted man in the street
Sabotage Times
Enke had often talked to his friend Reng, a journalist-cum-novelist, about writing a book together. Now Reng has done it alone, beautifully...this is the mature work of a writer who has gone far beyond sensationalism. It allows you to turn back and read football differently
New Statesman
It should be on every British football fan's reading list
Ben East, Metro
A masterpiece… I have read few other books, fiction or non-fiction that is so startlingly sensitive, honest and sincere
Bundesligafanatic.com
It’s pitched perfectly – intensely moving without becoming overly emotional or morbid
Sharon Wheeler, Times Higher Education