Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: Jake Lamotta's autobiography describes his life from childhood, including reform school, through his career in the ring and a bit beyond. The story is gripping! Lamotta describes not only with brutal honesty, but with true insight, his aspirations, his shortcomings and the effects his actions had on those around him. Equally impressive is the writing style. Even if written with the contribution of others, the style is lucid and riveting and I kept having to remind myself that this is a story written by a (brawling) boxer. It does fade a bit at the end but the book is a clear winner. One of the best sports books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Rousseau's Confessions Bronx-Style
Review: One cannot help but admire the unflinching honesty of Jake La Motta in his autobiography. This book isn't merely a self-serving recounting of La Motta's rise and fall as a boxer. Instead, La Motta creates a geniune classic. There is no air brushing here. La Motta reveals the deepest, darkest secrets of his life: his murder attempt, raping of a virgin, his impotence, domestic violence etc. As a result, one begins to understand his fears and the utter rage that drove him as a boxer. LaMotta also helps explain something about boxing - that mixture of beauty and violence. La Motta's own honesty is the redeeming quality that delivers the book its greatness. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Raw, unflinching memoir of pain and redemption -
Review: Raging Bull is an awesome retrospective. Through a childhood of abject poverty, crime and pain, La Motta harnessed his evil intentions sufficiently (for a time, at least) to win the Middleweight boxing championship. When such a title meant something.Covering his rise, fall and redemption - LaMotta's voice speaks with blatant honesty. His life has been indeed been fascinating, painful and poignant.
Rating:
Summary: Brutally Honest!
Review: The life of Jake LaMotta was brought to the screen by Martin Scorcese in 1980, and gained immense respect for the gritty life of boxer Jake LaMotta. The book written several years prior is a roller coaster emotional ride by a very disturbed individual trying so hard to make the best of his life. Very well written and descriptively perfected. From his tough upbringing, to his escapades as a young man, to his fight for boxing fame, LaMotta punched his way thru leaving victims behind and not too many friends to show for. Like many movies, book facts were left behind that should have been included. Here are few: His friend Pete, (who was fused in the movie with his brother Joey) was an important person in LaMotta's life. Their wild times as petty thieves, to their separation. Jake's brief time in prison (Juv), where he and fellow boxer Rocky Graziano meet up. This is where Jake decides to become a boxer. And unfortunately, Jake's despicable side; the murderer and the rapist. Jake LaMotta's book portrays his life so honest and brutal, that you almost feel like you are his sidekick during his highs and lows. One rejoices when Jake wins the title, but is horrifed at his domestic actions. Jake is an easy guy to dislike while reading this book, but the nature and feel of this book does its job.
Rating:
Summary: Even Better than The Movie
Review: The Movie was Incredible but the Book is Even Better.WHen You Read About Jake La Motta it's Really Something else.this Book is Very Honest.His Battles with Sugar Ray Robinson are True EPICS.A MUST READ ON A MAN WHO BATTLED IN&OUT OF THE RING.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Sport Yarn Ever Told
Review: There just isn't another biography/autobiography involving an athlete that can measure up to RAGING BULL. The book depicts self-hate and the self-destruction that goes with it in the kind of succinct style you expect from a ghetto-bred boxer. What sets it apart though is that what one finds between the lines is often more revealing than the lines themselves. Jake's method of confessing to grotesque acts without the vocabulary of rationalization says volumes about the pathologies behind them. Instead of getting lost in Freudian buzzwords, La Motta recounts his life in terms that sum up and surpass every treatise on self-destruction ever written. No need for Psychology 101. RAGING BULL is the real textbook on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Sport Yarn Ever Told
Review: There just isn't another biography/autobiography involving an athlete that can measure up to RAGING BULL. The book depicts self-hate and the self-destruction that goes with it in the kind of succinct style you expect from a ghetto-bred boxer. What sets it apart though is that what one finds between the lines is often more revealing than the lines themselves. Jake's method of confessing to grotesque acts without the vocabulary of rationalization says volumes about the pathologies behind them. Instead of getting lost in Freudian buzzwords, La Motta recounts his life in terms that sum up and surpass every treatise on self-destruction ever written. No need for Psychology 101. RAGING BULL is the real textbook on the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: A great life story about how not to live.
Review: This book is a wonderful story of the harsh and sometimes sad life that Jake La Motta lead. It is surprising that such a strong fighter could me such a weak man. Read it and watch the great movie.
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