Rating: Summary: Finally, The Rock, has given us an inside look at his life Review: Finally, The Rock, has come back, to bookstores everywhere. This is one totally awesome book about " The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment". From the moment he was born, all the way up to his classic battles with Triple H and Mankind, this book has it all. It even has a minute-by-minute account of his main event match at WrestleMania 15 against Stone Cold Steve Austin. If you love " The People's Champion", you'll love this book. If ya smellllll, what The Rock, is cookin!
Rating: Summary: Smells Good! Review: When I was young I loved wrestling as entertainment. My dad always said it was "fake" and as I got to be a teenager I realized that is probably true. I remember I began to get turned off by it simply because the characters were not all that exciting any more and the stories had gotten too cheesy. When I was 25 I was "re-turned-on" to the WWF. Due to 2 people: Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock.The Rock (aka: Dwayne Johnson) is one of those truly great stories in entertainment and sports--not unlike the story of NFL's Kurt Warner. This book is really for those fans who like to take an inner-look into what it takes to develop into a WWF wrestler superstar. There is plenty in this book for anyone interested. He goes from his childhood, having a father and maternal grandfather who were professional wrestlers. He is a All-American football player at Miami. Being an avid college football fan, I loved his memories of the Miami program and the other big-time players he played with (Warren Sapp, Russell Maryland). I am glad he including the instances he felt the hard times being on the practice squad in the Canadian Football League and having to sleep on used hotel mattresses and eating only spaghetti. Don't know if these accounts will inspire any would-be young wrestlers, but they give the Rock some depth. I felt the most inspiring moment in the autobiography is how he wanted his father, Rocky Johnson, to train him to become a professional wrestler. Like all caring fathers, he was reluctant, but eventually decided to help. If his son was going to join the business, as a father he was going to manage his progress. A true fatherly attitude. As the Rock quickly rises to the top of the WWF the book goes into some pretty entertaining periods describing life inside the professiional wrestlers tour. I enjoyed the choreography sessions between him and Stone Cold Steve Austin as well as the very well done tribute chapter to fellow wrestler, Owen Hart, who died in the wrestling ring in 1999. He also goes in and out of Rock character to describe particulr important matches for the Intercontinental Title and Heavyweight Title and gives the fans some insight into how he writes and does his promos--probably one those distinguishing characteristics that has built the Rock's popularity more than any other trait. Wrestling has grown since I was a fan as a kid. It probably is not appropriate to anyone other than those over 16 years old. There is simply too much swearing and T & A (not Test and Albert!) now than there use to be. Perhaps good or bad, I am not going to judge. However, this book is no different... I would NOT recommend any kid to read this book--parents reading this thinking about buying it for their 10 year old! Like an R-rated movie, this book is not recommended to anyone under 17 unless your parent knows what is in it. There are several cuss words used through out and he talks some about the loose sexual attitudes as a college football freshman. Again, I am not questioning the judgement of what he puts in his book, because he also devotes a 2 page section to parents that should be monitoring what their kids watch and he also concedes that the WWF is NOT for those under the age of 16. All in all a very entertaining book and a refreshing change of pace from all the history books and literature I tend to read. Wrestling is an indulgence for me--a college graduate and former-history teacher. Just take it for what it is--pure entertainment at it's finest. Nothing more and nothing less.
Rating: Summary: mostly great by the great one Review: Make no mistake about it, this in not some large-print, unauthorized biography, written for a quick buck. This is a solid bio by one of the hottest starts of the WWF ever. The only thing which keeps this book from getting 5 stars for me in the (IMO) overuse of match descriptions, which I found a bit intrusive, and a lot redundant. But then I've watched every moment of WWF programming for the last four years, so remembered many of these matches.
Rating: Summary: Very enjoyable read--better than I thought it would be! Review: I would have given it 3.5 if it was an option. It was a very good book, but it didn't quite deserve 4 stars for one reason. That is, halfway through the book often goes into the Rock character, rather than Duane Johnson. What's bad about this is that it looks stupid in an autobiography and they're not even up to Rock's usual interview standard. It really drags the book down. What they should have done is just put in transcripts of a couple of Rock's best interviews. However, there is a lot of good stuff in there ranging from his youth in Hawaii, growing up in a wrestling family, his football career from high school, to U of Miami to the CFL, and his training for the ring. Heck, even the stories about his early girlfriends are entertaining. The writing flowed quite nicely, probably due to the efforts of Joe Layden. One minor complaint is that the Rock is only 27 years old or so, and his career is still young, so it seems to me that it's a little early for him to have a biography. But that is a minor point like I noted and the book is very entertaining.
Rating: Summary: The Rock + Book = Not good Review: I am a big wrestling fan and I greatly enjoyed Mick Foley's autobiography, but this is not only a bad wrestling book, it's just a bad book period. A great part of Have a Nice Day was the vivid descriptions of matches and such, but in this book most of Rock's best matches are all written in character, which is irritating and pointless. If you want to read a good book get Have a Nice Day but don't waste your money on this.
Rating: Summary: Plain honest Review: "The Rock says" is a vivid and honest passage of the Rock's life, from his earliest memories of childhood, to days when he had to rough it out to make ends meet and finally his rise to stardom. The Rock expresses personal accounts of growing up in a family that held much respect; of a Father that turned towards alcohol which threatened family ties; a Mother's strength in keeping a family together; the Rock's admiring love for his wife , her faith in him and his courage and will to succeed. The Rock goes on to explain how the business of wrestling really works, how is life had changed dramatically to face a new, demanding career and the fine line of traditional wrestling and sports entertainment. This book is a must read for fans of sports entertainment wrestling and for anyone who wants to take a peek at the life of a professional wrestler, told simply and honestly.
Rating: Summary: A Great Book to Read Review: I thought that this was a great book. It was interesting to read about The Rock's life growing up in the business, playing football in college, and getting started wrestling in the WWF.
Rating: Summary: I wish the book was longer Review: I am not a wrestling fan (I didn't watch my 1st match until I was almost done with the book), and I didn't even know who the hell the Rock was (until Wyclef's song). But after reading this book, I am a die hard fan. I am an African American female- working in the business world- really not much in common w. Duane Johnson at all, but I was touched by his life experiences (some similar to mine) and his point of views on many topics. It was also fascinating to get a peek into a world that I never really knew before. I really couldn't put the book down (and my friends are tired of me talking about it). Pick it up- it's a quick, enjoyable read. You will find yourself laughing out loud. BTW- does the Rock have any 20 something cousins that look like him :-)???
Rating: Summary: He is human! Review: When watching WWF wrestling, it is hard to believe that The Rock is a real person. He seems more like an idol who's name is chanted by thousands. I wanted to learn more about him. It was interesting reading. He was a kid, like most others, who had a dream of being famous. He went to college, fell in love, graduated, and got married. He even suffered through the hard times that most of us every-day people go through. It was refreshing to get Dwayne Johnson's view on things. He is not the same guy as he protrays. He readily admits that wrestling is "entertainment", and that there is a script that they follow. He will also admit that there is real pain involved. It was a very refreshing look at a sport many call "fake" and it left me with a new found respect for those who enterain millions of people every week.
Rating: Summary: A very generous 3 Review: I thought overall the book was decent, it doesn't even begin to compare to Mankind's Have a Nice Day. The childhood acounts were entertaining for me, and I zoomed through the beginning of the book. Then we get to his tryout with Pat Patterson which leads to his first match, and from then on, it gets bad. Details are lacking, for instance in is description of how he was gonna win the Survivor Series, nothing there, he talks about the importance of the Intercontinental belt, yet he lacks to tell about the matches in wich he won and dropped it. He spends more time talking about his Last Man Standing Match tan he does his amazing Royal Rumble Match, which maybe take up half a page. He also likes to make statements that may be negative, but then quickly clear his name of the accusations. Not to say the book didn't have bright spots, his accounts of Owen, and masny of his views of the business. And come on, we all love watching The Rock cut his promos, but to sit and read in the thrid person for more than a few pages is a little much to me. So to rap this up, The Rock didn't win any titles with me on this one, better luck next time
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