Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: A definite "must-read" for "Jackie" fans Review: Although you won't find much detail about his private life today, this ("auto")biography is filled with fascinating info. about how the star known as "Jackie Chan" came to be. The book tells the amazing story of Jackie's upbringing in the often brutal "opera school" that was his home for 10 years. Even more interesting are the stories behind his getting into martial arts films, and how many of his films (good and bad) got made. This is far from the most revealing biography ever written, but for true Jackie Chan fans it is not to be missed!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: An excellent book about a fascinating man Review: If you're a Jackie Chan fan, you must read this book. It is an excellent account of his life, from his pre-opera days through the present. His early days in Hong Kong cinema are as fascinating as his childhood years in the opera school. And Jackie doesn't paint a perfect picture of himself - his accounts of his early success are thought-provoking. If you're not a Jackie Chan fan, go rent and watch "Supercop" and "Rumble in the Bronx" (and "Drunken Master II" if you can find it) and then read this book. You'll be a fan for life!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: so cooooooooooooooooooooool!!! Review: This book is soo good!! If you are a real Jackie fan, You don't wanna miss this book!! it' tell you everything about a guy name "Jackie Chan"
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: An engaging story about a truly extrodinary person Review: We got "I am Jackie Chan" when he was on a book signing tour in Dallas. Though I didn't expect much, this book in every aspect has far exceeded my expectations. As a Chinese and a martial art fan, I felt very connected to the story, and was occasionally moved to tears. This book is an engaging life story about an extrodinary person's hardship, endurance, ambition, wisdom, sacrifices and rewards. Jeff Yang is an excellent choice for writing this book, he brought Jackie's story to life, and for that, we should all thank Jeff. (Jeff's Eastern Standard TIme is an interesting read as well). As a Jackie Chan fan, I am more devoted than ever. I would recommend this book to anyone, fan or not.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Totally FANTASTIC! A truly heartwarming journey! Review: I AM JACKIE CHAN: My Life In Action by Jackie Chan with Jeff Yang is a beautiful and heartwarming account of the triumphant life of Jackie Chan. I laughed and cried all the way throught the book and stopped only for a day or two before reading it all over again! I congratulate Jackie on his choice of "Jeff Yang" to weave the story of his life for us all to ejoy and be inspired by! I highly recommend this beautiful and delightful book to everyone, fans of Jackie Chan or not, for there's certainly something here for all to enjoy and be inspired by! Thank you Jackie! Thank you Jeff Yang!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A truly amazing story Review: Jackie Chan is an enthusiastic actor and stuntman. He has always pleased and thrilled his audience. This book explains why he is so driven and what his life was like before stardom. It's difficult to believe that anyone can go through what he has and still come out with such a positive attitude toward life. His biography should help remind those of us who think we had it rough that ours was really a life of leisure.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Sounds Like Jackie! Review: I loved it. Jackie really is as decent a person as he seems to be in his movies. I agree with his point of view as he is a very direct person. If anybody misunderstood his choice to do his own stunts, he gives a clear explanation of his entire lifestyle. Anyone interested in listening to a person who is both adventurous and down to earth must read about Jackie Chan. Don't miss his movies either!
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: A book that draws you in. Review: Jackie Chan's life story, told in this autobiography, is so filled with interesting and emotional stories that you may not believe that it really was someone's life. Jackie (and his ghostwriter) draw you into the stories so you're not just reading about them, your almost living them with him.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: An Intimate look at jackie's life Review: The book is filled with morsels of wisdom. It's easy to categorize the book as a "rags to riches" or "autobiography", but the book successfully brings the reader into Jackie's life and shows the us the lessons he learned. Each time jackie recounts a pivotal moment in his life, I am left with an epiphany. For those who love jackie chan, this book is a must read. Those are not familiar with jackie will still find the book inspiring and at times heart wrenching.
Rating: ![0 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-0-0.gif) Summary: Co-writing this was an intense,once-in-a-lifetime experience Review: How did I get involved with this project? An agent, Ling Lucas, had seen the book I'd previously edited (Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence in American Culture, from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism, Houghton Mifflin 1997), as well as A. Magazine: Inside Asian America, which I publish; she called me up and told me I'd be "perfect" for a new project she was handling. Top secret stuff. I asked her what the project was, and she told me she'd tell me only if I agreed to come to a meeting with the publisher, Ballantine Books. This was over the telephone, so I can't be sure, but I swear I heard her smile. After finishing EST, I'd vowed not to work on another book project until I'd caught up on several months of sleep, but of course, my curiosity got the better of my wariness. I told her I'd go to the meeting, but I couldn't guarantee I'd get involved with the project. "I'm still trying to catch up with things I'd put off during the last book, like having a social life, eating regular meals..." "The project is Jackie Chan's autobiography." "Where do I sign?" What else could I or any fan of Jackie's movies do? I'd loved his inimitable blend of slapstick and daredevilry since I was a kid. And here Ling was talking about the chance to not only work with Jackie, but to get inside his head...a fascinating, if dangerous, place to be. The trinity of individuals responsible for getting I AM JACKIE CHAN going--Ballantine publisher Judith Curr, executive editor Peter Borland, and, of course, Jackie--apparently agreed that I was up to the task. A month later, I was on a China Airlines jet somewhere over the pacific, wondering just what I'd gotten myself into. Jackie had asked me to come to Hong Kong to spend the weeks surrounding the Reunification Ceremony with him--so that we could get to know each other, and so we could talk about the structure of the book. Reunification Week was an odd and uniquely Hong Kong blend of Christmas and New Year's Eve; signs everywhere proclaimed vast discounts on "Reunification Gifts," hawked souvenirs (like "Hong Kong Air in a Can--the Last Gasp of Colonialism"), and invited would-be revelers to a vast assortment of raves, upscale 'dos, and other shindigs in between. Jackie was, of course, at the center of everything--at the top of A-list guest lists, on every television and radio show, mobbed by journalists and gawking foreigners wherever he went. He was, after all, Hong Kong's most popular, and profitable, export, and its most prominent icon. After two weeks of being run ragged in Jackie's wake, an idea for the book's structure began to emerge. Jackie wasn't just a film star or a stuntman; he was a symbol--a phenomenon. He was born at the beginning of modern Hong Kong, and he grew up as Hong Kong transformed itself from a poverty-stricken shelter for refugees into one of the world's great economic and cultural centers. His birth name was even Chan Kong-Sang--"Born in Hong Kong" Chan. When Jackie and I finally got the chance to spend some time alone talking (very late at night--Jackie seems to have an endless supply of energy), I told him about my idea: Jackie Chan wasn't just an actor, wasn't just an internationally renowned action hero...Jackie Chan was *Hong Kong.* And the thrilling story of his life was also the story of how Hong Kong itself had pulled itself up by the heels to become a society with global clout and cultural influence. He liked it. He loved it, in fact. Because there are just two things that Jackie loves more than anything else: His movies, which are his babies, and Hong Kong, his home and motherland. So the process of writing Jackie's life began. I told him that his fans wanted more than the stuff they could read in movie magazines; they wanted the honest, emotional truth of his life story, the pain he suffered and the mistakes he made, as well as the tale of his eventual triumph. And yes, they'd want to know about his personal life. Jackie was reluctant. "What does my personal life have to do with my movies?" I told him that if they wanted to know more about his movies, they would go to a theater or video store. This book was about his *life*--and all of the things he'd never talked about before. His merciless childhood training in the Opera School, which involved daily beatings and abusive discipline. His love and hate for his master, Yu Jim-yuen. His adolescence (and first love!)--and his young adulthood in the dangerous fast-lane of Hong Kong's emerging movie scene. His early struggles with the ruthless gangsters who dominate the entertainment industry, and how he overcame them. And yes, readers would want to know about his romances, and his family--his wife and son. Jackie was very quiet for a while, thinking about memories he'd forgotten (or tried to forget) over more than four decades of existence. And then he said: "Well, let's get started." Over the next six months, I spent nearly as much time on the road as at home. My staffmembers at A. Magazine covered for me, and I did as well as I could, managing by fax and long-distance telephone. My girlfriend and I split up, the relationship a casualty of my inaccessibility, as I went on trips to Hong Kong, to Rotterdam, to Taiwan, to California, all in the pursuit of Jackie Chan's life. And the story Jackie was telling made it all worthwhile. Funny, mind-boggling, desperate, heartbreaking, and filled with anecdotes that match his movies for sheer outrageousness, Jackie's life story is like none that I'd ever heard or read. And certainly like none I'd ever written. And the book, which spends a great deal of time on his childhood, his early years, and his breakthrough into stardom, might just be Volume One: Jackie has many chapters left in his life, and there's so much still to tell... And maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be around to tell it. Fans will love the book because it's Jackie, undiluted, as he's never been seen or heard before. I may have dressed up the words, but the story on these pages is unmistakably his. Those who aren't yet Jackie's fans (and how many of you are there still?) will enjoy this book because it's a unique and wrenching tale of a rise from abject poverty into global prominence--both Jackie's rise, and Hong Kong's. And I may be biased, because I love and respect the man, and I helped him write the book...but I think it's pretty damn good!
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