(Book) Bret Hart - Hitman

I feel like somewhat of a voyeur when it comes to autobiographies.

There in your hands you hold the entire life story of a human being, whether written by a ghost-writer or not, warts and all these are the actions of a fellow human who walks like you, talks like you, eats like you and sometimes thinks like you.
Its a strange sensation to not only read the thoughts of others but then try and place yourself in their shoes and wonder whether it would have made any difference if you were the person in those situations, it feels to me like im being asked to render judgement on the life - a task ,in this case, that is almost impossible.

I was born in 1985, when i hit the age of 6 there were only two things important to me:- Star Trek and the World Wrestling Federation.
My dreams were full of becoming the WWF Champion, every action figure i had were wrestlers whether they wanted to be or not, my Heroes being Hulk Hogan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Million Dollar Man and of course Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

When you grow up idolising a person eventually you hit a period when you question whether the guy you think the world of is everything he seems to be, that period never seemed to come for me and when I eventually stopped watching wrestling at the end of 2004 he remained the same Hero he`d always been in that part of a person that doesn't grow up.

So, to the book.

The autobiography itself is taken from Bret`s audio diary that he kept for most of his professional career and the level of detail it provides is staggering.
Although clearly biased from the perspective of the author as all autobiographies are, this book right from the beginning of his life to the moment he recovers from his stroke pulls no punches whatsoever, its incredibly hard hitting and does not shy away from issues in wrestling that previous biographies simply leave out.
He names wrestlers that used not merely Steroids but prescription pain medication, marijuana and cocaine and those wrestlers that were drinking virtual lakes of alcohol.

He`s also remarkably frank about his personal life which, to me, was hard reading.

Its very difficult of course for a man such as myself to put myself in his position, being on the road 300 days a year is something ill never be in a position to do, but it does come across that his excuses for his many acts of infidelity seem almost pleading.
His justification for his use of steroids seemed also very weak and felt to me that the whole story of their use by him may not have been told.

The sense of voyeurism reaches uncomfortable levels when he speaks of the tragic "Over The Edge" pay-per-view in 1999 where his brother Owen dies in a tragic accident, the outpouring of grief is almost physically palpable and your heart goes out to a man that will forever be tormented by the thought that if not for Montreal then his brother may still be alive.

Owen`s death also tore apart the entire Hart family and its devastating effects are written about in full to the point where again it becomes almost uncomfortable to read them.

Of course the real meat in the book for wrestling fans will be about the "Montreal Screw-job" and the book does not disappoint in that regard, every word, slap and tear is written about in such detail that if you are possesed of an active imagination visualising it comes very very easy.

Having said all that he is remarkably funny, especially when speaking of the cartoons he used to draw in the locker room and there is an event concerning Ric Flair that will have you in stitches, his stories of life on the road - both in Stampede Wrestling and in the World Wrestling Federation - are stories that wrestling fans need to read as they are as funny as they are illuminating.


So after all that, the real question - should you buy it? well that's a hell of a question that depends on the kind of person you are, bear with me a second:

If your the type of person who has only a passing interest in wrestling then the answer is a stonewall "Yes"
If your the type of person who has no interest in wrestling the the answer remains "Yes"
if you are the type of person who grew up with him as your hero then the answer is "No"

I wrote the first part about my background because i felt it was important to get across that this man was my Hero, with a capital "H".
Reading his book was a gripping experience that was, may i say it?, excellently executed but it was a big hit to the child that dwells within.

Hell i know people aren't as they seem and that people you grow up idolising are human just like you are but it is a difficult thing to take on board and accept, i honestly didn't know or looked over the fact that Shatner wore a toupee for gods sake!

Its often said that you shouldn't meet your heroes  but I never heard it said that you shouldn't read what they write.

perhaps they should?

Demo

Without Any Fanfare.

Greetings denizens of the mightly realm of the Internet.

This site stands as the self-styled last bastion of freedom of review left on the Internet, while there are countless sites out there that offer a comprehensive coverage of single devices/platforms/media/wallpaper there is no one site where its all picked up and slammed together into a giant ball of confused mish mash.

Welcome to the site of not knowing whether ill be reviewing a PC game, a CD, a festival, a CPU, a camera, toilet paper or even the Internet itself!

I hope you enjoy yourself and have a fun time reading, im well aware this may be read by noone but i simply dont care, this is going to be fun whether others realise it or not!

Demo.