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Title: Gretzky: An Autobiography by Wayne Gretzky, Rick Reilly ISBN: 0-06-016339-9 Publisher: Harpercollins Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: He's not Whine Bratzky for nothin'!
Comment: In an Sports Illustrated tribute issue on Gretzky, Rick Reilly claimed that getting him to talk about himself was like pulling teeth. Well, if that's the case, Gretzky must be wearing dentures!
He imagines the kids who played with and against him growing up hated him because of his God-given talent. He takes a perverse pride in impregnating his wife 4 months before their wedding. He resentfully informs us that if a family member or friend wants to go to a game, the player has to buy the ticket. He gratingly talks about himself in the third person. Yet, his egomania is almost understandable, though not inexcusable. In an amazingly frank 1990 interview with the L.A. Times, he revealed how Walter Gretzky got his jollies toying with his boy's psyche and pushing him unforgivingly to make it beyond the 3rd line of his pee-wee team (the apex of Gretzky pere's career).
He slams everyone from his houseboy (for not being a coffee expert even though he comes from Columbia) to a woman at a newsstand (for demanding he pay for an issue of Time he was on the cover of). But he saves most of his bile for Peter Pocklington. True, he would've become a mega-star anyway, but Pocklington came along at a time when the NHL wouldn't touch him due to his age; for that alone, Gretzky should be thankful. Promblem is, he doesn't know the meaning of the word...I don't know what bothers me more, how he paints himself as the hapless victim of The Trade (he wasn't) or the smirk on his face on the cover. If Gretzky proves anything, it's that he's petty, emotionally immature, at times, a real jerk, and even something of a bigot ...anything but the "class act" the media - and himself - believes he is.
Rating: 5
Summary: Not the goody-two shoes I thought he was
Comment: Who knew that Wayne's so opinionated? In that respect, this book was a real surprise. I thought I was getting the usual sports bio, "We went into game 5 tired and spent, yada yada yada..." While Wayne does include things like that, he does provide insight on what it feels like to be a highly recognizable person. Most celebrities are too egotistical to admit to feelings of lonliness at the top, for instance. Wayne admits these feelings, yet also enjoys his moments. I also liked how he pulled no punches when it came to his feelings about Peter Pocklington. You'll want to get into a hot shower and scrub yourself red, after reading the chapters on The Trade. He also occasionally decries The Supreme Lord Sather. Nice to see someone in the game not worship at the altar once in a while, isn't it? Yet he's still the greatest ambassador hockey has had. This book is better than Kevin Lowe's gloss-job, I'll tell ya that.
Rating: 5
Summary: it was an exelent book all of the quots were great
Comment: I loved the quotes. once I started to read it i could not stop. I could not belive I read a book that was that long. Wayne Gretzky is the greatest man who ever lived. It is amasing when you think about it how many peaople try to idolise him. go into a hockey rink and look to see how many people actally do idolise him. And it is all because his jursey was too big for him when he was playng with the 17 year olds. My favorite part was when walter Gretzky quotes "I did not build a rink to watch my son grow up to be a pro I did it so I could watch from the kitchen where it is worm"
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