It may be good to be Gronk; it’s not so great to read Gronk.
A prince of football tells all about growing up Gronk.
From his days as a young Gronkling through the victory in Super Bowl XLIX, New England Patriots tight end Gronkowski—with the assistance of sports agent Rosenhaus (co-author, with Terrell Owens: T.O., 2011, etc.)—apostrophizes the physical life. We are introduced to his family: four rowdy brothers, a rowdy father, and a seldom-mentioned mom. Simple sentences in a simple chronology (“That first game to start the 2007 season was against Brigham Young University, on the road…I had to go 100 percent on every single play…”) detail high school, college, and pro games, mostly victories, and the parts Gronkowski played in each. The prose does not grow with the boy, and apparently the boy doesn’t grow very much either. For example, the very young Gronkowski says of his brothers, “It was so much fun to me to tackle them when they weren’t looking,” and a more adult Gronk reports that “for no reason other than to get wild, I kicked my brother Gord in the groin and then body-slammed him.” Similarly, the descriptions of the offseason and postgame partying are interchangeable. Games are won; Gronk parties. Games are lost; Gronk parties. Injuries (serious ones) are sustained; Gronk parties. A genuine superstar and legendary free spirit, Gronkowski epitomizes one stereotype of an athlete: he trains hard, plays hard, and parties hard. Nothing else matters, and little else seems to occupy his attention. Anyone hoping to detect a sly grin or ironic wink will be disappointed. Size, strength, speed, intensity, and revelry are the only concerns in this realm of sometimes-vulgar physicality. One impressive note, however, is the author’s claim that he hasn’t spent “one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money.” Other pro athletes could at least learn from that.
It may be good to be Gronk; it’s not so great to read Gronk.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5480-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Jeter Publishing/Gallery Books
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2015
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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