Book Review

Book Review

Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock

By Mark Tewksbury
John Wiley & Sons, 262 pages

Hitman: My Real Life In The Cartoon World of Wrestling

By Bret Hart
Grand Central Publishing, 571 pages

When Calgary’s most famous son named his 2007 autobiography Hitman: My Real Life In The Cartoon World of Wrestling, he summed up his story with all the precision and flash of his most fabled ring move. It was a “sharpshooter” of a title.

Except, perhaps, for the word real, because anybody who reads the book would have to agree that surreal is a better description for the life of Bret (Hitman) Hart. Growing up in the legendary Hart House and taking his knocks in the family Dungeon; following father Stu Hart into the weird world of pro wrestling, where the lines between sport and theatre collided like a head on a steel turnbuckle; learning the game in the family’s Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling promotion before hitting the big time in the WWE, the very juggernaut that put his dad out of business.

Hitman takes us through epic battles with the likes of (Stone Cold) Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels, and stinging betrayals such as the infamous “Screwjob in Montreal” where Hart feuded for real with his boss Vince McMahon Jr.

Then there are the tragedies, Hart’s tale is rife with them, most notably the death of his younger brother Owen during a 1999 pay-per-view match and the debilitating stroke Bret suffered in 2002.
Somehow Hart rises above it, emerging in Hitman as a true survivor, a title even more impressive than the many world championship belts he wore over the course of his iconic career.

— Heath McCoy

September/October 2011

Playing With Fire

By Theoren Fleury and Kirstie McLellan Day
Harper Collins, 272 pages

In Theoren Fleury’s Playing with Fire, Fleury and co-writer Kirstie McLellan Day take readers on an incredibly raw, emotionally charged roller coaster ride that corkscrews into Fleury’s personal hell with intermittent interruptions of bliss. The book seems to be a cathartic experience for Fleury. With every page you can feel the weight coming off the man’s shoulders.

All the experiences of Fleury’s life are not only put out into the open, but also onto the audience; the book creates a dynamic where  readers feel like a friend along for Theo’s wild ride, but powerless to help despite our sincerest wishes to do so. Since we know Fleury overcomes his demons, you can’t help but read to the last page to learn how the chaos didn’t kill him.
There seemed to be too few instances where Fleury got to celebrate his life; he did have his children, his Stanley Cup championship in 1989, and his Olympic gold medal in 2002, but the absence of joy in his early life was palpable.

The NHL has its share of legends whose careers were cut short; Mike Bossy only played until he was 31. Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux played until they were 30. All of these players are considered all-time greats.

Theoren Fleury’s NHL days ended in a blaze when he was 34, and Playing With Fire reveals that the player who everybody said was too small to make it, could have been in the conversation of “greatest of all time,” if the only opponents he had to face off against were on the ice.

— Luc Welner-Monchuk

September/October 2011