cheerful( o1 : open : an autobiography; andre agassi. )
I don't follow tennis, and though the name has almost always been familiar, I don't think I've really felt one way or the other about Andre Agassi. When it was brought up as a potential book for the next month's book club, I thought it was a joke (I may be a little bitter after my suggestion of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was quickly put down). But no, no joke, and I continued to think nothing of it when my friend said she'd started it and was hooked. Right. Agassi didn't look particularly pleased on the cover of his book. That had to say something.
I was never properly hooked, in the sense that I had little trouble putting it down, but I also loved picking it back up again. Sure, he probably had fantastic editors, but I thought it was very well written. It says something, to me, when someone can write a consistently understandable account. More so when he's talking about tennis, a sport I continue to not understand all that well. There are moments of drama and just as many funny moments. I like that dialog takes place without quotation marks. Normally I would find this confusing/distracting, but he did it well, and I think it suits the book and probably the author. It has a gripping opening that makes you want to figure out just how he got there.
And I found the book thought-provoking. It makes me think about what professional athletes put their bodies through day in and day out, and what they'll look like twenty or thirty years down the road.
Genre : Nonfiction, autobiography.
Length : 386 pages.
Rating : 4/5 = Pretty darn good.
Currently reading : Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education by A.W. Chickering, J.C. Dalton, and L. Stamm; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
P.S.: The front cover is still disconcerting. But the back cover is adorable.
