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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mick Foley: Master Storyteller!,
By
This review is from: The Hardcore Diaries (Hardcover)
I read "Hardcore Diaries" in just a few days. Once I started reading, I found it a very difficult book to put down. Mick Foley is a great story teller, and the stories he tells in this volume range from hilarious, thought provoking, entertaining, to down right moving. I particularly thought the chapters describing Mickey's discovery of church and the story of the Afghan boy were very touching. Mick Foley clearly has a big heart, and its wonderful that he is so willing to share that in the book. I have read all of his other books except for "Scooter," (yes, I even read "Tietam Brown" and enjoyed it immensely) and this volume compares very favorably to his previous autobiographies.
From a wrestling point of view, the book is highly informative. It is exactly what Mick Foley said it would be: an inside look at WWE. That does not mean it is a comprehensive account of what happens backstage, but it really offers major insight--that I don't think is to be found elsewhere--on what goes into producing WWE's programming. It certainly paints a very interesting portrait of Vince McMahon. I found it very interesting to read Mick Foley's commentary on his recent six-month run back in WWE. I had gradually drifted away from wrestling and WWE in particular for the past few years, but Foley's work in that period brought me back. I share his frustration that the work with Flair and Melina did not lead to more, but I hope it will in the future. It was just a very interesting experience reading Mick Foley's thoughts on these events that I've already seen unfold on WWE programming. The bottom line: I came away from this book having even more respect and admiration for Mick Foley than I did before. If you are a wrestling fan, buy this book. If you enjoy a well told story, buy this book. It will challenge you to think and prove to be emotionally moving as well. And Mick, if you are reading this, your "mistake" made for a great book. Thank you for reawakening my passion for the very strange and unique business that is pro-wrestling.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disapointed but OK,
By
This review is from: The Hardcore Diaries (Hardcover)
As books goes, this was, at best, OK. If you are a wrestling fan and are a true "mark" for Mr. Foley, this will be a great book. If you have read Mick's other biographies, this one is probably the worst of the three. Mick is definitely a storyteller but this book lacked many things, including a good hook, and a good way to keep the suspense going, as he did in his previous book.
It was predictable from beginning to end, which I found boring. I enjoyed hearing more about Mick's private life, including the great charity work that he does. His relationship with his family was also more descriptive in this biography. The stories are uneven, Mick going off on tangents at times before coming back to the story he originally started, something that I did not note as much in his previous books. Overall, good for wrestling fans, otherwise very predictable and poorly written. Finally, a tip: do not note all the typos and mistakes in the book or you'll find it difficult to pay attention to the biography. Note to WWE: get another proof reader!!!!
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A VERY SHORT EMOTIONAL JOURNEY,
By Rick Bankz "rTm" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hardcore Diaries (Hardcover)
Mick Foley is making a comeback. Whether or not it's a successful one is debatable. Although this seems to be the main theme throughout the course of Hardcore Diaries, ironically enough, the same can also be said for the book itself. In the oversaturated genre of wrestling autobiographies, Foley took a huge gamble on this one. It definitely pales in comparison to his first two best sellers Have a Nice Day and Foley is Good in terms of content and subject matter. What Hardcore Diaries does offer that the others have not is an expansive look into the mind of Mick Foley from around 2001 up till now. Because Hardcore Diaries spans only a short amount of time into the life of Mick Foley, another thing this autobiography offers that the other two have not is emotion, and lots of it. As with his wrestling career, Foley was not and never will be a polished, technically sound individual. But what he lacks for in mechanics, Foley more than makes up for in raw, human emotion, and his ability to make his audience feel it.
At the start, the book goes into great detail about the backstage politics of the WWE. Foley comes up this blockbuster idea/storyline that he feels will catapult him into the ranks of wrestling immortality. The storyline will also help push other wrestlers in the company into potential future main eventers. He manages to sell his idea to head honcho Vince McMahon and all is good. Towards the end of the book, Foley finds out that his plans have been unceremoniously squashed and he is left with a difficult decision to make. He is on his way out the door to leave the WWE forever when Vince McMahon offers a compromise. Foley hesitantly accepts the offer but the compromise puts Foley under enormous pressure. In order for the revised storyline to be a successful one, Foley knows he must take his badly beaten and battered body to a whole new level of brutality. That's not the problem though. Later, Foley discovers a whole new problem. Somewhere down the road, Foley lost his passion for the wrestling business and he only has a few short weeks to regain it and turn it into one last memorable performance in which no one will ever forget. Unfortunately, the rest of Hardcore Diaries is more or less, filler. This is Foley's biggest problem as an author. He does a great job in captivating us with compelling and dramatic buildup on one page. Then on the next page, he goes into great detail about meeting Katie Curric, George Steinbrenner, his favorite porn star, and the children he sponsors in Asia. It's all interesting material to say the least, but none of it makes chronological sense. The book goes back and forth in time with no apparent reason and this significantly hurts maintaining the suspense that Foley intended for his readers to have. Perhaps if Foley spent more time on his transitions and less time apologizing for switching verbs to past and present tense, the emotional impact that Foley intended to hammer home would be felt throughout, instead of in short spurts. Even if you're not a wrestling fan, Hardcore Diaries makes for an enjoyable read. Foley is one of the best conversational writers and his unique brand of sarcastic humor is virtually unmatched in the literary world. If you are wrestling fan and you're looking for an in-depth look into the behind the scenes chaos that circulates within the wrestling world, than I recommend Mick Foley's first two best sellers Have a Nice Day and Foley is Good. In terms of space allocated to Foley's involvement with the WWE, Hardcore Diaries only offers us brief, albeit in-depth, moments of Zen. However, if you're into the Rocky Balboa-like come from behind, do-whatever-it-takes to recapture your past success and turn it into one last hurrah of triumph and glory, than you will, beyond a shadow of doubt...be disappointed. Why? Because Hardcore Diaries is mostly just that - a colorful collection of journal entries into the life of one Mick Foley. The reason why I recommend Hardcore Diaries is because it's uniquely different from Foley's first two autobiographies. It falls into it's own unique genre. The question we must ask ourselves is why we have any interest in diaries in the first place? They don't have a sound plot; most don't even make chronological sense. What most diaries do possess however, are great degrees of symbolism, frustration, emotion, and passion. Unfortunately, the one thing that no hardcore diary or any diary of that matter will ever possess... is any semblance of a happy ending. 2115|RNKDW09KK3XZF;2115|R2E04FKZMJ8AGK;2115|RHVXMBQ7AHNP4;
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