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kintha's review
3.0
Andre is perhaps the last legend, in that enough of him exists on video that anything is credible, but little enough exists that "it's not on video" is not a real argument. Before Andre everything is a myth. After Andre we knew or we don't. Accordingly, I've always loved "Andre stories" and was excited to learn about this book.
I really wanted to love this. But the art is okay, the narration is okay, and the stories are the well documented rather than the legends. But it's still cool, because it's Andre. Assuming you love Andre.
I really wanted to love this. But the art is okay, the narration is okay, and the stories are the well documented rather than the legends. But it's still cool, because it's Andre. Assuming you love Andre.
sqeeker's review
2.0
- I was really disappointed with this book.
- I was hoping for more of Andre's life and him dealing with his physical condition. Instead the story is about Andre's career as a wrestler and the wresting world.
- I wanted more on his role in The Princess Bride. The movie only got a couple pages, and it didn't go into detail on anything it was just a few fun panels.
- I didn't like how Andre was portrayed. Cary Elwes describes him as a very kind and gentle soul. He only had high praise for Andre, and this graphic novel paints him in a darker light with very little to no mention of his kinder side.
- There is a lot of F-bombs. It was a bit ridiculous how often that word showed up.
- Overall, I wouldn't recommend this. If you want to know about Andre, read As You Wish.
- I was hoping for more of Andre's life and him dealing with his physical condition. Instead the story is about Andre's career as a wrestler and the wresting world.
- I wanted more on his role in The Princess Bride. The movie only got a couple pages, and it didn't go into detail on anything it was just a few fun panels.
- I didn't like how Andre was portrayed. Cary Elwes describes him as a very kind and gentle soul. He only had high praise for Andre, and this graphic novel paints him in a darker light with very little to no mention of his kinder side.
- There is a lot of F-bombs. It was a bit ridiculous how often that word showed up.
- Overall, I wouldn't recommend this. If you want to know about Andre, read As You Wish.
davygibbs's review
3.0
A little disappointing, actually. What's here is fine, but as a whole, the story feels incomplete. The anecdotal style of the narrative is not a bad thing in and of itself, but they never came together in a satisfying way for me. I don't feel like I know anything about Andre the Giant I hadn't already read in the Wikipedia entry.
saidtheraina's review
4.0
People are just people, folks. We all have our own stresses, perspectives, lenses, experiences, biases, talents, desires, skills, challenges, weaknesses, and strengths. But we're all just people.
Andre the Giant was no exception.
Prior to reading this book, my primary reference point for him (like many people), was The Princess Bride. After reading this book, and googling a bunch of photos of the guy, I feel a bit more expert on the man.
Andre Roussimoff's story makes me contemplate:
Using potential challenges to your advantage
Being in the public eye
Where the line is between capitalizing on yourself and being a victim
Stardom
Sadness
Alcoholism
Professional wrestling
He comes off as a well-meaning sweetheart, a tragic figure, affable, and practical.
I enjoyed Brown's approach and attention to the scholarship of his story - he includes a Foreword about Professional Wrestling, and Source Notes at the end.
I really wish I could take it to middle schools, but decided that for me, it's more of a high-school book.
Andre the Giant was no exception.
Prior to reading this book, my primary reference point for him (like many people), was The Princess Bride. After reading this book, and googling a bunch of photos of the guy, I feel a bit more expert on the man.
Andre Roussimoff's story makes me contemplate:
Using potential challenges to your advantage
Being in the public eye
Where the line is between capitalizing on yourself and being a victim
Stardom
Sadness
Alcoholism
Professional wrestling
He comes off as a well-meaning sweetheart, a tragic figure, affable, and practical.
I enjoyed Brown's approach and attention to the scholarship of his story - he includes a Foreword about Professional Wrestling, and Source Notes at the end.
I really wish I could take it to middle schools, but decided that for me, it's more of a high-school book.
helpfulsnowman's review
3.0
Hulk Hogan on Andre the Giant:
...people don't get it. There was never a fork or a knife, even a bed! There was never a situation where he could be comfortable. He was a seven-foot-four giant. With all the injuries and everything he shrank down to under seven feet.
I watched him when he'd walk ahead of me at the airport. I heard people say horrible things and make fun of him.
He lived in a cruel world.
If you really understood what he went through and what he was all about, he was a gracious person with a kind heart. But he didn't put up with any games or chicanery.
Most people don't understand the big picture.
It turns out that being a giant kind of sucks. For the giant. For everyone else, it's sort of awesome. Rob Reiner has to explain Andre's $40k bar tab from a month of shooting in London, sure, but it's a great story. Samuel Beckett drove a young Andre to school after he grew too much and wouldn't fit in the school bus. Luckily, Beckett owned a truck and Andre could sit in the bed. Again, a pretty great story.
On the giant's side, there's a lot of pain, a lot of problems, and you're just about guaranteed to die young.
What I liked about this book was that it was an unvarnished look at a man's life. If you google around for Andre the Giant stories, lots of stuff about what a great dude he was, so kind and generous and all this. But the truth is that he pissed some people off. He was an ass more than a few times.
Andre's memory might be a case of widespread AJ Syndrome.
AJ syndrome is a term I coined based on this kid who died at my junior high school. I certainly wouldn't ever ever ever wish death on someone that young. Even then I didn't. But when I heard the kid died...well, I could only conjure memories of the kid being a complete jerk. Because that's the way he acted.
It's unfair to respond to the death of a teenager by saying he was a jerk. Because so was I, and I was lucky enough to have time to build new opinions of me. Now people can hate me in a much more informed way, and I'm able to be a more adult, more mature type of jerk to them.
However, what's also a bit unfair is to remember the dead as something they weren't. To manufacture niceness from someone because they are now dead. Especially when we're talking about an adult, even if that adult had a difficult life in a lot of ways.
This book, more than most of the other things I've read about Andre, seems to present the truth. Andre the Giant was a guy. A giant guy, a guy who drank over a hundred beers in a sitting, after which he passed out and was tucked under a piano cover, the only thing big enough to accommodate him. And he was also a guy who could be kind of a dick sometimes.
Yes, he's dead, and there's not a lot of point in saying bad things about the dead. EXCEPT that it makes me wonder...well, if a dead person is unassailable merely because he or she is dead, then what point is there in leaving a lasting legacy of goodness? We'll all die eventually, and by dying we ascend to a certain level of sainthood? No thanks.
So I appreciate this book for what it is. Painting the sometimes ugly portrait, but not without empathy for the giant's plight.
...people don't get it. There was never a fork or a knife, even a bed! There was never a situation where he could be comfortable. He was a seven-foot-four giant. With all the injuries and everything he shrank down to under seven feet.
I watched him when he'd walk ahead of me at the airport. I heard people say horrible things and make fun of him.
He lived in a cruel world.
If you really understood what he went through and what he was all about, he was a gracious person with a kind heart. But he didn't put up with any games or chicanery.
Most people don't understand the big picture.
It turns out that being a giant kind of sucks. For the giant. For everyone else, it's sort of awesome. Rob Reiner has to explain Andre's $40k bar tab from a month of shooting in London, sure, but it's a great story. Samuel Beckett drove a young Andre to school after he grew too much and wouldn't fit in the school bus. Luckily, Beckett owned a truck and Andre could sit in the bed. Again, a pretty great story.
On the giant's side, there's a lot of pain, a lot of problems, and you're just about guaranteed to die young.
What I liked about this book was that it was an unvarnished look at a man's life. If you google around for Andre the Giant stories, lots of stuff about what a great dude he was, so kind and generous and all this. But the truth is that he pissed some people off. He was an ass more than a few times.
Andre's memory might be a case of widespread AJ Syndrome.
AJ syndrome is a term I coined based on this kid who died at my junior high school. I certainly wouldn't ever ever ever wish death on someone that young. Even then I didn't. But when I heard the kid died...well, I could only conjure memories of the kid being a complete jerk. Because that's the way he acted.
It's unfair to respond to the death of a teenager by saying he was a jerk. Because so was I, and I was lucky enough to have time to build new opinions of me. Now people can hate me in a much more informed way, and I'm able to be a more adult, more mature type of jerk to them.
However, what's also a bit unfair is to remember the dead as something they weren't. To manufacture niceness from someone because they are now dead. Especially when we're talking about an adult, even if that adult had a difficult life in a lot of ways.
This book, more than most of the other things I've read about Andre, seems to present the truth. Andre the Giant was a guy. A giant guy, a guy who drank over a hundred beers in a sitting, after which he passed out and was tucked under a piano cover, the only thing big enough to accommodate him. And he was also a guy who could be kind of a dick sometimes.
Yes, he's dead, and there's not a lot of point in saying bad things about the dead. EXCEPT that it makes me wonder...well, if a dead person is unassailable merely because he or she is dead, then what point is there in leaving a lasting legacy of goodness? We'll all die eventually, and by dying we ascend to a certain level of sainthood? No thanks.
So I appreciate this book for what it is. Painting the sometimes ugly portrait, but not without empathy for the giant's plight.
jhouses's review
1.0
Después de leer «As you wish» me apeteció revisitar este biopic en comic de André Le Giant. Me ha parecido muy pobre tanto en dibujo como en guión, limitándose a ilustrar torpemente varias anecdotas y combates televisados sin que ninguno de los personajes llegue a tener expresión o profundidad. Intentaré dejarla caer en el olvido que merece.
luckycharmedlovesbooks's review
2.0
I wish this had a little more to it. I liked it but definitely wasn't what I expected and the only new fact I learned from it was about the movie Rocky.
droar's review
4.0
I quite enjoyed this. It does a good job of painting Andre in an even light. Until this book I was not even aware he was a wrestler, my only experience with him being the Princess Bride. Funny, interesting, and bittersweet.
scottpm's review
4.0
A cute little snapshot into the life and legend of the 8th wonder of the world Andre the Giant.