Have a nice read (Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks - Mick Foley)

Member Name: star500

Product:	Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks - Mick Foley
Date:	13/03/01 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Suitable for wrestling and non-wrestling fans , Warm, funny, touching and sad all rolled into one

Disadvantages: People may be put off by it's length but it is worth reading through to the end , You may be mocked by your friends and family for reading it

SPLASH!!

There goes my good dooyoo reputation right down the toilet even before people have read this one small review of a wrestler's autobiography. But I plead with you, wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans, to read on because if I can make this review only half as good as the book then I know I'll have done a good job.

First of all I'd like to point out that I didn't actually buy the book myself - it was bought by my dooyooing mother who had won an Amazon Voucher and thought my brother would like Mike Foley's life story. When it arrived, I think that he was put off by the 748 pages in the paperback version which she had purchased, so I decided to pinch it to have a quick look.

The "quick look" lasted four days as I could not put it down.

Before I go on to describe what the book is about, I suppose I should explain a bit about Mick Foley who is indeed a wrestler. He has had a colourful career in the two main organisations, WWE (formerly WWF) and WCW, and has also wrestled for the brutal ECW as well as in Japan. He was popular on the independent circuit before making it really big in the WWE.

Despite the title, this book is not just about Mankind (one of his wrestling personas) but it charts the life of Mick Foley from when he was a scrawny, lacrosse playing 17 year old, right up until he "retired" from professional wrestling.

Why am I telling you this, you may wonder. Well, primarily to let you know that the book is about Foley's life rather than just a behind-the-scenes look at wrestling. Granted, wrestling obviously plays a big part but it would be of interest to those that don't know the first thing about the sport.

For normal people (ie. non-wrestling fans) this book is an enthralling, entertaining read about a man who suffered a great deal of physical and, in some respects mental, pain to achieve his dream of becoming a wrestler. It detai
ls his life in
and out of the ring and, while it tells of horrific injuries, is indeed very humorous. As the life story of a courageous, unpredictable man it is certainly very enjoyable.

However, for the wrestling fan it is a brilliant buy. This is because as well as reading about the history and events in Mick Foley's life, it gives an insight into American Professional Wrestling. The wrestlers that he talks about which would be viewed as mere "characters" to the non-wrestling fan, have a whole new meaning for those who watch WWE TV shows on a regular basis. He speaks of the friendships that he has with the tough guys who beat him up in the ring as well as telling of the politics that went on when wrestlers were being booked and matches set up.

More importantly though, it dispels the myth that Mick Foley was "off his head" as he was referred to many times during his career. Instead, Foley is indeed a clever man and managed to write this 700+ page No.1 best seller without the aid of a ghost writer. In fact, when he said he wanted to write this book, the WWE drafted in a writer to do it for him. However, he refused and instead of writing a 60,000 word middle-of-the-road wrestling autobiography, he penned a 200,000 masterpiece in just six weeks (May-June 1999). What is even more amazing is that he did it all from memory as he didn't keep any notes or diaries throughout his career.

In my opinion, Foley is a good writer, perhaps not a stereotypical writer in the sense that he doesn't use classic writing techniques such as descriptive language and colourful words. But he writes from the heart and has some great events to tell of. When you have tales like he has, you do not need flowery language and complex imagery - the stories speak for themselves. In fact, his style of writing is perhaps not unlike that of some of the people who write for dooyoo as the whole book is written as he sees things and
uses the same simple, straight-to-the-point words that you would expect him to use in an ordinary conversation.

The book itself starts off well with the opening chapter describing the events leading up to what must be one of the worst nights in Mick Foley's life - the night his ear was ripped off in a freak accident during a match. It also gives rise to my favourite line which I will talk about later. I myself remember seeing pictures of the injury at the time it happened and wondered just what kind of person Foley was to continue the match with blood pouring out of a hole in his head where his right ear used to be. After reading this book, I now understand exactly what kind of person he is and the things he had to endure during his career as a professional wrestler.

For those of you with a weak stomach, you may be grateful to learn that the first chapter is not an indication of what the other 700 pages contain as the second chapter begins the story of a teenager whose only experience of wrestling was watching his idol Superfly Jimmy Snuka at Madison Square Garden.

To say any more about the content would spoil it for the reader as one of the best things about the book is not knowing what Foley is going to talk about next. His style allows him to go off on a tangent at times to detail a conversation, a humorous anecdote or merely to clarify a technical wrestling term for those not in the know. Interspersed throughout, are photos taken at various times during Foley's career as well as those from his own private album.

I guarantee this book will make you smile, it will certainly make you laugh and some chapters will make you glad that you don't wrestle for a living. However, there are a few serious parts, most notably the touching tribute to colleague Owen Hart who tragically died after falling sixty feet into the ring before a match in 1999. Foley describes his character, the friendship that he had with him and t
ales of how he used to joke around. This gives a good insight into how wrestlers are ordinary people who hide behind a persona to entertain us.

Whether you are a fan of wrestling or not, this book is definitely worth a read and with the paperback being 748 pages long, it is certainly worth the £6.99 RRP. It is also available in hardback for £16.99. The paperback currently on sale has a "Bonus Chapter" not included in the original version. The extra 42 pages tell of the events which happened to Foley since the book was originally released and brings the story up to date from May 1999 to April 2000. This last part, especially the few days leading up to his final match, is written almost like a diary and ends the book perfectly.

As for my favourite line, as I've said before, it is taken from the very first chapter and still makes me laugh when I read it:

"...I hopped out, but not before uttering a German sentence that probably had never been used before and possibly will never be used again: "Vergessen Sie nicht, bitte, mein ohr in der Plastik Tasche zu bringen", or "Please don't forget to bring my ear in the plastic bag"..."

Certainly offbeat (you really have to read it in context!) but without doubt one of the best books that I've read. A definite "must" for any wrestling fan and a strong "maybe" for everyone else.

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