Review by Booklist Review
In a follow-up to her best-selling memoir, My Fight/Your Fight (2015), in which the tough-as-nails warrior shares lessons learned as a two-time Olympian (judo) and from her career in mixed martial arts (MMA) and as Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC), Rousey now chronicles her transition to and meteoric rise as a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar. Of significance is how vulnerable and physically battered she is throughout, yet with fierce determination she navigates pain management, a male-dominated industry, and an abusive coach-athlete relationship. Drama and romance abound as she falls in love with UFC heavyweight fighter Travis Browne and manages married life, struggles to get pregnant, and gives birth to her daughter. Gradually, it becomes clear that her WWE endgame mission is to leave on her terms as she prioritizes her health and happiness and commits to helping "move the WWE women forward." This no-holds-barred, transformative story offers behind-the-scenes WWE secrets, including revelations about its management, including disgraced WWE founder Vince McMahon. Rousey is a charismatic and iconic athlete, and her latest book will be a big draw.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Martial artist Rousey and her sister, Burns-Ortiz, return with a scattered follow up to their joint memoir My Fight/Your Fight. The narrative gets off to a strong start, with a stirring description of Rousey's defeat in her 2015 UFC title fight against Holly Holm. The loss triggered an existential crisis, leading to suicidal thoughts remedied only by her husband's reassurance she was "more than a fighter." From there, the narrative fractures, with Rousey covering aspects of her life and career before and after the defeat in diffuse, episodic chapters. For example, she recounts her tightly stage-managed time as a pro wrestler, her experiences acting in the Expendables and Fast and Furious franchises, her fertility struggles, and her adjustment to finally becoming a mother. The book concludes with an account of her loss to Shayna Baszler in a WWE wrestling match, which Rousey says she was better able to handle after her bout with Holm. While the narrative excites in its opening pages, readers not well-versed in the worlds of mixed martial arts and wrestling might struggle to sustain interest all the way through. This will appeal mostly to Rousey diehards. Photos. Agent: Erin Malone, WME. (Apr.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An inspirational memoir by the mixed martial arts legend. Rousey (b. 1987) was touted as an overnight success when she came onto the MMA scene. However, she notes, "'overnight' is what they call it when no one has been paying attention to the decades of time and effort you put into perfecting a craft." That success endured for a few years but came tumbling down with a fight in 2015, when, owing to what she describes as neurological issues, she was finally defeated. Blending bravado with self-awareness, she writes, "I was perfect. Until I wasn't." The defeat haunts Rousey's narrative, as she writes about how the loss was devastating enough that she contemplated suicide: "Physical pain I could deal with but the entire world I had created for myself crashing around me was too much to bear." Then came a comeback, of sorts, when she signed with Vince McMahon's WWE extravaganza and its heavily scripted matches, departures from which McMahon did not tolerate, as when Rousey refused to call herself "the women's champion," preferring simply "the champion." McMahon's characteristic response: "Get out of here with that woke bullshit." Recent accusations against McMahon have led to his being distanced from his own organization, and Rousey is timely in corroborating many of the allegations. McMahon emerges as a decidedly unsympathetic character, more so than any scripted in-the-ring villain. Still, Rousey acknowledges that WWE will roll on without much wokeness entering the picture. Knowing that she couldn't change the organization, she changed her life by walking away--and recognizing that she was fortunate to have the resources and family support to do so while many other fighters are "forced to keep going until their body falls apart." Fight fans not shocked by revelations of both malfeasance and artful choreography will take to this well-crafted memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
