Brandon S. (behemoth) reviewed on 6/3/2011 + 76 more book reviews

Jose Canseco divulges MLB stars using steroids and dives into various areas of self pity and excuses for his professional baseball career and personal life. Jose starts by telling us about his overbearing father who could never be pleased and a sweet mom that passed on prematurely. Jose does a good job of showing you the stress he was under to perform and be loved. However, any sympathy that was generated from the portrait of his dysfunctional family quickly dissolved as Canseco spends the rest of the book wallowing in self pity and contradicting himself.

A good portion of the book is spent telling you how shy he is which leads to him being misunderstood by the media. The annoying part is that all his stories dont support his self image. He talks about holding a bikini contest in his hotel room where he would judge the women with his friends. Without a doubt holding bikini contests is a common practice of all introverts.

Jose also spends time talking about the discrimination he faced as a Latino in the MLB. Let me see, is this the discrimination that allowed you to be named rookie of the year and MVP of American League, clearly hatred against Latin players in the MLB prevented you from being recognized properly.

Jose tells another story about being tagged too hard in practice by a teammate in the minor leagues which led to him starting a fight with the first baseman. The coaches punished Jose by making him the bat boy for a couple days. Jose thinks this is because he is Latin, but fails to recognize that he is punished for a roid rage outburst and being a jerk to his teammates. It is easier for Jose to cry racism than to admit that he is a self-centered player.

The most annoying thing in the book is Joses claim that a sports reporter cost him millions of dollars in an advertisement deal with Pepsi because he spread rumors of Jose using steroids. Let me see, in this book you call yourself the godfather of steroids and detail when you started using steroids and how steroids made you awesome at baseball. I guess that means that the reporter didnt spread rumors but told the truth and in fact you (Jose Canseco) are to blame for losing the deal with Pepsi because of YOUR choice to use steroids. This book is infinitely annoying.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details