Title/Author:
“Mr. Hockey: My Story”
by Gordie Howe, narrated by Don Hagen
Tags:
Ice Hockey, memoir,
autobiography, audio book, Red Wings
Publish date:
October 14, 2014
Length:
256 pages
Rating:
3 1/2 of 5 stars (good)
Review:
Gordie Howe is one of
the few athletes who is recognized by people who are not fans of the sport in
which he or she played. He was the first player to have played in
the NHL during five decades and held all career scoring records at the time of
his retirement in 1980. While these may have been broken by Wayne
Gretzky, Howe remains as popular as ever and the release of this autobiography
was a much-anticipated book.
While he tells of his
tales growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with reverence and also how he
became an NHL player at the tender age of 18 without sounding too self-serving,
this book doesn’t really reveal any great new details about the man, nor does
it stray away from the tried-and-true format for sports biographies. This
doesn’t mean it is a boring book or one that should be avoided – it just didn’t
have anything that lived up to the hype.
There are some touching
moments when he talks about his personal life. I especially enjoyed
when he included letters that he and his wife Colleen wrote to each other –
both when they were courting and when he was away at training camp or on the
road. There are also letters written by his sons included in the book and they
helped the reader picture the man off the ice.
Plenty of the book does deal with his career on the ice and about the business of hockey. Most of his career took place when the NHL had only six teams and both the game and the business was vastly different than it is today. Howe’s stories paint a good picture of what those times were like, and he is careful not to criticize either the game at that time or today’s players.
The best section of the
book when he talks about his playing days is late in the book, when he played
alongside his two older sons, Marty and Mark (the latter joined his dad in the
Hockey Hall of Fame). It is obvious he was beaming with pride when
he had the chance to do this, even if his body was not cooperating.
The narration provided
by Hagen is also good. Like the content of the book, it was solid
but not spectacular. But then, it matched the tone Howe had when he
played. He was mostly a gentleman but when he had to be tough, he
was. Overall, this was a good book to listen to while commuting and
one that hockey fans will enjoy as long as they are not looking for something
spectacular.
Do I recommend?
While it wasn’t much
different than other sports biographies, this book will be one that fans of
either Howe or the Red Wings will enjoy. Readers who also like celebrity
biographies will enjoy it as well, especially the stories of Howe and his sons.
Book Format Read:
Audio book
Buying links:
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