Open: A [Disturbing and Fascinating] Autobiography

I did not really intend to review this book but I can’t help myself. It is a book everyone could benefit from reading.

When I posted my Best and Worst Books I Read in 2010, I wrote this:

An enlightening and terrifying look into the life of Andre Agassi. I always liked this guy and now I have some idea why

That really sums it up for me. Now I understand that his success is a result of sheer determination and hard work. Determination to accomplish a goal he didn’t set for himself, playing a game he hates. It’s both inspiring and conflicting.

I found myself challenged by his relationship to his father. I struggle, like most fathers I think, with the issue of how hard to push my children. How much is too much? How much is not enough? Children grow to resent parents for both I think and that is one of the thinks that makes parenting so difficult.

Many “celebrity” biographies are self-serving revisionist histories. This is not. There are parts which made me think either he was a very insightful young man or he describes his actions, which he understands better now, as though he understood then. In almost every case, it is fair to do so and makes the book a very powerful experience.

It is certainly one of the best autobiographies I have ever read.