English Q1 BM (Book Review)- Julian Makarechi

Julian Makarechi

WATER

10/25/13

Open

He was the youngest of four siblings, but his father gave him all his attention, as if he only had one child to take care of. His dad had already planned out his whole life and that he would be forced to do what his father said. Most kids who become number one in the world at something when they are older, usually are destined to do it or have an inner passion for being successful. Not for Andre Agassi; he never wanted to be one of the best tennis players in the world, he did not even want to be top 200 in the world. He could have cared less about it. His father deemed Andre the “chosen one” out of all of his children. Emmanuel Agassi committed most of his time making sure Andre knew everything about tennis there was to know. Not one day went by that Andre was not being tortured by the rigor of tennis that his father put him through.

The only thing he cared about, or was forced to care about, was tennis; school did not even matter, as long as he was making his father happy by playing tennis. Mr. Agassi would do anything it would take for his son to be pro, even if that meant sending him miles away from his home, family and best friend, Perry, in Florida. After realizing his son could not handle the workload from school along with his hours of daily tennis, he decided to completely forget about school and solely concentrate on tennis.

Emmanuel, informally known as Mike, was a former olympian who never seemed to be the best husband or father, but was still a reason for the triumphant life that Andre went on to have. Andre had so many people to thank; his lovers, coaches and counselors were his team. He would look out for them and they would look out for him. It was as if his coach was on the court with him too--they were teammates.

Whether you know Andre Agassi from his crazy hair, old commercials or battles with Pete Sampras, you probably have heard of him before. Andre wants to tell the world what his life was like and the struggles he went through. He really makes the reader think about the important things and people in his life. Andre wants you to think about when it is a good time to hold back, take a break or go full throttle and give it all you have. What will your priorities be and how will you reach them? When you are criticized or others don’t believe in you, will you stay down or rise up and prove them wrong?

Throughout this book, there are many wonderful dialogues that can really make you chuckle between Andre and his trainer. You can really see how much they love each other through the words; it is almost like you can see what their facial expressions are just because of the style of writing. Andre Agassi uses so many creative and descriptive words that give the text a beautiful flow. The way he depicts his hardships, breakups and injuries is very impressive. You end up thinking that those things are actually happening to you and you know exactly what it feels like. During the recaps and depictions of the games he played, there is so much suspense that you cannot stop reading. He lets the reader know what he is thinking and what his body is feeling in the process of every game in a remarkable way. However, since his style of writing is so realistic, occasionally there is some foul language.

A part that really stood out to me was when he was having a problem with a woman he was seeing. He did a great job of writing everything that was going on in that moment of his life. He gave you all the reasons why he made his decisions and why he knew that he was doing the right thing. Even though that part is one of the saddest parts in the whole book, I loved how Agassi wrote it.

One aspect of his life that I wished I could have experienced more was the relationship that he had with his sister. Throughout the book, she is rarely mentioned and you get the idea that they were not that close. If that was the case, then I wish that he had told the reader about that part of his life more.

People who are interested in reading this book should have a solid base of tennis knowledge in order to understand key moments throughout Andre’s life. Knowing a thing or two about other great tennis players is a plus as well, because it allows you to visualize Andre’s games against those players even better. I feel that if you want to enjoy this book, you should also be patient as you read about his life. Whether all you want to read about is his life as a pro or you think that all the matches get boring, after a while, you need to sit tight and keep on going.

“Open, an Autobiography” by Andre Agassi, published by AKA Publishing, Date of publication: August 2010, 400 pages, Autobiography.