Reviews

Body Drop: Notes on Fandom and Pain in Professional Wrestling by Brian Oliu

blaineduncan's review

5.0

Mysterious and heartbreaking, Brian Oliu’s book taps into the universal nature of what it is to live but does so through the lens of professional wrestling. The shifts here are sudden and playful as he reckons with what’s real both in wrestling and in each of our lives, as he reckons with himself.

Using tropes in wrestling to discuss the tropes of life, Oliu presents readers with the starkness that the cruelty of the real world can be much worse than what’s in the ring.

This is an excellent, beautiful book; it’s for a wrestling fan or a fan of life’s mysteries.

cokester's review

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

melindamaureen's review

emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

colinrafferty's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Both the essay and pro wrestling are spaces for the obsessive, and Oliu’s love of both are a champion tag team in this volume. The body and pain, presentation and backstage, the true and the pretend all duke it out in service of your entertainment. Would some familiarity with pro wrestling or the OLU (Oliu Literary Universe) help? Possibly. But the sentences are still top-notch.