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ckjesq's review against another edition
1.0
Uh - this was just one bad book - not sure why I kept reading except to hope it would improve - it was all about Mark Shultz - who appears to Thrace very little ability to be introspective but seems quite willing to take sole credit for his successes while blaming others for all of his problems
lucky_ducky's review
2.0
Mark Schultz is not a writer. There's nothing wrong with that, but it seems that someone in the publication process should have done something to clean this book up a bit. If you're interested in knowing the story behind the murder of Dave Shultz at the hands of John du Pont, I'm guessing the movie will be much better. The book is more for wrestling fans than anyone else.
stephee's review against another edition
2.0
This is an incredible story so I really wanted to like the book. But I just couldn't. There was way too much time spent on relaying how awesome Mark Schultz was as a wrestler, and he just came across as not a very nice human being. I mean, I get that it takes a certain type of personality to get to the top of a sport, but I would have thought that with the help of a writer the "poor me, everything was stacked against me" stuff wouldn't have been laid on quite so thick. Sorry.
sg33's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading Foxcatcher during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (2021) as a deliberate choice to read something related to the Olympic games. The book was excellent for that purpose. I assume the co-author who worked with Mark Schultz put a lot of work into explaining wrestling to people, like me, who do not understand the sport that well. I've rarely read anything this clear and succinct on the specifics of a sport. No matter how technical some aspects of matches, tournaments or the workings of leagues and college programmes get, the author(s) really managed to set up the content and context that you always feel you can follow. I honestly learned a lot about wrestling from this book. If one is knowledgeable of Mixed Martial Arts and/or a sports fan in general, like me, you'll find connections. I for example had heard about Dan Gable before and hearing Schultz talk about him added to my knowledge, so to speak.
As a complete side note, if you're into grappling and Brazilian jiu jitsu, there's some of that in this book, too. By complete coincidence, while I was reading "Foxcatcher", Rickson Gracie's (auto)biography "Breathe" came out and I started reading it while finishing "Foxcatcher" simultaneously. So, I smiled when one episode was mentioned in both books.
The story of "Foxcatcher" is gripping in many aspects. I have seen the film and the book goes much deeper and is more factual, I believe. However, it must be said that some things are different. Dave Schultz partially only appears to be a side character in this book and some details are not prominently discussed. I must have missed when Dave moved onto the du Pont estate. When it becomes critical to the story, I had to go back and look back at passages mentioning Dave to see whether it was mentioned but later decided that I'd just assumed the events to have been explained in the film, though that somewhat contradicts the events as described in the book.
However, why I absolutely liked the book is actually Dave Schultz and how he is portrayed in the book. Before, I bought the book, I read a lot of slightly negative reviews which focused on Mark Schultz and his character, particularly the self centred and self obsessed aspects. Be that as it may the spotlight the "Foxcatcher" shines on Dave Schultz and his outstanding and remarkable character and what the book achieves towards documenting him (or showing him in this way) is what I'll take away from this read.
As a complete side note, if you're into grappling and Brazilian jiu jitsu, there's some of that in this book, too. By complete coincidence, while I was reading "Foxcatcher", Rickson Gracie's (auto)biography "Breathe" came out and I started reading it while finishing "Foxcatcher" simultaneously. So, I smiled when one episode was mentioned in both books.
The story of "Foxcatcher" is gripping in many aspects. I have seen the film and the book goes much deeper and is more factual, I believe. However, it must be said that some things are different. Dave Schultz partially only appears to be a side character in this book and some details are not prominently discussed. I must have missed when Dave moved onto the du Pont estate. When it becomes critical to the story, I had to go back and look back at passages mentioning Dave to see whether it was mentioned but later decided that I'd just assumed the events to have been explained in the film, though that somewhat contradicts the events as described in the book.
However, why I absolutely liked the book is actually Dave Schultz and how he is portrayed in the book. Before, I bought the book, I read a lot of slightly negative reviews which focused on Mark Schultz and his character, particularly the self centred and self obsessed aspects. Be that as it may the spotlight the "Foxcatcher" shines on Dave Schultz and his outstanding and remarkable character and what the book achieves towards documenting him (or showing him in this way) is what I'll take away from this read.
malvina4321's review
3.0
2.75 stars
Foxcatcher is a non-fiction account of Mark Schultz' life as a wrestler, which includes his struggle to win National, World and Olympic gold medals. The title of the story is a bit misleading because of the order it is presented in. I thought that the focus would be on his brother, Dave Schultz' murder by crazy billionaire John Du Pont, it wasn't. The focus, or at least first 2/3 of the book were about Mark Schultz climb to the top. While it was interesting - mostly because of how unglamorous it was for an athlete of his caliber to struggle with finances, opponents, etc. I did enjoy those parts - or at least some of them.
To be honest, I got a bit bored of Mark's story and was waiting for him to tell Dave's story. Dave barely features in the first 2/3 except to point out his superior athletic skills every once in a while. But even those points feel like they were there for the purpose of showing how much harder Mark had to work to catch up to his brother. I never felt that his brother was the actual focus of a huge chunk of the book. It was a missed opportunity because while Mark's story was interesting, I think more detail should have gone into Dave's career and the impact of his death.
I listened to it via audiobook on OverDrive and thought the narrator did a good job of keeping me interesting. Mark Schultz' writing is quite weak in some parts but the narrator made those weaknesses less noticeable. If you're interested in this story, I'd recommend the audiobook.
Foxcatcher is a non-fiction account of Mark Schultz' life as a wrestler, which includes his struggle to win National, World and Olympic gold medals. The title of the story is a bit misleading because of the order it is presented in. I thought that the focus would be on his brother, Dave Schultz' murder by crazy billionaire John Du Pont, it wasn't. The focus, or at least first 2/3 of the book were about Mark Schultz climb to the top. While it was interesting - mostly because of how unglamorous it was for an athlete of his caliber to struggle with finances, opponents, etc. I did enjoy those parts - or at least some of them.
To be honest, I got a bit bored of Mark's story and was waiting for him to tell Dave's story. Dave barely features in the first 2/3 except to point out his superior athletic skills every once in a while. But even those points feel like they were there for the purpose of showing how much harder Mark had to work to catch up to his brother. I never felt that his brother was the actual focus of a huge chunk of the book. It was a missed opportunity because while Mark's story was interesting, I think more detail should have gone into Dave's career and the impact of his death.
I listened to it via audiobook on OverDrive and thought the narrator did a good job of keeping me interesting. Mark Schultz' writing is quite weak in some parts but the narrator made those weaknesses less noticeable. If you're interested in this story, I'd recommend the audiobook.
maphil615's review against another edition
1.0
This has nothing to do with the relationship between the Schultz brothers and Mr. du Pont, like the title of the book suggests. It is simply a poorly written autobiography of Mark Schultz, who happened to have a brother that was murdered.
lancakes's review against another edition
4.0
I kind of wanted to rate it lower, but I couldn't put it down. This book is written by Mark Schultz, and it's basically an autobiography, it starts with his childhood, and details all of his hardships and victories, in life and in wrestling. Heavy on the detail of wrestling victories (not that that's bad, just if you're expecting to read a book just about John du Pont and his murder of Dave Schultz, there's definitely more to this book). Mark exposes the financial hardships facing wrestlers at the time and the catch-22 of choosing to go pro to make enough money to compete, or to stay amateur so they were allowed to compete. This lack of revenue and financial support from USA Wrestling made Mark, and Dave, and many other wrestlers, vulnerable to the financial support offered by eccentric millionaire John du Pont, I say vulnerable to because that support came with a lot of conditions. Du Pont is portrayed as a sad, manipulative, disgusting man (not even?) who used his money to gain control and prestige. He created foundations so that foundation could hold an annual award ceremony to honour him every year. He wrote and paid to have published at least two books. He financed a Discovery Channel documentary of himself and his involvement in Villanova's athletics. He hoarded weapons and had an honourary police badge for donations made to the police force, some of which he personally trained at the gun range on his estate. And then one day, seemingly for no reason, he shot Dave Schultz in front of Dave's wife, less than an hour before Dave's kids were done school for the day.
It's a compelling read, but there are definitely some places that made me roll my eyes. In some parts Mark expresses depth and emotionally complex male friendships but then he never mentions having a relationship to a female that possesses a quality other than being hot. He's pretty vocal about how Title IX was a good idea but it financially ruined a lot of college wrestling programmes. Having not myself been working in a college athletics programme in the States when Title IX was passed, I can't refute his claims, but the way he argues that some sports shouldn't have had to comply because they were male dominated rubbed me the wrong way, because that was the point of Title IX.
Also, he moves to Utah and becomes a Mormon, which in the book basically comes out of nowhere.
However, I think the parts that rub me the wrong way are also what makes this book good, it's a completely honest (from his perspective) account that is definitely written in his own voice. I also think it's really cool he includes the major accomplishments of wrestlers that are mentioned throughout the book.
It's a compelling read, but there are definitely some places that made me roll my eyes. In some parts Mark expresses depth and emotionally complex male friendships but then he never mentions having a relationship to a female that possesses a quality other than being hot. He's pretty vocal about how Title IX was a good idea but it financially ruined a lot of college wrestling programmes. Having not myself been working in a college athletics programme in the States when Title IX was passed, I can't refute his claims, but the way he argues that some sports shouldn't have had to comply because they were male dominated rubbed me the wrong way, because that was the point of Title IX.
Also, he moves to Utah and becomes a Mormon, which in the book basically comes out of nowhere.
However, I think the parts that rub me the wrong way are also what makes this book good, it's a completely honest (from his perspective) account that is definitely written in his own voice. I also think it's really cool he includes the major accomplishments of wrestlers that are mentioned throughout the book.
julesgou's review against another edition
3.0
When I saw some of the reviews for this book, I was a little afraid.
However, I found that I quite enjoyed this book.
I will agree with one statement in some of the reviews I found. This is really the story of Mark Schultz and his life. It is more of an autobiography then anything else. Yes, Dave's murder is talked about in this book, but it isn't the entire story. We get to learn about what life was like for Mark Schultz.
I thought that Schultz was really fair and honest. I thought that this written word was written in the plain truth. He just told the story the way it was. You could tell from the way that Schultz talked about Dave that he was everything to him whether it was a brother, a teacher, a coach, or a parent. That was what really got me about this book. It was the way that Mark talked about his brother. It was obvious that the two brothers were really close with each other.
I really wanted to see the movie, and so in looking at the movie, I found the book. I thought that it was really good and I quite enjoyed the book. I thought that Mark Schultz did a great job telling the story and I really loved two things. Those things were his honesty and the way that he talked about his brother. If you are interested or intrigued by the story of Mark and Dave Schultz, I suggest you give this book a try.
However, I found that I quite enjoyed this book.
I will agree with one statement in some of the reviews I found. This is really the story of Mark Schultz and his life. It is more of an autobiography then anything else. Yes, Dave's murder is talked about in this book, but it isn't the entire story. We get to learn about what life was like for Mark Schultz.
I thought that Schultz was really fair and honest. I thought that this written word was written in the plain truth. He just told the story the way it was. You could tell from the way that Schultz talked about Dave that he was everything to him whether it was a brother, a teacher, a coach, or a parent. That was what really got me about this book. It was the way that Mark talked about his brother. It was obvious that the two brothers were really close with each other.
I really wanted to see the movie, and so in looking at the movie, I found the book. I thought that it was really good and I quite enjoyed the book. I thought that Mark Schultz did a great job telling the story and I really loved two things. Those things were his honesty and the way that he talked about his brother. If you are interested or intrigued by the story of Mark and Dave Schultz, I suggest you give this book a try.
cityofshay's review against another edition
1.0
Poorly written by a whiny, arrogant man who I feel just used this book as an excuse to brag. Apparently, no one thought to edit it before publishing, either. Watch the movie, please, I'm begging you.