Mark Schultz (6)

The Schultz brothers grew up together struggling to find a place. They came to the sport of wrestling and became strong competitors. This was what they were good at, but even as they competed in the Olympics and came away with medals, they had trouble finding work and paying the bills. Then along came eccentric millionaire John du Pont. His obsession with sports fueled his interest in these athletes at the top of their game. His plan was to found a wrestling team and he offered the brothers show more money to coach. But du Pont's behavior continued to be bizarre and unpredictable. This would lead to the murder of one of the brothers by du Pont himself.

I saw the Foxcatcher documentary and was fascinated. I decided to read this book because I wanted to know more about it. The title of this book is very very misleading. It's not really about Dave Schultz's murder at all. It's an autobiography/memoir of Mark Schultz in which his brother's murder is a fairly minor subplot.

Most of this book is painstaking descriptions of all of Mark's career wrestling competitions. He tells you about his mental preparations, his set backs, his many many betrayals and unfair treatments by others. He also describes all sorts of wrestling techniques and the intricacies of scoring. It's downright tedious to anyone not completely obsessed with wrestling. Honestly, I have a hard time believing fans would get much out of this.

This book was in desperate need of an editor. Someone needed to sit Mr. Schultz down and tell him not to talk so much about his high school grudges and how he was banging so many hot girls. It doesn't make you appear sympathetic, especially when the book is ostensibly about your tragically murdered brother. This book barely talks about Dave Schultz or his life. I got the impression that Dave and Mark didn't have much of a relationship. Mark sure doesn't mention him very often. Mark doesn't talk much about anyone else besides Mark. He does talk a lot about du Pont, whom Mark despises.

This book was weird and barely touched on the subject I was interested in. It's clear that the author didn't do much research about the crime, the trial, the circumstances of his brother's death or anything else. He recalls what he can remember in a vague sort of way and then moves on to himself and his career again. I really don't understand how this book ever became a best seller. show less

I enjoyed this more than many others likely will, as I briefly knew Mark Schultz as "coach" and have seen a bit more of the depth of his character than is evident here. Loved the history of his career and the descriptions of agony and despair that all wrestlers suffer for the sport.

The book has little to do with the terrible movie of the same name that had only the brilliant Steve Carell to its credit.

Overall OK book, and good narrator, but it got really tiring listening to Mark Schultz boast of all his goodness and manliness. "Wrestling is a man's game... I won this... I'm very good at that..."... blah, blah, blah. The story about DuPont killing his brother, Dave, was very interesting but it was such a small portion of the book - maybe 2 chapters worth - that it really wasn't worth the whole book. Would have been good if there was some extra research put into he novel, but there wasn't - show more it was just Mark Schulz's memories. show less

I hardly watch the Olympics and have never watched an Olympic wrestling match. So to me the names John du Point and David Schultz are foreign to me. Yet, I like to read true crime stories. They fascinate me. How someone can kill another person for usually small senseless acts and ruin their life and the lives of the victim, family, and friends.

I felt like Mr. Schultz had gotten over his brother's death. Which is a very good thing but what I mean by this is that when I have read books from a show more family member or closer friend, the book felt like the writer had used this time to make the process very therapeutic. I did not get this why reading this book. Also, it seemed like the book was filled with tons of facts that the author wanted me to know about who Mark is than his brother, David. Which maybe because I am not that interested in wrestling I don't know but this book was really slow reading for me. The last third of the book was about the murder. Although it was short. Not a lot of details. Usually in true crime stories they focus on the murder, details of the events, the trial, and the conviction. None of this was talked about much. Either way this is a tragic event. show less