Andre the Giant: Life and Legend

I'd known of Andre the Giant almost exclusively from The Princess Bride, having no previous sense of the extent of his professional wrestling career. Apparently he was kind of a big deal! This graphic, biographical account of his life contains very little to laugh about, though there is possibly some dark humor. Afflicted with gigantism caused by excessive growth hormones, he lived a rather lonely existence despite decades in the public eye. Living with chronic health issues and pain, receiving looks of fear or laughter from strangers his entire life — it's no wonder the extent to which he self-medicated. Despite the likelihood that he was exploited in the wrestling world, he seems to have been relatively happy with his career, but show more the idea that he didn't see retiring to his cherished farm in the country as an option, because it was too lonely there, is heartbreaking. I thought Box Brown did Andre's story justice and would recommend it, though I was not won over by the illustration style. show less

I was a big wrestling fan in the early to mid eighties and just thrilled to bits when I heard this biography of Andre Roussimoff was coming out. I'm so pleased that it met up with my high expectations. Andre the Giant is pretty much of a legend in the secretive wrestling world of the '80s making it very hard to know where the truth ends and fabrication begins. Using artistic license to bring us a story in visual form Box Brown has done a fantastic job of putting all the most reasonable anecdotes together with the verifiable facts bringing us an inside look at this tortured man's life. He was an enigma who brought wrestling to the mainstream audience, a man with a death sentence of a disease and one who lived with perpetual pain. show more Hard-drinking, rude and racist he was also a kind, gentle giant faced with discrimination and this graphic biography is a wonderful portrait of the man from all angles. At the end of the book the author has compiled a Notes section which details where his information came from and how he interpreted it, which also made for interesting reading. show less

This graphic novel biography details the life of Andre the Giant (Andre Roussimoff). It starts off with Andre as a young boy growing up in Grenoble, France. It then moves on to him as a young man getting his start in wrestling in Paris, Japan, and eventually the United States through the WWF. The book goes into Andre finding out he has acromegaly (gigantism), how he is effected daily by his size, his relationships with other wrestlers, his drinking problems, his daughter, and his acting career (most notably as Fezzik from The Princess Bride).

This is a graphic novel targeted at a young adult audience, due to some vulgar language I would not recommend it for juvenile or middle-readers. I learned a lot from this retelling and appreciate show more the author’s note where Box Brown detailed his research. He describes how he took some liberties with casual conversations that cannot be well documented but are necessary in storytelling and also how he chose the most popular documented stories from among many that involved Andre. Andre’s life was a bit depressing and as much as some people say how gentle and caring he was, there is a hint of a sad soul in this story who could also be angry and judgmental.

The story is comprised of recollections, so we are left with a lot of questions about Andre. Why did he drink so much? Why was he so disconnected from his daughter? Why did he love being on his farm? However, we also see a person who struggled with the concept of a shortened life and a pained body. He was a person who traveled constantly and couldn’t fit into an airplane bathroom. Andre loved and respected wrestling and within this story I learned a lot about the evolution of the wrestling profession and the details of a wrestling match. Overall, this is a well-conceived biography with good illustrations, but it is not an uplifting story if you are looking for one. show less

One of the biggest revelations I had in my 20s was that there was (is) this whole Cult of Boy obsession with wrestling I was almost entirely unaware of throughout the '80s and '90s. I mean, sure, I knew the big names and would look on as my great-grandfather watched wrestling on Sundays, but I was mostly familiar with the dudes from their hawking food items in commercials and occasional movie stints. Andre the Giant, however, was ever-present for whatever reason--I don't recall watching The Princess Bride until later into my tweens or teens, so I'm guessing it was merely the spectacle--and this bio is FABULOUS in its portrayal of Andre the Human Being. It also provided a gratifying brief glimpse into that Cult of Boy I was never a part show more of but can enjoy now as a 31-year-old GIRL (cooties, ewwwwwww!). show less

Andre Roussimoff, better know as Andre the Giant, was a figure bigger than life. He was a heroic pro-wrestling figure and the lovable giant Fezzik in The Princess Bride. At the height of his fame he was seven and a half feet tall and weighed over 500lbs (possibly topping 700lbs later in life.) He was this way thanks to a genetic disorder, acromegaly, that caused him to never stop growing...and ultimately led to his death at a young age. But who was he really? A hero? A wrestler? A monster to be scared of? In this graphic novel Box Brown draws on a variety of sources, including videos of colleagues like Hulk Hogan, and film stars such as Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, Mandy Patinkin, to craft the biography of one the most recognizable show more figures of the 20th Century. Even if you never watched wrestling, this is still a tale to read.

This is not a traditional graphic novel as Box is drawing on a variety of sources, some reliable and some not, to tell the story of Andre the Giant. And unlike a traditional biography, we never get quite a complete picture of Andre. Instead we get slice of life moments, such as him working for a moving company or his fights with fellow wrestlers. They capture small stories in a larger tale about this giant. And yet...Box does an admirable job of giving us a sense of who Andre really is, with his quirks, his faults and flaws, and the good within his life. We see that while he was know as a hero across the world, that at his core he was as human as the rest of us. He could be quick to anger, he could be violent when drunk, he could say things that would hurt other people. And then other times he could be compassionate, giving money to the homeless and offering comfort at times of need. And that even with his money and fame and talent, he was content with the simple things of his life of being on his farm in North Carolina.

Box does an excellent job of capturing the variety of people in Andre's life, ranging from Andre himself to Hulk Hogan to his managers and to move stars such as Mandy Patinkin. Although the drawings are simple black and white, Box gives them life by their facial expressions and the movements of their eyes. He does an great job in particular of capturing how Andre looked throughout the years, which can be a difficult task given that his genetic disorder caused him to age prematurely.

Box does a fantastic job of capturing this gentle giant, for all of his faults and flaws, as a human being. He shows us that all Andre wanted was to live his life and enjoy it, regardless of how others perceived him. It's a fitting biography for one of the most famous figures of the 1980's/90's and one that is sure to be enjoyed by anyone that grew up watching Andre. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

ARC provided by Gina at First Second show less

I know Andre as a hero. I grew up in the 90s watching wrestlemania and WCW vs NWO. I watched my older brother's taped matches on VHS featuring Andre. I know him as a pop culture icon. I've seen The Princess Bride more times than I can count and had stickers of his face plastered to anything I owned thanks to Shepherd Fairy. I knew he was funny and gregarious but I never thought about him as having a disability and what it took for him to live his life. Reading about his real life, especially is this compelling graphic novel format, was a real treat.

I ran into this at the library and thought it would be perfect for the readathon, and it really was. Andre's life story seemed well fitted for the graphic novel format, since so much of his life was oversized. I found the professional wrestling stuff interesting, appreciated the insights into his health problems and the way he was treated by strangers, but my favorite part was the brief section on the filming of The Princess Bride. His co-stars and the director each recall an anecdote about Andre. It makes me think I should probably get around to reading Cary Elwes's book after all.