I’ve had a soft spot for Andre the Giant ever since I saw “The Princess Bride,” and it was very interesting to learn more about his life and career. This visual biography was raw and tragic, despite the fact that Andre apparently lived “the high life” as a professional wrestler. The man was a dedicated, hard worker in spite of pain and illness, and he fought and partied just as hard. 

With minimalistic artwork Box Brown gives us a sense of how complicated and bleak the life of this great man was. Brown also characterizes the excessive lifestyle of a performer on the road with skill and tragedy. The abuse Andre suffered at the hands of almost everyone he came in contact with and the physical pain he was constantly in are made graphically clear. Andre’s life was sad in the extreme. I can’t call his story inspirational in many ways, but it certainly is worth knowing.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by First Second Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  4 religious exclamations; 5 mild obscenities; 5 derogatory names; 13 scatological words; 8 anatomical terms; 2 offensive hand gestures; 18 f-word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  A parent hits a child (not in anger); a character flips over a car with passengers inside (no injuries); several fistfights and barroom brawls take place with no serious injuries or gore; property is destroyed; professional wrestling is depicted in detail throughout the book.

Sex/Nudity:  Prostitution is referred to; a character is known to have extramarital sex multiple times with no details; a character takes a woman to his room and the bed is heard squeaking; oral sex is referred to twice.

Mature Subject Matter:

Alcoholism, bigotry, abandonment of a child.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Minors and adults smoke and drink; several characters get drunk repeatedly.