This took me a long time to read, it’s not my usual type of book but something drew me to it. I read a bit here and there when I was in between books and I must say it was very enjoyable. The research is amazing, I was stunned at how much detail has been provided throughout. I would definitely recommend this for fans of Andre the Giant

I didn't get to read this last year but it was amazing. I paid for the book and have recommended it to friends. Great job

The Eight Wonder of the World is too technical for me. I thought I was getting a nice look into the life of Andre the Giant, but I finally gave up after page after page after page of French wrestling history from the late 1800's.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

Such a fascinating account of one of wrestling's most interesting men. I loved how in depth yet not overwhelming the information that was given in the book was as I was worried it may be a bit too intense and heavy due to the size of the book. I loved the book as it kept me fascinated the whole time I was reading it, a truly treasured figure dearly missed, it was an honour to be able to read this account of his life.

You know you’re in the hands of sympathetic biographers when they describe their subject literally shitting on a wrestling opponent (“diarrhea running down his neck”) and conclude diplomatically, “it wasn’t André’s finest moment.”

In fairness, the Giant probably didn’t intend to subject Bad News Brown to precisely that treatment. Sometimes that’s just what happens when you sit around all day drinking Clamato and mezcal, and when your body’s been ravaged by years of abuse on top of acromegaly.

The Giant was a giant as a result of excess growth hormone, resulting in acromegaly and various depredations including chronic back pain. In their new book The Eighth Wonder of the World, authors Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade tell the story of Faust just to be sure readers understand what they mean when they write that André made a Faustian bargain in declining to have his condition treated.

When André was told he could undergo an operation to have the hormone-secreting tumor removed, close friend Jackie McCauley told Hébert and Laprade, “he said that God had made him that way and he wasn’t going to change that.” Just over a decade later, the Giant was dead of congestive heart failure.

But what a decade it was. Born André Roussimoff in 1946, the Frenchman who initially performed as Géant Ferré proved adept at both the physical and theatrical sides of pro wrestling. When Vince McMahon, Jr., took the World Wide Wrestling Federation national and made pro wrestling an ’80s pop culture obsession, André was the sport’s most recognizable star aside from golden boy Hulk Hogan.

Laprade was a field producer for HBO’s 2018 documentary André the Giant; unless you’re already a superfan, that film is essential viewing before cracking Eighth Wonder of the World. Director Jason Hehir explains invaluable context that Hébert and Laprade take for granted, establishing that André’s 1987 loss to Hogan at Wrestlemania III represented the end of the era of regional promoters, who dominated the sport when André was coming up in the ’70s.

Readers who know little about professional wrestling — I was unfortunately among them — will find themselves nearly lost at points in Eighth Wonder, when the authors casually drop jargon like “kayfabe,” “suplexes,” “Texas Death Match,” “Mongolian stretcher matches,” and “no-sold.” This is not a book for the uninitiated.

Hébert and Laprade undertake to discern the truth behind some of the many myths that sprung up around the literally larger-than-life figure. Eighth Wonder expands on a point also made in the documentary: in a world before the internet, wrestling promoters could spin whatever stories they wanted about the characters they brought to the mat. The Wrestlemania III duel, for example, was billed as the first match pitting André and Hogan directly against each other; in fact they’d wrestled many times before, but without YouTube or Wikipedia, how were fans to know?

Most astonishingly, André and his promoters successfully kept his true height and weight secret, to the point where even now it’s impossible to know precisely what his dimensions ever were. Every time it became necessary, promoters threw out a set of numbers that were on the high end but seemed plausible; the Giant cut such an awesome figure when he stepped into the ring (always going right over the top rope) that people were ready to believe just about anything.

The authors also deflate the legend about Samuel Beckett driving young André to school. The germ of truth in the story turns out to be that Beckett was a neighbor, and did occasionally drive André and his siblings to school — but not as a matter of routine, and not because André was physically too large for the school bus.

Though Hogan was the hero in the ’80s, posterity has been kinder to André. The jingoistic patriotism exemplified by Hogan leaves a distinctly sour taste in the wake of Trump’s cynical MAGA revival, while André retains his air of international mystique and good-natured bonhomie. In large part that’s due to The Princess Bride, a far more welcome and visible relic of the decade than Hogan’s Rocky III.

André adored the film, traveling with a VCR and cassette he’d show to anyone he could corral into his hotel room. It captured his underlying gentleness, a quality he had to sideline when he turned “heel” (villain) to fight Hogan after a career as a “babyface” (hero).

Hébert and Laprade emphasize the behind-the-scenes leadership role André carved out for himself, relying in part on the size and strength that allowed him to dominate his opponents in the ring — but also on a commitment to professionalism and integrity in a sport that seemed pure absurdity from the stands. “Hogan may have been the main event guy on TV,” remembered wrestler Shawn Michaels, “but André was the main event in the locker room.”

“In the ring, he had faced countless foes,” write the authors in a passage that typifies their awkwardly deferential style, “but in real life, only one human being could challenge André the Giant. His name was André Roussimoff.”

Is there a way to find truth in the stuff of legend? You may think you know André the Giant — but who was André Roussimoff? This comprehensive biography addresses the burning questions, outrageous stories, and common misconceptions about his height, his weight, his drawing power as a superstar, and his seemingly unparalleled capacity for food and alcohol. But more importantly, The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant transports readers beyond the smoke and mirrors of professional wrestling into the life of a real man.
This was a pretty good biography. I was a little kid when Andre the Giant was famous and this book did a great job of filling in the man to the myth. It’s also in good timing with the HBO special on him. I highly recommend for anyone who loved the presence of this beloved larger than life man.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

The Eight Wonder of the World: The True Story of André the Giant. By Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade with Tony Stabile. 2020. ECW Press (ARC eBook).

Overlaying the backdrop of wrestling history, from England banning the sport before WWII, to the rise of the IWE and JWA in Japan, and the genesis of WWF’s WrestleMania in America, readers are shown the metamorphosis of the legendary wrestler, André Roussimoff. From lumberjack Jean Ferre, to Monster Roussimoff from the Pyreness, to André the Giant, André began training in France as a young, very tall man. Playing face and heel, he was known to play practical jokes and to keep to the code of silence in regards to the inner workings of wrestling. He was kind and generous to many, but whether some of his actions and decisions were in spite of the painful conditions acromegaly bestowed upon his body, or because of a fatalistic acceptance of his condition, André was truly as unique as he was ordinary.

This book includes interviews from André’s family, friends and fellow wrestlers and actors. While André and his family were deeply private people, the authors were able to capture the multiple dimensions of simple man from a small village in France; who for a time when his body failed him, was able to feel acceptance surrounded by others creating myths of their own.

I enjoyed reading this book. I grew up on watching Andre The Giant with my brother who was obsessed with wrestling. So it was interesting to read about his past and learn a lot of new things. My issue was that the book just didn’t seem to flow very well. It seemed choppy when read together.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

This was a genuinely fun and easy read. It's a little "inside baseball" though. It's hard to imagine someone knowing nothing about wrestling enjoying this book.. It seems well-researched though and helps to better get sense of the human being behind the myth.

The world of pro-wrestling is built upon obfuscation and lies. From its central tenet (to give the illusion of a legitimate sporting contest) to the exaggerated personas of the wrestlers themselves, it’s a form of entertainment where exaggeration is key. Given that he was billed as ‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’, it’s unsurprising that there was a mythic quality to André Roussimoff – known to most of the world as André the Giant – in both stature and perception. While the reality of both his physical presence and the colourful nature of his lifestyle were impressive in and of themselves, there were still embellished and embroidered to an extent were fact and fiction have become hard to determine. Was he 7ft 4in as his bios often claimed? Did he regularly drink 100s of bottles in one sitting? Did playwright Samuel Beckett used to give André a lift to school? Authors Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade do a creditable job of attempting to tell the story of pop cultural icon while trying to sort out the giant truth amongst the enormous lies.

Almost immediately they note that Andre’s life even began with the facts of his life muddied: the registrar muddled up his name on his birth certificate. Born in a small French village, André was a a big baby for his age but has a pretty normal existence for the time. Working hard on the family’s farm, going to school and living a generally happy life with his brothers, sister and parents.

In these early sections, Hébert and Laprade have done their research – talking to André’s surviving relatives amongst others – and already begin to tackle the issues of factual distortion. They famous rumour that Samuel Beckett would give André a lift to school, if not dismissed, is at least given a more sensible context. They also examine where these rumours originated – and more often than not, it was André himself who started them. Once you become a pro wrestler, working the crowd becomes second nature.

With André beginning to grow significantly from the age of 14, the book follows his journey from being discovered in Paris and trained to be a wrestler, subsequent travails on the wrestling circuit in Europe and his big break in North America. Crucially, the book dismisses the idea that André only became a wrestling star when he fell under the control of promoter Vince MacMahon Sr (the father of wrestling Svengali Vince MacMahon Jr.) and the WWWF (precursor of what is now World Wrestling Entertainment). It was in Montreal – where André felt happy being amongst so many French speakers – where his star began to rise and was only solidified by the time he moved on the US.

Throughout it all André’s stature is shown as both a blessing and a curse. His huge frame was what made him a physical spectacle and drew crowds to come and see him. He was well protected (he seldom lost, and even if he did the losses were usually for the benefit of a local crowd and kept away from national exposure) and became one of the most well-paid wrestlers – and athletes in general – during the 70s and early 80s. He was also a well-known name at a time when wrestling had little to no cache amongst the mainstream media.

But the size that gave him success also brought him misery. The normal world was just not made for him – frequent trips to wrestle in Japan would be miserable as he would be cramped in a plane while the hotel rooms would be barely adequate. His life was one of uncomfortable amenities and people staring at him. Not to mention that his size was slowly killing him. Suffering from Acromegaly – a disease that caused him to grow abnormally – André refused to get it treated, believing that his abnormal size was the thing that brought him wrestling fame. The book likens his decision to a Faustian pact.

As the book charts his continual fame, it also portrays André as a gentle man who was loved and respected by those who he worked with. While he could be intimidating to those he disliked, he was loyal to those he loved and would be generous to a fault. While his private life is dwelt upon (even touching upon some delicate questions of physicality) his love life is still rather elusive, though his relationship with estranged daughter Robin is given a balanced examination. The book also explains why he loved wrestling so much – it wasn’t just the roar of an appreciative crowd. He could hang around the back, play cards and be ‘one of the boys’ without being treated like a freak.

There’s an irony that the peak of André’s pop culture fame – with his match against Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III and his appearance in The Princess Bride – came at the time when his body was completely breaking down. Often unable to stand properly and in constant pain, it was a struggle for André to find peace in his final few years.

The writing style is heavy on the factual, but there are enough flourishes and moments that keep the narrative from becoming dry and dull. Hébert and Laprade are respectful to their subject but the book doesn’t drift into the realms of hagiography, and they’re willing to point out André’s more unpleasant moments. And those who have interest in André merely because of his pop culture status may find things rather hard going – a working knowledge of the machinations of pro wrestling both inside and outside of the ring are something of a must.

This a superbly researched piece of work, that tries to unpick truth amongst the legends. In the world of pro wrestling this is a particularly hard task and Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade should be commended for managing to do so while still providing a heartfelt tribute to a man who was larger than life – in all senses of the world.

Andre the Giant has always been a wrestling personality that people just love hearing about. “Do you have any good Andre stories?” has become a staple of wrestling podcasts and shoot interviews. In comparison to other wrestlers, there have been many books and documentaries completed on the life of Andre the Giant. Many of these are based on stories or other sources where things were exaggerated or “the business” was protected. Many of these sources have made Andre’s career appear that it started and ended with the WWF.
The authors of this book make a great effort to dispel all myths about Andre the Giant and discuss his life, career and legacy form beginning to end. They used multiple sources and do a good job of telling a complete story. They discuss his career and life in France, Montreal, his wrestling career in Japan and his career in the WWF. Andre was one of the biggest wrestling celebrities and his various talk show and tv show appearances are discussed in detail.

The book mentioned a lot of great moments and matches and I enjoyed following along on youtube as I read. I learned that Andre was once very mobile and a great wrestler who used early versions of the tombstone piledriver and the pedigree as finishing moves. I always thought he just used a bodyslam. I learned how Andre declined to get surgery for his Acromegaly and how it impacted his late career and life. I learned about how Andre contributed to the sudden late 80’s departures of Big John Studd and Bam Bam Bigleow from the WWF. I enjoyed reading about Andre’s career post WWF including his early 90s runs in Japan and Mexico. I have never heard of this part of his career.

I feel like I now know everything I could know about the life and career of Andre the Giant. The authors do this in a way that complements the previous documentaries and books on Andre not devalues it. I highly recommend the book to wrestling fans or anyone curious about the career of Andre the Giant.
Thank you to ECW Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Profiling the subject of the tallest of tall tales, this extensive biography strives for truth without sacrificing readability.

Between graphic novels, a WWE published bio and two documentaries, the story of Andre’s life has been covered multiple times but never in such depth. Running nearly 400 pages it covers the familiar stories but also lesser-covered parts of his career including his time in Europe and Mexico and his importance to the Montreal territory.

The book is written with a dose of healthy scepticism and aims to find the true story behind commonly debated “facts” such as Andre’s true height, his childhood, his copious drinking sessions and even his date of birth. What makes this particularly effective is that the authors present the conflicting evidence and explain the working, making clear where uncertainty remains.

One inherent drawback is that pursuing the true story of Andre’s life means this doesn’t provide the neat narrative of some previous accounts. That’s just reality however, and you certainly get a rounded account of Andre as both a professional and a person, without a one-dimensional character portrayal. The book does a good job of explaining why Andre — who was far from the tallest pro wrestler ever — created such a larger-than-life legend.

While there’ll never be an Andre autobiography and there’s little if any record of a first-hand account of his life outside the world of wrestling hype, the book is also the closest thing to understanding what it must have been like to be Andre Roussimoff.

For anyone with an interest in the territorial and expansion eras or in the personalities behind wrestling, this comes with the highest recommendation.

"Anybody want a peanut?"

I have loved Andre Roussimoff aka Andre the Giant for decades.

Bertrand Hebert and Pat Laprade have written the definitive biography of this beloved man. Told in interviews with members of Andre's family, peers and journalists, they share the story of this man life - from his early life to his wrestling in Japan to his wrestling in the US and acting in The Princess Bride. There are heartbreaking moments - where his health is rapidly deteriorating, but Andre refuses to give in.

This is an excellent story of one of the greatest athletes of our time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I did enjoy this book but also found it a bit rambly wouldn’t read again but it is nice to have read about andre the giants life !!

A fitting tribute to a larger than life legend. Richly detailed and researched, with most of the main characters from Andre’s life given space to say their piece.

Exhaustive analysis of the life of Andre the Giant; setting the facts straight on a walking, talking urban legend.
Very well sourced, and leaving few stones unturned, this becomes the definitive Andre biography.

THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD, by Bertrand Hébert and Pat Laprade, is a detailed biography of the man known as André the Giant. His real name was André Roussimoff and Hébert and Laprade use this well researched study to discover the differences between the persona of the performer and what André really was like. That challenge to define those blurred lines, which could be said about so many entertainers, is what makes this book a pleasure to read. If nothing else, the reader comes away knowing that André was a one-of-a-kind; not just because of his size, but because he was a true performer at heart and relished in entertaining people.
The book starts in France, where André is born and learns the early lessons of wrestling. He soon moves to Canada to begin the career we all know and it takes him all over the world, where he is adored by the public and respected by everyone in the business. Hébert and Laprade spend a lot of the book covering two things that are often glossed over when talked about André. One is his constant struggle with acromegaly and how it became clear over time that while André appreciated what acromegaly did for his wrestling career, he seemed to know that his demise was inevitable. The pride he carried while wrestling, knowing that his body would eventually stop him, is a quality that Hébert, Laprade and the reader can clearly admire. The other thing that Hébert and Laprade very meticulously study throughout the book is perception vs reality when comes to André and really all of wrestling. The exaggerated height and weight figures, the never pinned or body slammed storyline, and the number of beers André supposedly drank in on sitting are among the many legends told about the Giant, Hébert and Laprade make the case that often stuff of legend is borne out of perception, not truth. It can also be said that all of these legendary things about André are the collective epitome of what wrestling is and why it is so exciting to get swept up into them.
Such an entertaining book, THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD is a definite for wrestling fans but really anyone because André the Giant was such a part of our pop culture in the 1970s and 1980s. A wrestler, an entertainer, and good-hearted soul, he left this world too soon, but his legend, as Hébert and Laprade capture so well, will live on forever.

I've read works and seen documentaries on Andre before, but having read Laprade's book on Montreal wrestling, I knew this would be exhaustively researched. I feel like I really got to see the ins and outs of Andre's full life in a way that no other sources had. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about this private individual who had no choice but to live in the public eye.

If you follow wrestling then you will have heard of André the Giant. But here is a full blue print of his life, from childhood right up until his death aged 46.
A great read. Flowed well. Throughly enjoyed it
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book

The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of Andre the Giant is the biography of Andre the Giant. Duh.

I haven't been taking on many ARCs since shortly before my son but I had to request this one when it popped up on Netgalley. Plus ECW press offered me an ARC so I was double damned.

The book chronicles the life of Andre the Giant, from his birth in France as Andre Rousimoff to his wrestling career to his death in France while in the country to attend his father's funeral.

Hebert did his homework, dispelling some myths about Andre and confirming some others. Andre's time in the various territories is covered, as are his behind the scenes disputes with Dino Bravo and other wrestlers. I knew the bare bones of Andre's life from being a wrestling fan for decades but Hebert took me for a ride. I had no idea Andre was part owner of the Montreal territory with Gino Brito or how often he went to Japan. I also hadn't heard the story of Andre shitting on Bad News Brown during a match in Mexico.

The book is a little removed for my taste but that is to be expected since Andre has been dead almost 30 years at this point. Hebert must have been researching this for a decade or more. Some of the people he talked to have been dead a few years as of this writing.

As with a lot of good wrestling books, I could have used more content with this one. A giant sized book for a giant sized man, if you will. All things considered, I have no complaints.

The Eighth Wonder of the World is a fitting tribute to a legend of the wrestling business. Four out of five stars