Lita: A Less Traveled R.O.A.D.--The Reality of Amy Dumas

Like one of the previous reviewers, I read this book in a short time (about three days, around my college schedule). It's a entertaining, colorful book with honest takes on the WWE, current and former wrestlers, and the everyday lifestyle of a sports entertainer on the road. Amy tells her story with candor, especially having to do with all the ups and downs of working in the WWE. She's no "company man" that acts an apologist for the company she works for. Yet her book is filled with positive stories, she has led an interesting life and is thankful for the experiences she's had. This is the most refreshing aspect of the book, compared to the Dynamite Kid's book, which was very bitter and negative. A highly recommended book, as far as wrestling books go, I rate it only behind Mick Foley's first book, and far ahead of every other one I've read.

While not a huge fan of the WWE published books for the reasons explained in my review of Hulk Hogan's book (SHAMELESS PLUG), Amy "Lita" Dumas' book comes off as much more honest than many of the contemporary wrestling books. She admits that wrestling was not a life-long dream, and that even today, she considers herself fortunate to be where she is. It was very amusing to hear of her exploits in Mexico while working her way up the ladder in the world of the Luchadores, and how she learned wrestling in a very un-traditional way (as in, she didn't go to some establshed American wrestler's school), which makes her in-ring style unique, which is one of the reasons fans take to her:they have never seen anything like this from someone in American wrestling before, especially a female! Her daring in-ring style puts her in a class all to herself when it comes to women's wrestling. That's not to say that the other women in wrestling are not extremely talented ladies, because they are. I'm a huge fan of women's wrestling when done right (ie, legitimate athletics, not T & A contests). Ms. Dumas is still very young, so she looks to still have a great career ahead of her, despite a very serious neck injury she suffered last year. I found it horrible the way she described her treatment on the set after injuring herself-it seems that the general opinion is that these "phony wrestlers" never get hurt. That's a shame. Also, being a fellow animal lover (My wife and I have two cats that we A.D.O.R.E.), I enjoyed reading about how Ms. Dumas takes the time to work at animal shelters. So often in the course of charitable work, we lose sight of our furry and feathered friends who share in our happiness and sadness and don't judge you one way or the other. Like many others, I was saddened greatly in reading Ms. Dumas' heartfelt sadness at losing her best friend, Cody. However, Cody took care of Amy like the faithful friend he must have been, keeping her company and keeping her spirits up while she was injured, and when it was his time to go, he knew that it would be ok for him to go-that Amy would be ok without him. Out of the many WWE biographies out there, this one (aside from Jerry Lawler's) comes off as the most "R.E.A.L.". A recommended "R.E.A.D."

I read this book in one day. There were a thousand other things to be done on my day off, but everytime I wanted to put the book down I found myself so wrapped up in the events that I wanted to find out what happened next. Granted, this book is an "easy read" language-wise, as another reviewer mentioned; in my eyes, this just makes it more intrigueing. It feels like Amy is speaking directly to you, very openly in her no-nonsense, "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" style. The way she faced her humble beginnings and did what she had to to first simply survive and then work for what she wanted, the way she just went after her dream is nothing short of admirable. When I moved to this great country I had to live on a very tight budget and although not comparable by a long shot, it enables me to feel for her. My cats always had enough - and the good kind - of food, while I lived on Hamburger Helper and Rice-a-Roni. After taking care of a colony of feral cats and subsequently volunteering at an animal sanctuary I rediscovered my first love and passion - animals. I resolved to make this my goal for the future. Two days after 9/11 I watched the live Smackdown show on TV (btw I only discovered that wrestling was not just "a bunch of rednecks fake-punching each other" just a couple of years before) and it was the first time after that horrible event that I was able to stop crying, tear myself away from news broadcasts and was even able to laugh. If you read the book, this will sound familiar to you. It parallels Amy's experiences and that is why she has such a deep connection with her fans. She is really "just one of us". Read this book and you will be inspired! As a fellow animal-lover/activist I am not surprised that Amy's work with the animals helped her trough the most trying time in her life to date. Her faithful companion Cody held on until he knew she would be ok, then went on to a better place and left her with a lifetime legacy. Amy is not afraid to admit her grief and I admit I couldn't help crying when reading her touching description of Cody's final moments. Our furry/feathered friends' power is awesome and something I have experienced myself. What I found refreshing and inspiring is that a celebrity would "get her hands dirty", find another purpose in life and not take herself and her "business" too seriously. But then again - that is what has always drawn me to her since I started following wrestling. It is said that everything happens for a reason and it seems that Amy's injury and the ordeal that followed, while very tragic and scary, helped remind her of her first love and passion - animals, and she became a stronger and even more inspiring person. Amy, I feel blessed that our lives have crossed paths, I'm glad that we get to chat occasionally, that we got to "work" together and I hope some day in the future we will be able to join forces again somehow to fight for our favorite cause - "No More Homeless Pets".

Being a wrestling fan not to mention an Amy Dumas aka Lita fan there is no other way then to describe this book but inspiring, have you ever gotten a sudden urge to go out and do something good, something that might help another individual? I sure did after reading what Amy Dumas had to say about her life and her long road to get to where she is today.Volunteering at animal shelters, raising money for charity, all with a broken neck? Sound like your average celebrity? No of course not, Amy Dumas expresses her feelings towards her past and current happenings, from wrestling in Mexico to wrestling as the most popular female wrestler in WWE history you can deffinietly say this woman has been through more then you could possibly imagine....an extremely inspring tale told by an extremely inspiring woman is worth every penny wrestling fan or not I suggest picking up this book.

It's unfortunate that many fans get caught up in Amy's character (Lita) and don't know or care who Amy really is. It's to those people that I would highly recommend this book so they can fully understand who Amy Dumas really is and realize she's so much more than the talented wrestler they see in the ring.