Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero

Pearlman does a great job of gathering information and presenting it an orderly and organized fashion. He does his best to make the biography a fair view of Bonds but it seems lopsided simply because Barry is such a jerk. Overall, it is a great read and has a ton of insight into Barry's life and the behind closed door locker room scenes.

I loved this book in a way I love few biographies. It is just a fascinating story about a misunderstood baseball player. I read "The Bad Guys Won" and thought it was too silly and, often, stupid. But this time the author hits a home run. It's an excellent biography, and not just as a sports book.

I was a baseball writer who covered the minor leagues for many years, and I used to love the great baseball writers of my era. I am largely unfamiliar with this author, but his book is beautifully written, with an impressive attention to detail. I didn't expect a great deal from this book (I reviewed it for my hometown paper), but it's a real gem. It took me inside the world of major league baseball and also inside the mind of a superstar I never truly understood. I was mostly enamored by Barry Bonds' Pittsburgh years, where he developed into the man he is today. His relations with Jim Leyland (whom I remember from his time with the Tigers in spring training) and Andy Van Slyke (a vastly underrated player of his day) are unqiue and enlightening, as are Bonds' takes on race, class and status. I don't believe any book is a must-read, but this one is pretty dang close.

My parents bought me Love Me, Hate Me for my recent birthday and I began reading it immediately. I didn't have much interest in Bonds (I don't care for him much) but the stuff uncovered here is really good. i was a psych major at Ohio State, and Bonds seems sort of crazy. But I found myself trying to think like he does. For a biography, that's a good sign.

I bought this book three days and could not put it down. I always thought Bonds was a mysterious cat, but now I feel like I've got a much better understanding of him. The stories in this book had me laughing and crying, especially dating back to his early years with Van Slyke and Doug Drabek with the Pirates. I have nothing bad to say. A great read.