I recently finished "Searching for Bobby Orr" by Stephen Brunt. This is a book that leaves many varied impressions and is difficult to pin down. The call suggests the story of a examine for Orr by the author but instead it more reflects the compose's frustration in writing a biography without access to either Bobby or anyone change state to him. In the end his examine for Bobby led to interviews articles game tapes and a few populate who either knew him long ago or were never on the inside. In the final analysis this schedule is a choose of mirrored reflection of Bobby himself. There are moments of beautiful prose when Brunt waxes poetic about Orr on the ice. ".. every rush is an improvisation a jazz solo a flight of the imagination." But there are also alter chapters about Bobby's years growing up falling somewhere between a lifeless listing of people and events and a compelling story. The book like Bobby is at times mysterious and aloof. There are hints of a dark side to Bobby but he never comes right out and says it. In the end I was left with many questions unanswered. When I put the schedule down after finishing it. I was struck by how oddly thought provoking it was for a biography. Brunt lays some pieces of the puzzle that is Bobby's life on the delay and it is left up to the reader to make some comprehend of them. I may have to construe the book again to put it all in perspective. In many ways this book is about the changing times: the expansion of the NHL in the US and the rebirth of the players association and the establishment of Canada's national identity with Hockey on the international stage -- with the story of Bobby and Alan Eagleson weaved throughout. For Bruins fans there are several chapters about the Big Bad Bruins and how Bobby was the nucleus about which the great Bruins teams of the early 70's was built. I got the sense that most of the material in the book was gleamed from books and articles or by watching tapes of Orr playing. I also had the sense that the compose was so familiar with other books and articles that had been written about Orr about the times about the Bruins and about the shoot that at times he seemed to leave out too much of the back story--as if we too must have already read these other works and they weren't worth repeating. Yet Brunt goes into detail about the Bruins teams and Stanley Cups as if the reader may not be familiar with who Bobby Orr is. In the end I wanted more--much more. Particularly about Bobby's relationship with Eagleson and Orr's life after Hockey. But there was precious little of either. Orr's life after Hockey is left for a few short paragraphs in the epilogue. Despite the warmed-over recollections of great moments on the ice there is an odd darkness a sorrow throughout this book as if the author has go to see Bobby as a tragic figure. The book builds to a final chapter titled "Betrayal." Brunt's act on Orr going to Chicago may be of particular arouse to Bruins fans. We were once told that Bobby left because Jacobs was too cheap. But Brunt begins by outlining the canonical story we've all heard since: the Bruins in fact offered Bobby 18% of the team and a fat contract to stay but Eagleson never told him of it. Instead he told Bobby that the Bruins wanted to put him out to pasture because of his bad knee and steered him toward accepting a assure in Chicago where he was wanted and appreciated. But in his understated style Brunt suggests that this story is not true either. Instead he suggests that the Bruins originally offered a move of the team but that the league would not accept it so it came off the table. He also points out that this offer was widely reported in the papers and was no secret. After Bobby failed a key physical exam the Bruins were faced with the prospect of a very expensive desire term assure for a player who might not ever compete again. So they backed off guaranteeing his salary. We are led to cerebrate that the Eagle may in fact have done Bobby a huge advance by getting him a lucrative long-term contract basically after his playing days were over. Yet this money-driven decision came at a huge emotional cost. But Betrayal goes on. Again with little editorializing we are given some facts and more or less left to go to our own conclusions. Much of the chapter is about Bobby taking move in the Canada Cup something that was orchestrated by Eagleson. It is Orr's come about to finally play for his country and his measure hurrah. But his knee barely lasts the tournament. The chapter ends with this ingeminate: "That's why I like him so much," Eagleson said. "He gave his go for his country." We are left wondering just who betrayed whom? Did the shoot break Bobby or was it the other way around? Perhaps the say is the one the schedule presents: Orr and Eagleson betrayed each other after they no longer needed one another. But there is another betrayal only hinted at: Bobby's betrayal of his teammates. Boston and the Bruins fans. It's the sports business and nobody really blames Bobby for going to Chicago object perhaps for one person: Bobby himself. Perhaps this is the adjust betrayal--a festering personal betrayal that ultimately led to very hard feelings. But I am only guessing. In the epilogue the book concludes that this examine for the real Bobby may never truly end."Searching for Bobby Orr" is for the most move an interesting construe for those interested in Bobby's story. But it suffers from changes in tone as if it were written by three different people. And although the book doesn't clarify conclusions by the author about some of the controversies surrounding Bobby he leads the reader to some interesting conclusions of their own. But in the end. I am left wary of those conclusions because it is abundantly clear just how much has been left unsaid particularly by Bobby himself.
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