Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant

'Showboat', a moniker that Shaq gave Kobe to describe Bryant's flashy style of game.Overall an excellent book from start to finish. I honestly wish the book was longer. Similar to Michael Jordan's book, you get the prelude and family history of Kobe Bryant. Starting from Joe "Jellybean" Bryant and his turbulent start with the Philadelphia 76ers as a hometown star, up to the final game of Kobe Bryant, scoring 60 points giving his final speech as a Laker. This book covers all peaks and valleys of Kobe's life, from the notorious rape case, infidelity rumors, divorce proceedings, and family relationship, or lack thereof.Feuds covered include: Shaq, Phil Jackson, D12 (lightly), family members.What I love most about 'Showboat', is that it holds no punches. Lazenby addresses the flaws as well as the accolades in a blunt tone. He goes behind the scenes and gives a different camera angle of Kobe that us fans don't see. You see the great, good, bad, ugly and awful. He cuts out all of the salacious unnecessary details, but describes the facts in vivid words without censoring the truth. Lazenby could've went on tangent's that were unnecessary, but he remained on point with the important parts. 'Showboat' is a piece of work that will leave you educated about the complexity of such an enigmatic legend. You will admire his mental tenacity and stubborn will, while also hate it at times.An absolute must read for all lovers of sports biographies.

Great read. Author really does his research. A wonderfully written story about a coming of age, family dynamics, drive to success. I will be re-reading this. Ordered a second for my sister.

Kobe Bean Bryant’s story was captivating, personal, and full of life lessons. The author did much research capturing all angles of Bryant’s career and personal journey.As a Kobe fan through and through, I greatly appreciated learning more about his approach to his work, life, and career. Sometimes seen as extreme, Kobe’s style of competition and decision making made him exactly who he was—the Black Mamba!I highly recommend reading this book. No one could have willed themselves to achieve what Kobe did during his life.

I had to purchase this after the loss of Kobe 💔. My significant other Leon Douglas is mentioned throughout the book especially the "Red Bicycle" chapter. He played with Kobe's Dad, Joe "Jellybean" in Italy and knew him as a child. Reading this book brought all of the stories that I'd heard to to a vivid reality. 💜

Excellent read. In depth look on Kobe’s life from a very young age, his life in Italy and Philadelphia, his family and his rise as a professional. Would highly recommend.

This is the best write about Kobe I've come across. He's my favorite player of all-time and I consider myself a walking Kobe encyclopedia, this book covers more about his life/career than anything out currently. The first 100 pages or so talk about his family growing up and a lot of details about his dad Jelly Bean I hadn't known before. Highly recommend.

A really great really feel like I got a lot of insight as to what made Kobe Bryant take seeing some perceptions reinforced some debunked all in all a great story. Even more interesting to read now that he is gone truly missed truly an all-time great.

Add supreme self-confidence to the above formula and you have the making of a superstar, as this biography so clearly delineates. An NBA veteran father, a domineering mother, some childhood years in Italy, high school back in Pennsylvania, Shaq, Phil Jackson, sexual assault charges, and Kobe's often polarizing competitiveness, are among the topics dealt with in depth. Sharper editing would have improved the book, for there are imprecise references scattered about (who's "he" ?) and repetitiveness that even includes a few whole sentences reoccurring word-for-word. Nonetheless, Lazenby now has three rather definitive sports bios under his belt, for Kobe, Jerry West, and Michael Jordan, with the latter probably the best one.

I bought this book for a present and the person loved it

Nice product.

Antes la mesa de la cocina estaba coja y se me derramaba la sopa cada vez que comía. Desde que compré el libro la mesa sigue coja pero por lo menos tengo un libro más para decorar las estanterías.

Buch war leider gebraucht, aber auf die Beschwerde hin, hat Amazon direkt 40% des Kaufpreises auf mein Konto zurücküberwiesen. Daher alles top!

Libro molto interessante. Inizialmente sembra perdersi in storie e aneddoti che appaiono inutili ai fini della comprensione della "persona" Kobe, ma poco a poco i tasselli vanno al posto giusto e si comprende il perché della fame di competizione che lo ossessionava.