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Broken Hearts Book Review

Posted in Krusher's Book Reviews by Jack at 19:17, Jul 03 2007

Broken Harts
The Life and Death of Owen Hart

By
Martha Hart

Review by Krusher Koxx

I picked this book up a couple of months ago and while I was sort of wary about what kind of negativity Martha would have towards the business that took her husband away from her, I couldn?t pass it up. The book in and of itself, is a sad reminder of how the business can push people to do things that they do not feel comfortable doing (Case in point, Owen never wanted to descend from the rafters that fateful night in KC), to taking them away from their families, to actually driving a wedge between the family itself. Martha pulls no punches while taking aim at Vince McMahon Jr, the professional wrestling industry as a whole, or the Hart family themselves. The most important thing that I as a reader have taken from this book, is the fact that Owen and Martha had a genuine love for each other, and that Owen was what everyone says he was. Owen was a dedicated husband and father first and foremost, everything else came secondary. Owen was not a performer who lived and breathed the wrestling business twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Yet, it was the business that he often abhorred, that took his life, much to soon. While much of the book focuses on the days before the tragic accident, and the days and events after, the heart of the book is regarding Owen?s life, giving the readers an inside look at the man that we all came to love as ?The King of Harts?.

In the early chapters, we come to find how Owen and Martha came to become a couple. Both still in high school, and how their relationship blossomed over the years. Martha talks about finally meeting Owen at a Stampede card that her friend begged her to go to, as Martha had no interest in the world of pro wrestling. However, this is where she met Owen the man that would eventually come to be her husband, and more importantly, the love of her life, and the father of their two children. Martha talks in depth about the pitfalls and hardships that the couple went through during the early years, and that Owen had never wanted to get into the ?Family Business?, however seeing how easy it was to make money, and support a family, Owen eventually gave in and joined the ?Family Business? even after maintaining to Martha and his family (particularly Stu and Helen) that it was only a temporary solution. Martha talks about the pressures that the Hart family put on Owen to stay in the business to help keep Stampede afloat after Stu bought the rights to the promotion back from Vince McMahon. Martha also talks about the early days in Owens career when they were both in Germany while Owen wrestled for the Catch Wrestling Association (Otto Wanz?s federation) and how they lived in squalor. Martha also talks about Owen?s early WWF days, as he was first The Blue Blazer, then formed The New Hart Foundation with his brother-in-law Jim ?The Anvil? Neidhart, and then ?High Energy? with Koko B. Ware.


We find out that during Owen?s peak run in the WWF, Owen was not overly excited about the ?Attitude Era?, and that Owen more and more began talking about exiting the promotion once and for all. Unfortunately, we all know how the story ends. From this point, Martha talks about the events after the death of her husband. We see how the WWF legal teams ducked and dodged at every opportunity to keep the civil procedures from taking place. We also see how the Hart family became fractured, with several family members siding with Vince McMahon, some siding with Martha, and some staying completely out of the picture altogether. Through the book, we see the Hart family as one large dysfunctional family, with episodes of fighting, back stabbing, and blatant lies, even before Owen?s fateful fall. At times Martha comes off as being down right bitchy in regards to the Hart family, however, one is brought to the realization of the sad and often times tragic circumstances that immersed the family.


Considering the recent tragedy of Chris Benoit, this is as close to an ?inside look? that we will probably get, that has not been ?scrubbed clean?. This is a must read for those who are not only fans of Owen, but fans of the Hart family and wrestling itself. Behind the layers of dirt slinging, one constant intangible throughout the book, the fact remains, that Martha loved Owen, and that love remains to this day.

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