A review by biztz
Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch

3.0

Barely three stars. I expected a more critical examination. Like, two team's doctors over prescribe painkillers and sleeping pills, and all we find out is that the docs are still with the teams. No deeper investigation into how that happened? Bettman skates by with a "fighting is down in the game" comment, in the Epilogue? And for a book that's ostensibly not trying to glamorize fighting, we sure do get a lot of details about Boogaard's fights. Maybe that was intended to bring out the hypocrite in the reader. Like, intellectually, fighting is bad. Emotionally, it's another story. At the same time, all the details felt tacky (and repetitive). I was really excited to read this, but I think I'll like it less the more I think about it.