If you know me, you know I’m a huge Bruce Lee fan.
Like most Bruce Lee fans I like to read as much as I can about the guy (why I wrote this post), as his outlook on life and martial arts fascinate me. I watch his movies at least a few times every year as a way to get entertained and motivated. Imagine where he’d be had he not died!
It’s funny, I was born 10 years after Bruce Lee died and have never imagined a word where he is still alive, so this book caught my attention when Tuttle Publishing asked me if I wanted a copy to review. So I jumped at the chance, it’s called Bruce Lee – Words of the Dragon.
What can you expect?
This book is a collection of interviews and articles with Bruce Lee during the active years of his life; times of looking on to Bruce’s promising career and family life as he arrives in the United States, plays Kato in the Green Hornet and also during his explosive movie career.
What they’ve done is tracked down a number of interviews and slotted them into this book one after another so you can read and get a feel for the direction and goals Bruce, Linda and his family had in the forefront of their minds during various stages of his life.
These articles range from short newspaper write ups through to detailed interviews, it was really fascinating with the first article being from 1959, when Bruce was just a young man finding his feet after moving to the United States.
There’s even a nice filmography at the beginning of the book, detailing not just the 5 main films Bruce starred in the 1970’s, but also the films he did in Hong Kong as a child, his various Television appearances and small roles in films like Marlowe.
It’s a book for the Bruce Lee Fan.
If you know nothing of Bruce Lee, this book can work as a different introduction to his life.
The main issue is there are a lot of inaccuracies in the articles as the writers misinterpret or misunderstand some of the information given to them – but this book actually corrects this information by supplying small notes at the end of each section so you can be given the historically accurate story. This is what makes the book interesting though, inaccuracies and even slightly racist sounding remarks are left in their original entirety , keeping the articles as true to the original print as possible. It carries a bit of character because of this.
One thing many would find interesting as fans of Bruce Lee is the way the interviews highlight the world at that time. The focus on the interracial marriage and children of Bruce and Linda is quite strong and addressed as unique, whereas today it was seem totally common and widespread. All the while you get a sense for the Lee family’s goals and outlooks at the time each article is written as they look forward to a bright future.
While there’s a not a lot of new information present in this book that hasn’t been covered elsewhere, it goes a little beyond facts as you gain a little more knowledge on what life felt like and ran like for Bruce, as opposed to simply knowing of his accomplishments. His personality off the screen is revealed a little more in these interviews as his cool charm and intense character really shine through. You get the impression he is a really popular and loved guy by everyone he came into contact with.
Even the way the book is wrapped up works nicely, with the first article being written by Linda herself at the height of Bruce’s career. Like many of the other articles in this book Linda reflects on Bruce’s character but looks forward to a bright future without limit, completely unaware of Bruce’s soon to be unfortunate death. The book then ends with a small article written by Brandon himself as a child in similar fashion.
Overall, the book seems to connect the reader to the Lee family in total quite well, not just Bruce. It’s pretty interesting to read
Do I recommend it?
It’s a decent book, I recommend it mainly to diehard fans of Bruce Lee who want to explore his life and legacy just a bit further, and see his life through the eyes of others as they meet him. Fresh fans of Lee will also gain some perspective from this book also.
It’s an entertaining read and is really quite interesting. I’m glad I have it on my shelf!
If you’re keen, you can grab a copy from Amazon.
