True Strength

October 1, 2011
A dull, inconsequential account of an affable slab of beefcake's medical troubles. Sorbo, best known for his starring role in the hit TV program Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, recounts the catastrophic effects of an aneurysm and a series of strokes on his life and career. At the height of his stardom, the conspicuously healthy, clean-living actor suffered a bizarre and statistically unlikely health crisis that left the him persistently weak and dizzy, plagued by migraines and vision loss and unable to maintain his muscular physique or even swing a prop sword on the set of the show. Sorbo is candid about the hopelessness and resentment that characterized his slow recovery, his frustration with contradictory medical advice and holistic therapies of varying effectiveness and the stress his condition placed on his new marriage. Unfortunately, the author, at least on the evidence here, is such a resolutely bland personality--a middle-of-the-road guy in temperament, taste and sensibility--that it is difficult to muster much interest in his predicament. His anecdotes about life on the set of Hercules are flavorless and mild, his observations on love, family and the capriciousness of fate banal and his regular-guy persona precludes any surprising, salacious or otherwise interesting revelations about his idyllic upbringing as a healthy young jock or his relatively smooth ascension to cult stardom. Sorbo's medical problems, while clearly devastating to the author and his family and friends, are not the stuff of high drama; he was knocked down, felt lousy for a period and slowly recovered. Readers may feel vaguely gratified that an apparently nice person made it through a difficult period, but it's hardly compelling reading.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2011
In this compelling memoir, actor Kevin Sorbo (aka Hercules) recounts how he experienced three strokes at age 38. (And no, steroids played no role.) Throughout his chatty tale, he drops enough Hollywood names to make any Us Weekly reader happy. Designer Gianni Versace hits on him, even though he is straight. At a charity golf tournament (he loves the game), he chats with Clint Eastwood. Despite still suffering from mild panic and anxiety attacks, migraines, and residual pain from nerve damage, the now 53-year-old actor and philanthropist is essentially living happily-ever-after. Poststroke, he married a beautiful Hercules guest actress who became the mother of his three kids. Today, the veteran of 14-hour days on TV sets brags about having learned to rest, to listen to his favorite singers (Elton John, Billy Joel), and to appreciate his wife and kids. He even calls his aneurysm and strokes a fortunate event: My strange brush with death, along with the battle for health that ensued, abruptly and profoundly transformed my world, he writes. Talk about the power of positive thinking.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)