My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher University of North Carolina Press for an advanced copy of this book on professional wrestling and so much more.

Brian Oliu in his book Body Drop: Notes on Fandom and Pain in Professional Wrestling, has created one of the most personal, oddest, informative and frankly beautiful and different books on professional wrestling that I have ever read. A mix of history, memoir, occupational, stream of consciousness writing as if the author spoke the words aloud in the midst of a fever dream. Or after taking a top rope splash to the concrete, and nobody there to stop the impact.

At once a history of the sport, well a modern history of the sport, full of terms and insider lingo with observations on historical highspots and matches, that the author was a fan of, combined with a memoir of growing up as a heavy child, and all the fun that could be. I was a heavy child too, so I understood this section, and the rage that he said he felt, but did not want to act on. Actions have consequences, as anyone watching wrestling can tell you. Mr. Oliu discusses body image, pain, trauma, mental and physical anguish, aspirations and reality with essays on the wrestlers, some never named and their travails in the rings, with his own life story. The book is truly different, in some parts so clear, in some you feel as if your head bounced on the mat, the air is gone from your lungs and you have to finish reading before the concussion gets worse, or the bell rings. I can't say enough.

If the reader has a history with WWE, WWF, WCW and since most of these wrestlers seem to be there now AEW it helps to make sense of some essays. You will appreciate the stories of the unnamed Harts or know who Jericho and Malenko are. However coming in to this book unknowing might be a great thing too. Like arriving in a new wrestling territory back in the day, and having only what you see in front of you to decide who to root for and who to boo. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading it again. 6 stars on the Meltzer scale.