• Gunslinger

  • The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre
  • By: Jeff Pearlman
  • Narrated by: Barry Abrams
  • Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (506 ratings)

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Gunslinger  By  cover art

Gunslinger

By: Jeff Pearlman
Narrated by: Barry Abrams
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Publisher's summary

A towering figure on the field for two decades and destined for the Hall of Fame, Brett Favre was one of the game's last cowboys, a fastball-throwing, tobacco-chewing gunslinger who refused to give up without a fight. This peerless quarterback guided the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls and one championship win, shattering countless NFL records along the way.

Gunslinger tells Brett Favre's full, definitive story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts Favre's journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last roster spot at Southern Mississippi to a late-night car accident that nearly took his life. Favre clawed back, getting drafted into the NFL, first to Atlanta, then to Green Bay, where he restored the Packers to greatness and inspired a fan base as passionate as any in the game. Yet he struggled with demons: addiction, infidelity, the loss of his father the day before he honored him by playing the greatest game of his career, and ultimately a fraught, painfully prolonged exit from the game he loved.

©2016 Jeff Pearlman (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What listeners say about Gunslinger

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

No Aaron Rodgers by any Stretch

I'v been a Packer Fan my entire life. There were some pretty rough rooting years through the 70's and 80's, and when Don Majkowski came on the scene in the early 90's, I thought the Packers had indeed turned the page and they would no longer be the door mat to the NFC. I had no idea when Favre stepped in after a "Magic Man" injury, that I, along with the entire Packer fan base would witness 15 years of phenomenal football lead by arguably the best Quarterback to play the game. Teams like Denver, and Miami, and Dallas will argue in favor of their respective HOF QB, but they must agree, there will never be another to play the game like Brett Favre. Never!

This was a pretty decent book, with excellent insight into what Favre experienced as a player both in college, and in the NFL. And there is a glimpse of what it must've been like to line up behind center in some of the games most memorable games. One can only imagine. One might also wonder how such a great player continued to struggle off the field with everything from pain killers to infidelity when it seemed he had the world at his finger tips. Nobody is perfect, and this book does an excellent job of confirming that notion by including every detail, regardless of the topic. What is simply mesmerizing is how he is able to deal with each event while playing a professional sport at the level he did. Amazing!

I was disappointed with the narration. The reader tries too hard to mimic the voices of those he is reading about which (to me) becomes a distraction from an otherwise very interesting topic. I don't need him to raise the pitch in his voice every time he quotes a female. It just sounds...weird. Read the book! I get that Brett's sister is being quoted, I don't want to hear the high-pitch voice inflection of a man.

All-in-all, if you're a Packer fan like me or a Football fan looking to augment your library with a story about one of the games best, put this title in your library. It's well worth the credit, and the 17+ hours to get through it.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

ah shucks

pretty good book, Brett was kinda of a shit head but learned alot about him

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Gilbert Brown is Not A Sixteen Year Old Girl

What didn’t you like about Barry Abrams’s performance?

I think Barry Abrams hates football players. I'm not sure why he felt compelled to do voices for all the different speakers, and am REALLY not sure why he felt compelled to make all those football players sound like breathy teenagers. Who are girls. From the south. As imagined by someone in France who has no idea of what real people from the south sound like.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

nice side stories

Some good stories I had never heard. Maybe a little too much play-by-play action. The narrator did a good job except the voices were a little goofy

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

It was an ok read

Narrator was ok but had strange and sometimes creepy voices for characters. For the most part I enjoyed this book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

If your Favre fan, don't read!!

The author is not a Favre fan and he does more to tear the qb apart for all his faults than praise for the good he did. Sorry but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

engaging and entertaining

I've read a lot of sports biographies, and Pearlman is one of the most engaging and entertaining writers in this genre. His stories and antidotes leap off the page and just make you want to read more! I highly recommend it

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun listen

This story takes you through the highs and lows of Favre life, from small town to nfl star with drinking, drugs and being unfaithful to his wife and winning a Super Bowl you get it all.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

All-around well-done bio

Pretty much what you’d expect from a Jeff Pearlman book: exhaustively researched, very well-written, a ton of sarcasm, and not one person mentioned for any longer than a page comes off devoid of massive flaws or anywhere close to a hero. I will say that Pearlman goes easier on Favre than several other of his previous subjects, and - considering what kind of husband and father Brett was depicted as - probably shouldn’t have. Finally, I give the narrator credit for not trying to do impressions of everyone (except Favre, which was actually pretty close). However, he did feel the need to change his voice for quotes, and regardless of gender, all sound like two people: either Favre (3/4 of them) or your accountant.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very good

Very informative! Fast enough to keep you interested but detailed enough to make you feel like you truly know the ole gunslinger

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