What an excellent, gripping read. I often begin books with high expectations, but this is the rare read that actually far exceeded them.

Sometimes biographies can drag, at least in my view, because there are always pieces of a life that, while they may not be the most exciting, are absolutely necessary for development of the person and the story. But really, nearly every chapter of this book was entirely consuming. Part of that is likely the completely unique and honestly fiction-like reality of Woods' life, but the other part is due to stellar writing—obviously the narrative was very thoroughly researched, but it was presented in such a way to put us right inside the mind of Tiger.

One of the things this biography does best is reserve judgment of its characters. We are given facts and stories about things that occurred, but we aren't told what to think about these things. It's left up to us to decide about the morality of these people—were Earl and Kultida justified in setting such lofty expectations for their son, even if they turned him into an emotionless robot? Can Tiger be forgiven for his constant failure to appreciate those who helped him, even when he ignores blatant rebukes of his actions? Is everyone flawed to this level, just without the means and the celebrity to exacerbate their flaws so intensely? So many interesting questions to consider, and I'll likely be thinking about them for a while to come.

This book is so powerful because it gives us more than an examination of a famous (and infamous) athlete; it forces us to examine how we interact with others, and what makes people the way that they are.