Jeff PearlmanSweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

I initially purchased Sweetness because I knew Walter Payton when we both attended Jackson State University. He’s always been a very interesting person. Also, my brother played football with Walter and he’s mentioned in the book. The book is an excellent read. The book gives you a wonderful insight on how Walter was blessed with a natural athleticism and an established mindset to become a star running back for the Chicago Bears. It details his life’s ups and downs that molded him into a beautiful human being!

This book far exceeded expectations. I knew it would be good, but I have literally laughed out loud multiple times. The stories are well researched, and it is very well written. I tried an audio book for the first time so I could listen during workout, and I am enjoying that format. So many stories about Walter, especially during his youth and pre-NFL, that are enlightening. Great read.

Very interesting and entertaining in depth look at an icon. The story, from childhood to NFL career, discloses admirable and not so admirable characteristics of a great athletic talent who was revered by the sports world.

It was extremely well written and detailed from Walter's childhood, from high school, collage to the NFL. Good moods. Bad moods. Infidelity. Illegitimate son. Absentee father. I found this book intriguing.

It is the first time I have ever heard my husband laugh out loud when reading a book. He shares so many vignettes with me that neither of us never knew before although we are both longtime big Bears fans.

Author Jeff Pearlman has written an all-encompassing biography of Chicago Bears' superstar Walter Payton. While I am not a big football fan I do enjoy reading biographies of sports' standouts, and Walter Payton certainly fits that category. The author includes both the good and the bad in his life which makes Walter Payton human like the rest of us. We may say that he lived a life of contradictions. He had time for kids with autograph requests and visitation, yet wanted nothing to do with his son born out of wedlock. He emphasized the team's interests, but felt he lacked the recognition of other running backs. To achieve the all-time rushing record became important to him, yet his wife was often neglected.Walter Payton suffered through that period that several others go through following retirement in regard to what to do with his life. It proved to be a drastic change to him, and he had difficulty finding happiness. We often think of celebrities having the best things that life has to offer, but in Walter Payton's case as in several others, they are beset with problems and difficulties that we know nothing about.Some reviewers have criticized this book because it appears to denigrate Walter Payton. While Walter had several faults that many of us are spared, it isn't our place to condemn him. I found the book to be an interesting read on a complex individual who brought joy to those who watched this gifted athlete in action. The subtitle "The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton" is entirely appropriate. Although I'm not a particular fan of football I certainly was aware of Walter Payton, and found the book to be an enriching read.

A terrific read of not only Walter Payton's biography but of those in his life as well.A man who had the greatest of success.Read this book to find out " The Rest of the Story" behind this football legend.A read you will find hard to put down!

Here in Chicago this book has taken quite a beating over the years since its publication. How dare anyone question the divinity that was / is Walter Payton? I can only imagine the hostility that will greet the first in-depth biography of Mike Ditka...And Payton really was something of a deity on the field - no denying. As football heroes go, he was about as football-heroish as you can get around here (or much of anyplace else, I suppose). A lot of fans reverently mumble a "hallowed be thy name" and that's that. But that also does a disservice, in many ways, to the real man who lived inside that hero. And Payton was a real man.To present the man in his complexity, with his not-always admirable behavior, is a service to life in general. One doesn't want to make too much of a person who's claim to fame is the ability to play a sport very, very well, but if you DO want to look at a man or woman who excelled at such things, then really look at them. And this book does.The Payton who emerges here is no less remarkable as an athlete, and his shortcomings and foibles do not render him any less admirable in his strengths and positives. This is an absorbing read about an interesting, flawed man. For those interested in his life and career, it provides three dimensions, not just the two you saw on the field. And part of that third dimension was pretty admirable, too; just not all of it.

A flawed man but with undeniable talent. This author allowed me to appreciate more about Sweetness than just purely his records.

The truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Well, as close as we will probably ever get. It turns out Walter wasn't perfect but still a true great.

Great read, warts and all

Great shaoe book was on time arrival thanks

watching this man when I was 14 turned me into a LOYALBEARSFAN and a football fan period.This man was so AWESOME that BARRY SANDERS RETIRED out of RESPECT for "SWEETNES" and we all know how completely amazing BARRY was.NOW that says alot.This book is a MUST-READ for any football fan,it clearly shows the difference between athletes of OLD SCHOOL and the softness that todays game has become!