Although shes only been in WWE for just over 4 years, Lita still has quite a tale to tell, as is evident with this book. Unlike most wrestlers, Lita was not a wrestling fan growing up, but once she became interested in the business, she was determined to to do whatever it took to reach her goal of becoming a professional wrestler. "A Less Travelled Road" ("The Reality Of Amy Dumas") is Litas own personal account of her rise to the top of the wrestling business, and the many trials and tribulations she experienced along the way. In the "Forward" Chapter, her boyfriend Matt Hardy describes how there isnt a whole lot of difference between Amy Dumas and Lita, and this is a very true statement.
In her early childhood chapters, Lita explains how she was somewhat of an outcast. Due to the nature of her fathers work, she moved from one place to the next, never managing to sustain any real friendships.
However, when Lita discovered punk rock music, she "found" herself and began to mix with a crowd (albeit an "alternative" one). During these early chapters, Lita gives some very detailed descriptions of the punk rock scene and explains why she became attracted to this type of music.
Litas discovery of sports entertainment came by chance one day, when her boyfriend at that time happended to be watching WCW Nitro. Lita wasnt interested, until she saw masked luchador wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio showing off their incredible talents. Lita knew immediately that wrestling was her new career choice.
Lita describes her wrestling training in Mexico City in great detail, before explaining what it was really like to work for ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling). Although she wasnt there long, she still got plenty of heat from several of her co-workers and Paul Heyman himself (some of her ECW stories are quite frankly, shocking).
Lita talks about her very first WWF appearnce (which believe it or not, was not under the name "Lita"), and how herself and Essa Rios (the wrestler who she was valet to) were so low on the WWFs priority list that they werent given names straightaway and only debuted when they did due to a late story line change.
Lita tells us how she and Essa Rios werent meant to get over, but did so in a big way. She recalls how the WWF teamed her up with her real-life friends (who she met during her training days on the independant scene in the U.S.) The Hardy Boyz, and how she adopted the "baggy trousers/thong" look.
Lita goes into great detail about her matches (i.e. what went wrong, what went to plan) and story lines and covers her entire career year by year. Outside the ring, she recounts an incident at a bar between herself, Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson, says what she really thinks of "reality" TV shows (i.e. "The Weakest Link" and "Fear Factor", amongst other things.
Litas concluding chapters which concern her severe neck injury last year and the sad passing of her beloved dog Cody are quite gut-wrenching to read. With regards to her neck injury, everyone knows how it occurred, but until you read this book, you wont have any idea of how the people on the "Dark Angel" set reacted (and you really wont believe it).
What makes this book so interesting is the fact that Lita is not afraid to stick her oar in and give her true opinion (not a biased WWE-endorsed opinion). If she didnt like a particular match or story line that she was involved in, shell say so. She doesnt tow the company line and tries to see aspects of the business from a fans point of view.
Even though she is far less experienced than them, Lita still manages to do a better job with her book than Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan did with theirs. She doesnt rush through her chapters, she doesnt hold back, and she doesnt short-change the readers.
But perhaps the best quality of this book is that it indicates just how down to earth Lita really is. She comes across as being almost like one of us (apart from her fame and fortune, of course). She appreciates her fans and after reading about her experiences with stars such as Melissa Joan Hart and P.O.D., its nice to know that there are some "real" celebrities among us like Amy Dumas.
