TENACITY Book Reviews
What reviewers are saying about Ron Coury’s new book.
“In this debut memoir, a native New Yorker recollects a life of entrepreneurial success and perseverance in the face of daunting adversity.
Coury came of age on the streets of Brooklyn in the 1960s, the descendant of grandparents who emigrated from the Middle East. Always attuned to the possibility of business opportunity, he started a rock band in 1970 and made considerable sums of money selling soda and beer (despite being underage himself) at his own concerts. The author was drafted in 1972 and chose to enlist in the Marines, and in the last six months of his service, he worked—as part of a job transition program—as a blackjack dealer at a minor casino. Coury was always looking for ways to advance, though, and he landed a coveted gig at the Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip shortly thereafter. A restless entrepreneur, he bought his first bar in 1979 when he was only 27 years old, and by the age of 35, he’d either bought or founded seven other businesses. Coury’s account of commerce in Las Vegas focuses on its seedier side; he tells of confronting corrupt union reps who squeezed him for money, fraudulent regulatory commissions, and unscrupulous law enforcement officers. The culmination of the author’s tale comes in 1989, when, he says, a thieving waiter falsely accused him of torture. In this remembrance of his life and times, Coury provides an account that’s both dramatic and cinematic. The author’s story, as the title suggests, focuses on his indefatigable refusal to surrender, and readers won’t be able to help finding this to be an impressive virtue. The prose doesn’t offer many literary flourishes, but Coury does show himself to be a naturally gifted storyteller with a clear, informally charming style. Although the narrative largely focuses on his business exploits, he candidly discusses his childhood, his bout with esophageal cancer in the mid-2000s, and his happy marriage, as well.
An often captivating remembrance that’s brimming with intrigue.”
Ron Coury is. . . “a brilliant Las Vegas entrepreneur and visionary, and Tenacity is one of the quintessential ‘Only in Vegas’ stories. We need a nation of Ron Courys.”
From Corruption to Cancer with Doses of Courage
“Las Vegas business entrepreneur, Ron Coury, dishes out doses of courage throughout his nearly tell-all personal handbook, ‘Tenacity.’ His mentions of the vanquished Mob might make you, like many Sin City townies, wish for their continued presence in the city. However, rather than engage in bloody retribution, Coury takes the high and extremely long and bumpy road to overcome an even more insidious bunch of gangsters: the Las Vegas Good Ole Boys Club and an incestuous bureaucracy.
Having been a Las Vegas resident for a decade shy of the author’s 45 years, I can attest to his claims of how popular and well-run his establishments were. Unfortunately, I can also unequivocally support his narrative of coercion and corruption from the lowest to the highest levels based on personal experience.
‘Tenacity’ doesn’t present itself as an instrument of revenge and justification. Rather, the author seems eager to give credit where credit is due. He regales the reader with interesting insights into how Vegas was run and developed over time, leading to the commercially explosive 80s and 90s. In keeping with an unspoken Vegas tradition, Coury doesn’t call out the guilty by actual name nor pinpoint their base of activity, even as he details their perfidy. He obviously delights in the making of sound business deals, some of which were sealed with nothing more than a handshake.
It’s a tossup as to whether leaders are born or made. From the streets of Brooklyn to the Marines, then on to urban mobsters, Coury’s experiences lead one to believe there are those who are molded out of nothing more than hands-on experience and true grit. It comes as no surprise that when faced with almost certain death from esophageal cancer, this true-life survivor meets his fiercest antagonist head-on with courage, determination and, of course, tenacity.
Overall, ‘Tenacity’ could stand as a guidebook about life and how to live it that should be kept by the bedside or armchair.”
“An insider’s look into the bar and gaming industries, Ron Coury’s memoir ‘Tenacity’ charts his challenging path to making a fortune in Las Vegas and shines light on how Sin City operates behind the scenes.
Coury, a Brooklyn kid who survived the mean streets of his upbringing and the rigors of the Marines to make it big out West, delivers a memoir that doubles as a business book. It focuses on the nitty-gritty of the Las Vegas metro bar industry and assorted other ventures, including a limousine service, a graphics shop, a decoupage art gallery and a glass supply company. Showing how to apply a fighting spirit and the Marine Corps principle that “failure is not an option” to the business world, this book shows how a serial entrepreneur persevered through shakedowns, embezzlement and backroom wheeling and dealing to achieve his dreams.
Set against a neon-lit backdrop of gambling and boozing, this candid account shows exactly how bars in Las Vegas differ from bars anywhere else in the world, exposing a seedy underbelly of political corruption and lax morality. Vegas and the neighboring suburb of Opportunity are portrayed as rough-and-tumble desert towns. More than one anecdote ends with people “not realizing how close they came to death.”
The book’s language serves its subject matter and is both dishy and conversational. Coury’s relentless motivation to succeed propels his story forward, elevating him to lofty heights, including a partnership with tennis great Andre Agassi. Here, success is seen to require a pugnacious spirit and the willingness to overcome anything that stands in your way. Reflection takes a backseat to the book’s action, and most of the lessons imparted are reserved for the brief epilogue.
‘Tenacity’ is a business-minded memoir about triumphing over adversity and seizing opportunities for success.”
“Ron’s autobiographical memoir is a stunning read – not only because of all the adversity he has overcome in his life, but because of the light he shines of the coming of age of Las Vegas we know today. It is a shockingly detailed account of the corruption, the gambling industry, the starts and stops of the entrepreneur’s life, crime, coping with cancer and yet how one strong and willful man overcame adversity to become a major success and come out on top.
Inspiring, illuminating, and searingly written, this is a book for someone who has faced tough odds and both lived to tell about it and provides a rather solid hero. ”
“As an insight into the shadiness of Las Vegas, a town that’s always been known for operating a little on the fringes of fairness, Ron Coury’s memoir TENACITY flits between compelling and shocking, with plenty of that titular ‘never-say-die’ mentality. All in, it provides a solid glance ‘through the looking glass’.”
“Whether it was his Brooklyn childhood, a stint in the Marines or, more significantly, his decades as a Las Vegas business entrepreneur, Ron Coury fought and won many uphill battles, thus inspiring the title of this engaging memoir.
Coury traces his sometimes-stubborn pursuit of justice to age 16, when he helped fight off three punks who were beating up a neighbor boy. “This seemingly minor fight helped mold me into a defender of right…someone who understood the challenge of going against the odds…” he writes.
Coury followed that precept throughout his life: while a Marine, the founder of a Vegas empire of more than 20 businesses, and, later, when facing felony charges over a former employee’s false claims (he eventually cleared his name). Coury also successfully challenged corrupt government officials in a Nevada town where he wanted to build a casino. His biggest fight, however, came in 2005, when he fought esophageal cancer, and won. Now, in his mid-60s, Coury devotes time to charities, a startup business and playing poker.
Coury is a wonderful storyteller. His writing is detailed and colorful, with touches of humor. For example, he tells of a practical joke he and his friends played on a buddy while on a cruise. When the joke was revealed, “We were all there, laughing so hard that, well, with all the water around, it’s likely some spillage occurred.” Another time, a man thrown out of Coury’s bar, retaliated by vandalizing his car. In “a scene straight out of The Godfather,” Coury asked two friends to buy “the biggest fish they have” at the local fish market, gift wrap it and drop it at the man’s front door. The next day, the man nervously repented to Coury, as if Coury were, in fact, a mob boss.
Such stories keep readers entertained throughout. Anyone interested in Las Vegas in 1970s and ’80s will enjoy it, as will anyone looking to be inspired by an American success story.”
“When everything you’ve worked for is in peril and your personal freedom is at stake, you can do one of two things. You can sit by, hoping that the system works as it should, the truth will be revealed, and justice will be served. Or you can fight for what’s right. As you’ll see within these pages, the latter is the road I chose.” So begins the memoir of a man called Ron Coury, former US Marine, businessman and one-time accused criminal who fought for justice when no one else would.
Coury’s memoir tracks the progression of his life from the son of second-generation immigrants in Brooklyn to successful Las Vegas entrepreneur who was accused of a felony by angry ex-employees. In between are stories about his family, friends, his time as a Marine and all of the advice that he could pack in to one book.
I found this book fascinating and engaging. By the end of it I felt as though it had changed my state of mind in a lot of ways that I had not been expecting. Ron Coury has a lot of interesting things to say about life in general and there is an unexpected depth to this book that leaves you with a positive and ambitious outlook when you’re done reading it. The pacing of this book was pitch perfect. Coury has a way of hooking the reader with anecdotes that slowly unravel over the course of the book in a way that keeps you from being able to put it down. I wanted to know more right from page one. I would read more by this author for sure and I hope he decides to write more about his fascinating life and ideas. I highly recommend it with 5 stars!”
“Corruption. Bribery. Elected officials seeking to enrich themselves rather than serve the public—facing the one man with the guts, determination and steel will to stand up to them and see justice done. And every word of it is true. This is “Tenacity,” the real life story of Ron Coury, a man of principle and indomitable spirit who took on the powers pulling the levers of gambling, transportation and industry in Las Vegas . . . and won. “Tenacity” is like a blockbuster movie that will anger, thrill and ultimately inspire with the powerful message that even when the fix is in, the good guys sometimes come out on top.”
“Ron Coury is an entrepreneurial savant. Finding a need and filling it comes to him as naturally as breathing. In his inspiring memoir ‘Tenacity,’ Coury chronicles his roller coaster rise from grandson of Middle Eastern immigrants to mega-successful Las Vegas businessman. But none of it was easy. Along the way, Coury was forced to fight bullies, corruption, the Mob, City Hall (literally) and even the ‘Big C,’ all in service of his Marine Corps credo, “Failure is not an option.”
Whether you’re a young entrepreneur embarking on your first venture or a seasoned business veteran, a Las Vegas aficionado seeking a glimpse behind the curtain from a longtime insider’s perspective or someone looking for a motivational blueprint on how to beat the longest of life’s odds, ‘Tenacity’ is the book for you.”
“Ron Coury’s life has not been a straight line. There were numerous twists and turns. The one common thread has been his honesty, courage, and determination to succeed. This well-written book describes Ron’s several careers, the obstacles others attempted to throw in his path, and how he overcame those obstacles. It is well worth reading.”
“In this autobiographical memoir, Ron Coury recounts his childhood in Brooklyn in the 1960s, his short stint in the U.S. Marines in the early 70s, and his subsequent career as a businessman in Las Vegas. While many entrepreneurs choose a path and stick with it, Coury instead seized upon whatever came his way in Las Vegas, from silk screen printing, blackjack dealing, and limo services to car washes, real estate sales, and tavern ownership. Teaming up with a variety of partners and overcoming a plethora of obstacles, Coury enjoyed success, suffered through failure, and kept on exhibiting the trait that became his book’s title: tenacity.
Grab your popcorn when you read this book, because it’ll entertain you like a caper movie. Along the way, you’ll learn interesting details about the Nevada Gaming Commission, the court system, municipal government, and Las Vegas law enforcement. Coury’s escapades are a personal trip through the seventies to the present, the decades during which Las Vegas grew from a little dusty western town to a major metropolis. And if you’re wondering about the mob, you’ll get a bit of that, too.
It’s not surprising that Coury chose to fictionalize some names and places in his stories. He pulls no punches in his descriptions of corrupt city officials, dishonest judges, and thieving employees. He may never have seen military combat, but he makes it clear that he learned how to live his life from his service in the Marines. This is a guy who does not go down without a fight.
So if you’re interested in an intimate look at one man’s entrepreneurial journey through Las Vegas’s adolescence, this is a book to consider. It is also a fighter’s counterpunch, a final act of, well, call it tenacity, from an author seeking to settle a score.”
“Ron Coury’s tale of life in Las Vegas shows how he navigated the ins and outs of America’s last great boom town to build his business and life. It takes a special person to spend one’s life confronted with ethical lapses and criminal activities standing in your way yet still maintain the highest level of ethics and standards. From his upbringing in Brooklyn to the Marine Corps to his career in Las Vegas, Ron Coury weaves an epic story that will glue you to your seat and keep the pages turning.”
“Tenacity: A Vegas Businessman Survives Brooklyn, the Marines, Corruption and Cancer to Achieve the American Dream” is the memoir of author Ron Coury. It’s one of those books in which the truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and I had a marvelous time living vicariously through Ron as I read through all his adventures.”
“Never has a book been more appropriately named.”
“When those in power are against you, preventing you from realizing your dreams, how do you handle it? In Tenacity, a new memoir by Ron Coury, the author faces this question time and again, and with patience and persistence he finds ways to overcome the obstacles in his way.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Coury moved to Las Vegas in 1973 where he began an entrepreneurial life, opening businesses in a variety of fields. While they seem a bit disconnected on paper, the diversity of his businesses flowed from unfulfilled niches—something Coury was constantly on the lookout for. From the carwash he bought to cut down on costs involved for his stretch limo business, to the glass company to complement the graphics company, he saw ways to make his businesses more efficient and implemented them.
But where he spent most of his energy—and the industry that was most profitable for him—was the tavern business. After opening one tavern and acquiring another, Coury set his sights on developing a new tavern in City of Opportunity, a small community in the northwest part of the Vegas Valley. In City of Opportunity an unrestricted gaming license was attainable, while in Las Vegas proper, taverns had limits on the number of gaming machines they could install.
What should have been a straightforward license application to the city council became at first a challenge, then a battle, and finally, as he stood before a judge facing 50 years in prison, a fight for his freedom. In his biggest battle to date, Coury applied the same reasoning that had seen him through his business struggles: If you’re going to play the game, you’d better study the rule book.
Tenacity is a story of corruption, betrayal, the value of reputation and the power of friendship. A gripping, behind-the-scenes tale of business in the good ol’ boy days of the 1970s and ’80s, it is a well-written and well-edited book that will keep readers riveted and leave them inspired.”
“Well I can’t say this book didn’t pull me in right from the start. It was a fantastic opening that left me wanting more right away. Ron Coury is a Brooklyn native and a former US Marine who has worn many different hats in his lifetime. But perhaps the most surprising role that he’s played is the role of someone accused of a crime.
In 1990, Coury battled the false accusations of a former employee and while this is not the main focus of the memoir, it was the part that I found most compelling. Especially since Coury starts out the book by placing the reader right next to him in the court room as his charges are read out and he pleads ‘not guilty.’ I don’t think I’m spoiling it to reveal that he did eventually clear his name of all charges. But, it was after reading that opening I immediately knew that this book was going to be a roller coaster ride and I was not wrong in the least.
From descriptions of his grueling days in boot camp, to his fight against corruption in the Nevada government, to his time as a successful business man, this memoir takes quite a few twists and turns and has both funny and shocking moments (on the funny side, I loved the anecdote about his father chasing his childhood bullies down the street. Hilarious!)
Coury’s writing is solid and his narrative has a way of revealing just enough detail without bogging down the reader in specifics. I was captivated by this memoir and when it ended I didn’t feel like I’d had enough. Five stars to Ron Coury for this one! Heartily recommend this to anyone who loves a good story. I guarantee you won’t regret it!”
“‘Tenacity’! Some people are just not born to settle down. Some people are never satisfied, always seeking more, pushing farther and climbing higher. ‘Tenacity’ by Ron Coury is about one of those people. ‘Tenacity’ is a memoir about Coury’s life and all of the trials and triumphs that he has faced in his time.
Born in Brooklyn to second generation immigrant parents, Coury knew from a young age that he wanted to be a business man. His first job was shining shoes at the subway station for a dime. From those meager beginnings, Coury quickly realized that he enjoyed making money and doing it through hard work. The story of ‘Tenacity’ is in Ron Coury’s hard work, clever machinations, determination and, of course, tenacity in the face of adversity.
I greatly enjoyed this book and Coury’s perspective on life in general. Apart from funny anecdotes about his no-nonsense parents and occasionally less-than-reputable friends, ‘Tenacity’ was filled with a lot of genuinely good life advice. This book is surprisingly aspirational and almost functioned like a self-help book for me in some ways. I also learned quite a bit about the world of casino-ownership which is something that I never had any reason to think about before but I ended up finding very interesting.
Coury tells the entire story of his life in a stylistic, ‘Wonder Years’ sort of way that really makes you feel as though you are being taken along on the journey with him and that he remembers everything perfectly. I loved this style of writing that is based on recollection and has a dash of humor and embarrassment. Coury owned something like 35 business in the Las Vegas area at one point and reading about a man who starts out with nothing building an empire is like reading about the American dream. I highly recommend it and give it 5 out of 5 stars.”
“Tenacity is the gripping, inspirational and compelling true life story of Ron Coury, his unrelenting determination to overcome the many formidable obstacles which he endured along his journey to achieve the American dream, while also fighting the innate corruption in Las Vegas, Nevada, along the way.
Tenacity is an engaging, distinct memoir where Ron Coury expressively chronicles his dramatic journey beginning as a grandson of Middle Eastern immigrants, all the way to his triumphant rise and achievement to a becoming a hugely successful Las Vegas businessman and entrepreneur. However, the road to his success was difficult, fraught with tension, struggles and coping with the onslaught of cancer. He endured much adversity in his life on his way to the top. But, through his strength, determination, strong will and know-how, he was able to overcome it all and become the success he is today. Now, through his stunning, and rather shocking, memoir, he brings readers an inside look at how he achieved his dreams, while chronicling the corruption, double-dealing, mob thugs, crime and underhandedness that made up the history of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fraud, bribery and elected officials only seeking gain for themselves, ignoring the public’s needs, are some of the issues that Ron Coury bravely faced and fought against by standing up to them with fearless determination, bringing justice for many.
This is an exemplary story about the life of author Ron Coury, as he cleverly expresses it to readers in his extraordinary autobiography, Tenacity. He is a brilliant man of principle, strength of mind and spirit, taking on the corrupt influencers that forcibly tried to maintain control of the systems behind the gambling, and various industries of Las Vegas. And, in the end Coury prevailed, was victorious in his efforts, and won the many struggles and fights he took on.
Tenacity by Ron Coury is unlike any memoir that I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
It is an amazing story, and very well written with a nice steady pace, keeping the reader fully engaged throughout the entire book. It is filled with gripping and thrilling anecdotes that will excite and conjure up feelings of anger and apprehension, but will ultimately inspire, encourage and motivate others to work hard to achieve their dreams. The history and explanations of the Las Vegas Empire are engrossing, shocking and very entertaining. The message in Tenacity is stirring and powerful, and Artisan Book Reviews highly recommends this insightful, exciting, compelling and memorable memoir to all readers.”
“I’ve been a surgeon in Las Vegas for the last 30 years and Ron’s story captivated me. As much as I enjoyed the read I also enjoyed trying to figure out the disguised names, places and businesses used. The real names and places speak for themselves as virtually a who’s who in Las Vegas politics and business. The book is so appropriately titled and an inspiring blueprint for young entrepreneurs to emulate. Dr. Tom Demeester, the premier esophageal surgeon of our generation whom I’ve had the privilege to hear speak and lecture, receives deserved accolades from Ron. I’ve known Ron only very casually from a distance for quite a few years and now I feel I know him intimately. He’s opened up his life to all with this book, and I would highly recommend anyone interested in confirming “the American Dream” is still alive and available to those willingly to work hard and pursue it with “Tenacity”, make this book your next read.”
“The author’s life journey, as encapsulated in this text, presents a model of how to live with ambition and integrity regardless of how adverse the circumstances. Fittingly titled, his life story is remarkable in that he is constantly moving up the entrepreneurial ladder. However, where most lose good friends and quality relationships along the way, Coury is building upon them.
Essentially an autobiography up to the modern day, Tenacity is easy to read, with the subheadlines within chapters making it even easier to compartmentalize the different phases of Coury’s life. As with his own life, Coury’s story is direct and does not lead its audience in roundabouts to get to its main objective. Thus, beginning with Coury’s Brooklyn roots and expansion to Las Vegas, there will undoubtedly be a multitude of elements of the author’s life that speak to the readership, be it in how they are or how they would like to be. For longtime Las Vegas residents, and even those recently settled, the story will reference the rise of individuals like Steve Wynn and provide a snapshot of the evolution of the strip hotels.
Adversity forges character and resilience. Ron Coury is living proof of it in the “Mean Streets” chapter, when he fights for the dollar his mother gave him for a haircut or chooses to engage a group of teenage thugs beating up on his friend, Timmy. Enlisting in the Marine Corps and finding a friend like Dan Hughes only further activated Coury’s value of grit, teamwork, relationships, and, most importantly, a recurring theme in this text: loyalty.
Coury’s rise begins with Project Transition in Las Vegas, where his determination to become a casino dealer and start forging a life beyond the Marines plows through hurdles like lack of experience. Perhaps the most intriguing lesson that Coury teaches through highlighting his various examples is, quite simply, that “failure was not an option.” On more than one occasion, the author finds himself needing drastic resources to complete a desired deal. Not once does the author back down at the odds. On the contrary, Coury delivers a clinic in leveraging relationships that are generally beneficial to both sides. For example, when he has his eyes set on the purchase of the Suburban Lounge, he is able to close the $35,000 deficit preventing the purchase by proposing an investment of roughly that amount to a client of his in Coury’s side business as a realtor.
The allure of this book is its basis in fact. Many of the events narrated from Coury’s perspective can be found on the web in the form of articles in the Las Vegas Sun and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With conviction, journalists such as Wayne Allyn Root portray Coury’s role as that of a Las Vegas visionary. In the author’s quest to achieve the American Dream, which spans from starting a printing facility and owning bars to owning a limousine service, he changes Las Vegas as a whole.
The most striking aspect of Coury’s entrepreneurial career is that he is fearless in his pursuits; his endeavors do not stay within one industry but rather travel to any and all industries where he deems there is a need with a problem he can solve. Nested within Coury’s successes are many trials and tribulations with the propensity to tear apart even the strongest of wills. When he finds himself in the midst of political power plays, particularly with the case against him and the Winners bar, he risks losing everything he worked to build, and more importantly, the respect he had earned throughout Southern Nevada. In typical Coury fashion, he does the only thing that he knows: fight.
Overall, the author’s book is a fluid and entertaining tale that endears Coury’s character to audiences. His unyielding fire and passion are class personified. The entire foundation of the text rests on this premise and never disappoints.”
“This is a true story of how a Vegas businessman survives Brooklyn, the Marines, Corruption, and Cancer to Achieve the American Dream. This book is part memoir and part primer for entrepreneurs who wish to start a business in Southern Nevada, one of the most corrupt regions of the country. Growing up in Brooklyn and being in the Marines did prepare the author for life’s challenges and the subsequent battle with esophageal cancer solidified his resolve to overcome obstacles, even those that seemed insurmountable. While reading this book you will learn about the author’s early life growing up in Brooklyn and about the time he spent in the Marine Corps. Enduring the challenging, early times of his life gave him the toughness to become a business owner. His toughest battle would be the battle with cancer and not just cancer but a type of cancer that has a low survival rate. Business school will not teach you all of the life lessons you will need to succeed in opening your own business. Coury describes how hard it was to maintain ethics within the atmosphere where corruption was “business as usual.” Think of this as an insider’s view into political and police corruption, bribery, coercion, and death threats.”
“’Tenacity’ is a motivating, entertaining and inspirational memoir that will take readers on a captivating and thought-provoking journey while entertaining them at the same time. The journey the reader will encounter is at times shocking because of what author Ron Coury experienced during his early years in business; however, his story is also an uplifting one in which you will be motivated and inspired by his winning attitude. If you are a reader who is looking for a memoir unlike anything you’ve read before and laced with memorable business and life moments, ‘Tenacity’ is the book for you and should not be missed!”
“Memoirs rarely have the ability to make you root for an author and his friends as vigorously and vehemently as the succinctly and appropriately titled Tenacity by Ron Coury. If the reader were to share the author’s military background, instrumental (as attested to by Mr. Coury) in establishing his fundamental integrity and character while still a young man, he would probably just shout “Oorah!” in a declaratory final judgment of this book’s intensely satisfying outcome. We are talking here about good and bad at work in old Las Vegas, the one emerging from the decadence of its rather depraved history, where political corruption and cronyism still lingered and survived, deeply threatening the conscientious efforts of those inclined to honesty and ethics, and where one character trait alone served best to deal effectively with all such potentially lethal aggravations.
Tenacity is the trait, and Ron Coury possesses it in spades. That is what makes his retelling of the Vegas story – rich in its long and infamous tradition of greedy bad guys doing wrong – worthy of a Jimmy Stewart movie where the bad guys pick precisely the wrong man (and his friends) to threaten and harass. Mr. Coury tells his real-life tale with intensely credible authority, leaving no doubt about his own immersion in a time and place where Opportunity ruled (literally), and where some good guys, needing only big white hats to make the picture perfect, ultimately prevailed. A western story for a western town. Tenacity may be categorized as a memoir, but it reads like bad-guy fiction, or like the antidote to Down and Out in Las Vegas. Perhaps Coury could have called his book Up and In in Las Vegas. But Tenacity says it so much better.”
“Part memoir, part self-help novel, ‘Tenacity’ by Ron Coury is unlike any other book I’ve ever read. Coury’s grandparents were Middle Eastern immigrants who settled in Brooklyn in the early 1900’s in order to give their future children a better life. Coury was raised in New York and became a business man at a very young age when he started shining shoes at the train station.
From then on, Coury realized that he enjoyed making money and enjoyed coming up with new and innovative ideas for businesses. He went on to become a very successful business man, owning over eight businesses by the time he turned 35. But Coury is not just a bar and casino owner, he is a former Marine, a cancer survivor, and a man who fought for justice against a former employee who wrongfully sued him on felony charges. If anyone has a right to write a memoir, it’s probably Mr. Coury who has lived so many different lives that this book could have been a thousand pages long.
I was fascinated by his stories and the different challenges that he has faced in his life. I found this book inspirational in a lot of ways while reading. It seemed that every time Coury faced a new challenge he faced it head on in a way that many of us struggle with.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but this book was at times funny, fascinating, thrilling and heartwarming. I came to enjoy all of the people in Coury’s life as if they were characters in a novel and appreciated how he gave such in-depth descriptions of them. It really made the book come to life in a way that I’ve never gotten before with other memoirs.
I read through this in less than a day and I can’t recommend it enough! 5 out of 5 stars!”
