Review Summaries

• Readers often value the clear structure and the way the photographs and reporting together make Lennon feel immediate and tangible. Some appreciate the abundance of detail and the readable style, while others want a more searching level of interpretation.

• Seen as a carefully researched photo-biography, the book traces Lennon’s life through its major turning points with strong narrative control. Its blend of quotations and images sharpens the outline of the person rather than the legend.

Reviews

• great book, once I picked it up I could not put it down. The pictures in it are amazing, and if you do not know a lot about John's personal life, this is the book for you.

• Great book on my favorite Beatle' Thank you seller!

• This book has some great features, but more bad ones; sorry, only 1 star. It has GREAT photos (many I have never seen before!); she has lots of John's quotations; John always seems to be telling us what is going on; and her assesment of John is very honest; John was a damaged, confused, and troubled genius. BUT, 1). this should not be a childerns' book. John's life if full of sex, and drugs (and rock & roll), and alchohol, infidelity, violence, betrayal, orgies, shop-lifting, insults, etc., etc., etc., and more and more and more of each NON-STOP throughout his life! This is not what 9 through 17 (!) year-olds should be reading about. And her gearing it towards children, using an attempt at their vocabulary makes the book always seem silly and almost stupid. 2). And, perhaps to make it more readable for children, the author skims over things SO quickly and squeezes months and years into one or two paragraphs, which really distorts the story, and the true perspective of the 'long and winding road' that the Beatles did take. 3). And too much incorrect information, and too much mis-interpretation. One example: page 4, first page of Chapter 1 : 'It wasn't that he was being raised by his aunt and uncle' instead of his Mother and abscent Father? YES, IT WAS. That had a tremendous influence on his unhappiness and bitterness towards life. 'It was something inside of him, something in the way he viewed the world' that no one understood? Of course there were genes, but if you looked at what his Aunt and Grandfather were doing, seperating him from his Mother, and his father's total withdrawal from John's life, you would begin to understand a lot. And, no, there were NO BOMBS being dropped the day or night that John was born, Sorry, that has been well researched; and please review all stories told by Aunt Mimi. 4). Only two tiny photos of Cynthia, and how many of YO? And YO gets a 5-page bio? Where is Cynthia's bio? The book kindly shows how Cynthia (and George Martin!) were so aware of the 'tenderness' that was barried under all the hate and aggression in John's outer-self, and seems they were about the only two who truly cared for John. Cynthia gave John so much love, attention, care, sex, sacrifice to try to comfort him and allow that tenderness to come out. It sadly didn't work, and was completely blown away when YO showed up, aware of John's fame, income, and his obvious slip off into the deep end. Yes, John wrote and recorded some great music with the Beatles. But he was damaged by his early family, he lost too many close ones to death, and he simply always used too many drugs and drank way too much 'booze' (as it is often refered to in the book, so that children will giggle?). How many times did he drop LSD? By about the time YO showed up, John was damaged perhaps beyond repair, and YO moved in and took over (not to mention her starting him on heroin!!!). 5). Elizabeth just does not seem to understand the other possible interpretations of YO's influence and control of John's life. YO didn't care at all about John's tenderness, or the Beatles, or his family. Please look more carefully at the junk (sorry, I WILL NOT call anything that YO ever did as any form of art!) that YO was doing before and during and after John's life. No,'she wasn't a perfect fit...as she wailed, groaned, and howled.' But she was, perhaps, perfect garbage? I was always SO saddened as I had read about John's doings during those Post-Beatles years, and so disgusted by the influence of YO, and very sad to read how that is all now being turned into 'John having found his soul-mate' stuff. Sorry, John had gone rather crazy, and honestly did not know what he was doing or talking about anymore. His sister Julia said 'he went into the black bag as one of the great musical geniuses of his time, and came out a total lunatic.' Sorry, cannot find that exact quote in her book. Many of us were so saddened and dissapointed to find out the 'truth' about John and the Beatles back in the late 60's as they were falling apart, and then in the decade following. So many of us had adored the Beatles, and especially John! Many of did our 'private' revenges...(until that a.h. did his very public and final one!). I only bought his post-Beatles albumns used, and sold them back to the shops after one listen. I listend to 'Double-fantasy' once and threw it away. I still do have my Beatles cards. I can remember exactly where I was standing, with my brother, when I opened my very first pack of Beatles cards (back in 1965) and my first pack had the 'John' card in it!!! That is over in a little box in the next room. When you read carefully about all the things that John sufferd through as a child, all the friends he lost, the parental support he never had (he followed 'Just William!'), the horrible decisions he was always making, and his horrible behavior (in Hamburg!!!!!, on tours, to Cynthia and Julian, to George Martin, to Paul, etc., etc., etc...) we can see John was a mess. And then look at the music he wrote. His Beatles songs, with and without Paul are some of the most beautiful musical things on the planet. Please, Elizabeth, toss this one out, and write a better book about John.

• Great book

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