Everyone's Gone to the Moon

by Philip Norman

The bestselling author of Shout!, the definitive book on the Beatles, now offers a comic novel that dissects the office politics and bedroom shenanigans of trendy journalists in Beatles-era London, evoking the world of sixties pop music and high fashion with thorough authenticity.

Genres: Fiction

437 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Trishnmiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the time of excess that this novel captures. The main character remains over-the-top naive about many things that should be self evident after he experiences the first of many personal and professional betrayals. However, I must admit the story kept me engrossed until the drop-off ending that was it's major shortcoming. It is a "good read".

[Ginger Webb · Rating 2 out of 5]

For much of this lengthy book I didn't really care what was happening, or to whom. Worse still, I began to wonder if anything of note would ever actually arise.

By the time I got to the halfway point I had begun to speed-read and was contemplating giving up altogether. But about two-thirds of the way through I had somehow become interested in whatever the outcome might be, and the rest of the book was far more readable.

Norman must presumably take the credit for this - but he must also bear criticism for making it such a slog to get to the point where the story became worth reading.

It's not that he's not a good writer - he is - it's just that most of the book is a detailed run-through of someone's early journalistic career, allied to their daily ups and downs and details of office politics. Basically it feels like reading someone's diary of the times, and even the glamorous backdrop of old Fleet Street and the swinging sixties doesn't rescue it from that.

There's also a rather uncomfortable feeling, given the proximity of the character's early life to that of the author, that we are just reading a rather self-congratulatory account of what he did in those days, which is why everything is recounted in such detail, right down to the clothes he wears.

The overall feeling is that Norman has written the book more for himself than for anyone else.

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

What it’s supposed to be about: a London journalist living through the Beatle’s Era 1960s. How journalism was changing, fashion and beauty standards were changing quickly, general attitudes, and the excess that defined the era.

What it was about. An insecure dimwit of a “journalist” as he plods his way through life without the slightest clue. Several reviews talked about a twist 2/3 of the way through the book so I decided to finish it. There wasn’t anything you didn’t see coming from a mile away. Don’t bother to waste your time.

[Kal Smagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good at scene setting in 1960s London. Enjoyed it.

[Rebekkila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this over 14 years ago when I lived in Michigan, I took it so Charleston, did not read it and moved it back to Michigan with me. I think I was a bit put off by the John Travolta looking guy on the cover. I ended up liking it. At moments I loved it and at some others I was really annoyed with the protagonist. Louis gets a prestige position just handed to him, but some how becomes a doormat for a lot of other co-workers at the magazine he works for. I loved how the author captured the time Louis was living in. I loved how Louis thought that the Beetles had gone too far with their music when Revolver came out and would be out of touch with the public. I thought the parts about Mick Jagger being such a whiner were funny. Over all, the book was good, and I would recommend it.