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John Lennon: The Life
For more than a quarter century, biographer Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom being a Beatle was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, Norman presents the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon ever published.
This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never seen before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.
“[A] haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work.” -New York Times
Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.
This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never seen before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.
“[A] haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work.” -New York Times
Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.
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First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 532 reviews
December 23, 2020
Great book about a great artist. It was one of those books I saw on a profile here on Goodreads and it reminded me that I read it.
I am a bit of an expert on the Beatles. (he says humbly). I’ve read dozens of books about the Fab four. This book was good because it was really in depth.
The detail in which he talks about the death of John’s mother really breaks my heart it’s incredible how a pseudo-orphan finally meets his mom and then she is killed right outside the house where John lives. I think that’s related to a lot of his lashing out and abnormal behavior.
But it was on the other hand, The loss of his mom was the bonding point between the greatest songwriting team of our times. Paul McCartney‘s mom had died of cancer just a few years earlier. So I kind of see them as a two-person support group.
It’s a great book in which I highly recommend.
PS: If you want verification of my Beatle fandom, look closely at my profile pic.
I am a bit of an expert on the Beatles. (he says humbly). I’ve read dozens of books about the Fab four. This book was good because it was really in depth.
The detail in which he talks about the death of John’s mother really breaks my heart it’s incredible how a pseudo-orphan finally meets his mom and then she is killed right outside the house where John lives. I think that’s related to a lot of his lashing out and abnormal behavior.
But it was on the other hand, The loss of his mom was the bonding point between the greatest songwriting team of our times. Paul McCartney‘s mom had died of cancer just a few years earlier. So I kind of see them as a two-person support group.
It’s a great book in which I highly recommend.
PS: If you want verification of my Beatle fandom, look closely at my profile pic.
March 31, 2018
Love is the only way. John Lennon knew. Pride In The Name Of Love. Martin Luther King knew. Love is the only way...Gandhi knew. All these great men knew. Like Jesus in the Christian Bible. Love is the only way. Not violence, greed, profit, usury, hate, fear, war, rape, vanity, greed, sloth, wrath...
All knew that it is Love that is the only way. All paid with their lives. All assassinated. Just like countless others. So Love is the real meaning of Truth it would seem. Telling the Truth gets one killed.
Compassion, empathy, care, understanding, acceptance, community... Love.👍🐯
Imagine.
What would John Lennon make of the state of the world today? Would he say:
"I warned you!"
All knew that it is Love that is the only way. All paid with their lives. All assassinated. Just like countless others. So Love is the real meaning of Truth it would seem. Telling the Truth gets one killed.
Compassion, empathy, care, understanding, acceptance, community... Love.👍🐯
Imagine.
What would John Lennon make of the state of the world today? Would he say:
"I warned you!"
December 30, 2008
"In September 2003, I suggested to John's widow, Yoko Ono, that I should become his biographer," writes Philip Norman in the Acknowledgements section of John Lennon: The Life. However, after reading the final manuscript, "Yoko Ono was upset by the book," Norman tells us, "and would not endorse it . . . [saying] I had been 'mean to John.'"
I actually don't think Yoko's got anything to worry about; Norman's book is both clear-eyed and appropriately sympathetic as it traces the arc of Lennon's all-too-brief life and career. While there's much in here that's familiar, Norman uses both old and new sources to revisit apocryphal or second-hand stories -- most of which are familiar to Beatle fans -- and determine their veracity. He puts to rest, for example, the Did they or didn't they? question that has surrounded Lennon's vacation in Spain with manager Brian Epstein (they didn't), and accepts as fact many of the stories that expose John's darker side, such as his brutal beating of Cavern DJ Bob Wooler, or the lurid sexual fantasies involving his own mother.
There's also quite a bit that's new in here, too -- or, at least, was unfamiliar to me. Norman explores, for example, exactly what "business" Yoko was doing during Lennon's househusband years -- she was dealing mostly in mundane real estate transactions, but is also given full credit for shrewdly negotiating music contracts that maximized John's profits and protected his copyrights. He also examines some of the theater pieces that were based on Lennon's writings in the 1960s -- a hidden gem in the literate Beatle's career -- exposes a charming addiction to board games, and explains about as well as one can the complicated legal wranglings that finally dissolved the band and led to years of hard feelings.
For perhaps the first time, too, some of the supporting characters in Lennon's story finally come into their own. John's Aunt Mimi -- who can often come off as a bit of a shrew -- gets a bit of her own narrative, as Norman uses letters Mimi wrote regularly to a young female fan named Jane Wirgman to reveal just how thoughtful and protective of John Mimi could be, even as she continued to be embarrassed by his antics or appearance. You'll also have a better understanding of Freddie Lennon, John's seaman father who abandoned his wife and son, then rematerialized after John made it big. Freddie has his own reasons -- excuses -- for his actions, but for the first time, you'll have his own words and private correspondence to help you decide whether you buy it or not.
If there's a complaint I have about this otherwise thorough biography, it lies in Norman's narrative voice. Norman's prose isn't ever stilted -- he's too good a journalist for that -- but it can be somewhat stodgy (he calls the lyrics to "Twist and Shout," for example, "dippy"). He also inserts way too many clunky moments of foreshadowing of Lennon's fate, often resorting to eye-rollingly lame declarations of irony that are a stretch, at best.
For example, as the Beatles frolic for a photo session in New York during their first American tour in 1964, Norman can't help but indulge in dramatic voiceover. "Hindsight gives this routine scene a horrible irony," he writes. "Just across the park lies a craggy Gothic pile known as the Dakota Building" where John would be shot to death in 1980. Later, Norman tell us that for the 1972 U.S. Presidential campaign, "John pinned high hopes on the Democratic candidate, George McGovern, senator for South Dakota -- an omen if ever there was one . . . " It took me a moment to figure out why this was "an omen" -- until I realized it was the use of the word "Dakota" in the sentence that was supposed to be so ominous.
Perhaps even more annoying -- especially to the biographer in me -- there's no sign of a bibliography, sources, or endnotes, only an index. There were several times in Norman's book when I found myself saying "Where'd you get that?" and turned to the back looking for his source, only to come up blank. Perhaps, at 851 pages, there simply wasn't enough room left. But I'm sure I'm not the only one missing it.
I actually don't think Yoko's got anything to worry about; Norman's book is both clear-eyed and appropriately sympathetic as it traces the arc of Lennon's all-too-brief life and career. While there's much in here that's familiar, Norman uses both old and new sources to revisit apocryphal or second-hand stories -- most of which are familiar to Beatle fans -- and determine their veracity. He puts to rest, for example, the Did they or didn't they? question that has surrounded Lennon's vacation in Spain with manager Brian Epstein (they didn't), and accepts as fact many of the stories that expose John's darker side, such as his brutal beating of Cavern DJ Bob Wooler, or the lurid sexual fantasies involving his own mother.
There's also quite a bit that's new in here, too -- or, at least, was unfamiliar to me. Norman explores, for example, exactly what "business" Yoko was doing during Lennon's househusband years -- she was dealing mostly in mundane real estate transactions, but is also given full credit for shrewdly negotiating music contracts that maximized John's profits and protected his copyrights. He also examines some of the theater pieces that were based on Lennon's writings in the 1960s -- a hidden gem in the literate Beatle's career -- exposes a charming addiction to board games, and explains about as well as one can the complicated legal wranglings that finally dissolved the band and led to years of hard feelings.
For perhaps the first time, too, some of the supporting characters in Lennon's story finally come into their own. John's Aunt Mimi -- who can often come off as a bit of a shrew -- gets a bit of her own narrative, as Norman uses letters Mimi wrote regularly to a young female fan named Jane Wirgman to reveal just how thoughtful and protective of John Mimi could be, even as she continued to be embarrassed by his antics or appearance. You'll also have a better understanding of Freddie Lennon, John's seaman father who abandoned his wife and son, then rematerialized after John made it big. Freddie has his own reasons -- excuses -- for his actions, but for the first time, you'll have his own words and private correspondence to help you decide whether you buy it or not.
If there's a complaint I have about this otherwise thorough biography, it lies in Norman's narrative voice. Norman's prose isn't ever stilted -- he's too good a journalist for that -- but it can be somewhat stodgy (he calls the lyrics to "Twist and Shout," for example, "dippy"). He also inserts way too many clunky moments of foreshadowing of Lennon's fate, often resorting to eye-rollingly lame declarations of irony that are a stretch, at best.
For example, as the Beatles frolic for a photo session in New York during their first American tour in 1964, Norman can't help but indulge in dramatic voiceover. "Hindsight gives this routine scene a horrible irony," he writes. "Just across the park lies a craggy Gothic pile known as the Dakota Building" where John would be shot to death in 1980. Later, Norman tell us that for the 1972 U.S. Presidential campaign, "John pinned high hopes on the Democratic candidate, George McGovern, senator for South Dakota -- an omen if ever there was one . . . " It took me a moment to figure out why this was "an omen" -- until I realized it was the use of the word "Dakota" in the sentence that was supposed to be so ominous.
Perhaps even more annoying -- especially to the biographer in me -- there's no sign of a bibliography, sources, or endnotes, only an index. There were several times in Norman's book when I found myself saying "Where'd you get that?" and turned to the back looking for his source, only to come up blank. Perhaps, at 851 pages, there simply wasn't enough room left. But I'm sure I'm not the only one missing it.
December 4, 2008
What I learned:
John Lennon's parents were terrible.
He needed therapy.
A lot of drugs were involved, but never, remarkably, during a recording session.
John really was a genius.
Yoko Ono is not an artist.
Writhing around in a bag is not art.
Screaming like you're in labor isn't music.
I really feel bad for Julian.
John Lennon's parents were terrible.
He needed therapy.
A lot of drugs were involved, but never, remarkably, during a recording session.
John really was a genius.
Yoko Ono is not an artist.
Writhing around in a bag is not art.
Screaming like you're in labor isn't music.
I really feel bad for Julian.
March 1, 2009
Don't panic. I'm not going to give you a long (boring) review. I'm not very good at that. But I will say I just finished reading all 822 pages of JOHN LENNON - THE LIFE. I think it's an excellent book. Well written and very detailed. With all my respect and love for Yoko Ono, who withdrew her support for the book because she felt it was "mean to John". I must say I don't find the book "mean to John" at all. Mr. Norman is quite kind in my opinion. The 'sex with his mum stuff that Mr. Norman tells us John regrets he never did? Well even if it's true Norman doesn't judge John for it and whether one believes it or not doesn't matter. That's not important. If anything it only adds to the fact that John was a very complex man. Most geniuses are.
Yoko was interviewed extensively for this book and it was she who suggested John may have had a sexual attraction to Paul McCartney. One can either translate that as maybe Yoko does not quite understand how close two men can be without being sexually attracted to one another. Or . . well, Paul was/is a cute son of a gun hee hee.
Sorry. I promised I wasn't going to write a long (boring) review. You can see I'm not good at it.
All I can say is if you haven't read Phillip Normans; John Lennon - The Life, for what ever my opinion is worth , I highly recommend it. As I said it is a well written and very detailed book. If you are one of those who thought you knew everything about John Lennon, this book has some surprises. And in places it touches the heart.
P.S. I cried at the ending. Just like I did on December 8, 1980.
Yoko was interviewed extensively for this book and it was she who suggested John may have had a sexual attraction to Paul McCartney. One can either translate that as maybe Yoko does not quite understand how close two men can be without being sexually attracted to one another. Or . . well, Paul was/is a cute son of a gun hee hee.
Sorry. I promised I wasn't going to write a long (boring) review. You can see I'm not good at it.
All I can say is if you haven't read Phillip Normans; John Lennon - The Life, for what ever my opinion is worth , I highly recommend it. As I said it is a well written and very detailed book. If you are one of those who thought you knew everything about John Lennon, this book has some surprises. And in places it touches the heart.
P.S. I cried at the ending. Just like I did on December 8, 1980.
August 14, 2016
An incredibly thorough and well-researched look at the entire stretch of John Lennon's furiously artistic and much-too-short life. The man's frustrations, interests, facility with language, playfulness, and distressing mood swings are documented in the full, and the story will leave you feeling his loss even more keenly than before. The insights I gained here will stick with me for life. A truly balanced and remarkable work. For anybody with more than a passing interest in the man.
March 10, 2013
This long, in-depth biography was engrossing, although for me there were sometimes more details than I wanted. It began with John's grandparents, his entire family, the culture he grew up in. It explains the emotional traumas he carried all his life and how his attitudes developed. The culture and current events of the time throughout John's life are told as background and explanation.
I enjoyed learning what the inspiration for certain songs were and what they represented.
John was a very troubled man, insecure, jealous, angry. He could be violent and cruel, he was a genius, he was creative, he was an extremely talented artist and writer, he could also be an extraordinarily generous and caring man. Partway through the book I decided I didn't like this man. But I kept reading. The last couple of years of his life he seemed to be contented and happy and maturing, and near the end had finally returned to music. He was a loving and caring father to Sean who became the most important person in his life for a short 5 years. He was at long last optimistic about the future and planning a long-awaited visit to Liverpool with Sean and Yoko when he was tragically killed. I cried.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
I enjoyed learning what the inspiration for certain songs were and what they represented.
John was a very troubled man, insecure, jealous, angry. He could be violent and cruel, he was a genius, he was creative, he was an extremely talented artist and writer, he could also be an extraordinarily generous and caring man. Partway through the book I decided I didn't like this man. But I kept reading. The last couple of years of his life he seemed to be contented and happy and maturing, and near the end had finally returned to music. He was a loving and caring father to Sean who became the most important person in his life for a short 5 years. He was at long last optimistic about the future and planning a long-awaited visit to Liverpool with Sean and Yoko when he was tragically killed. I cried.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
February 14, 2012
I've given up on this book. I'm 200 pages in and I'm still getting minute details of Lennon's life with his band that is almost the Beatles, but not quite. This book is really only for psycho crazed John Lennon fans who must know EVERYTHING about him. I'm only a casual fan and I don't want to know what books he read as a child and that he liked to circle jerk. Norman (and/or his assistant) researched the hell out of Lennon's life and I'm getting an almost day-by-day blow of his activities. I even know the registration number of the car the off-duty policeman was driving when he struck and killed his mother when she was attempting to cross a busy street. Do I really need to know this? How does it help with my understanding of John Lennon's character? As with Steve Jobs, John Lennon was a visionary, a fantastically talented man in the fields of music and art. However, he was also cruel and manipulative and (so far) a thoroughly unlikeable person. The phrase "narcissist personality disorder" has been used to describe Lennon as it also has been used to describe Steve Jobs. I would like to know more about the Beatles as a whole, the time period and country that gave birth to them, but I just can't handle another 600+ pages of this kind of microscopic detail of one man. Plus I am sick of reading about assholes. I'll find another book that gives me a more general overview of the Beatles without making me give up a year of my life to read it.
February 2, 2014
A very big heavy bio book on Lennon that I learned a lot from. It made me remember the book written by May Pang I'd read long ago about the time they'd spent apart from Yoko out in LA recording, and the affair they had. I really enjoyed the book, but I like biographies about famous people like Lennon, and the kind of life they live(d) behind the scenes.
I still remember when Lennon was shot, how sad and pointless it was. A beautiful voice silenced forever.
I still remember when Lennon was shot, how sad and pointless it was. A beautiful voice silenced forever.
January 22, 2013
I am a massive admirer of the work of John Lennon. So I sought after a biography, with this one promptly displayed. The massive size(800+ pages) appealed to me. Little did I know what I was in for...
First of, the reason for the three stars. It IS immersive and very readable. I found the later chapters to almost redeem the earlier issues, and the handling of his assassination to be truly heart-breaking, especially the well thought of call back that closes the final chapter.
That being said, this is still a very detailed, dense slash and burn tabloid book at heart. The author seems to relish in the darker aspects, merrily flinging them at the reader, as if to say, "Do you still like him? How about NOW!?!" It is completely vicious, with no regards to the possibility of hearsay that could've existed from the sources complied. John is the evil demon to the angel that was his first wife Cynthia, even though his second marriage out lived hers. The author even had the nerve to possibly blame Stu Suttcliffe death on him. A blankly unsubstantiated rumor.
Not only must we bear witness to all the dirt, with little to no positive counterpoints, but we also have to endure Mr. Norman's half baked reviews on Lennon's body of work. The initial response to his lambasting of "Imagine" was for me to throw the book across the room.
A journalist at heart, Norman's book is a vile piece of work, that somewhat saves itself from being true trash in the end, but this is certainly a heartless collection of vitriol, designed to sell copies through controversy, than actually presenting a fair and balanced account of a truly important figure in time.
First of, the reason for the three stars. It IS immersive and very readable. I found the later chapters to almost redeem the earlier issues, and the handling of his assassination to be truly heart-breaking, especially the well thought of call back that closes the final chapter.
That being said, this is still a very detailed, dense slash and burn tabloid book at heart. The author seems to relish in the darker aspects, merrily flinging them at the reader, as if to say, "Do you still like him? How about NOW!?!" It is completely vicious, with no regards to the possibility of hearsay that could've existed from the sources complied. John is the evil demon to the angel that was his first wife Cynthia, even though his second marriage out lived hers. The author even had the nerve to possibly blame Stu Suttcliffe death on him. A blankly unsubstantiated rumor.
Not only must we bear witness to all the dirt, with little to no positive counterpoints, but we also have to endure Mr. Norman's half baked reviews on Lennon's body of work. The initial response to his lambasting of "Imagine" was for me to throw the book across the room.
A journalist at heart, Norman's book is a vile piece of work, that somewhat saves itself from being true trash in the end, but this is certainly a heartless collection of vitriol, designed to sell copies through controversy, than actually presenting a fair and balanced account of a truly important figure in time.
June 4, 2016
Wonderful...glad I finished it....I was engrossed.....having a love of the Beatles, and of John motivated me to finish this book. A bit long.....but it goes into all the complexities of John's life,and the man certainly lived quite a life...A lot to tell....I enjoyed it. If you are a fan....this is a must read for you.....
June 29, 2015
Oh not another hatchet job on John, yes folks, it is. I should Have Know Better. Nothing new to report in this book. Same stories we have heard and read before. I was hoping for more. I did not like this book for several reasons.
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October 5, 2009I've been an audiobooks listener for more than 20 years and this is by far the worst abridgement I've ever heard. First of all, there is no reason why any book should be recorded abridged. Still, I have listened to several that were (when there was no other choice) and there was always an attempt to make it cohesive. No such effort was made by Harper Audio on this one. Entire chapters were simply skipped. I first noticed when a casual referance was made about "ever since John's uncle George died ..." "What! - when did that happen?" I ended up checking out the hardback from the library so I could read the many important missing sections. I'm still catching up. It's such a shame, because it's a very good, well written, interesting biography about a fascinating individual and the narrator is excellent. Harper Audio should pull this book from publication, get the reader back in the studio to finish the recording and rerelease it, giving a free copy to everyone (including libraries) who bought it. Then they should fire the editor and make him refund his salary. I can't give a rating to this book since Goodreads allows only one. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars for the book itself and 0 for the abridgement.
September 23, 2014
Definitive Lennon biography -- but would have liked more about the Hamburg scene, more about the early Beatles and the complexity of John's creative relationship with Paul McCartney.
June 25, 2012
The life of John Lennon is indeed a complicated one, and certainly a challenge to any would-be biographer. Philip Norman's approach is simple, and straight forward...though I did find myself frustrated at times by his verbiage...and use of run-on sentences. I can't say I loved the writing, per se...and the book was no page-turner (which I am ashamed to admit, the Geoffrey Giuliano was)...yet you can't deny Philip Norman's intelligence, extensive research, and access to key players throughout John Lennon's life. Unlike Giuliano, I always felt that Philip Norman knew what he was talking about.
From what I have gathered from John Lennon: The Life, Lennon could best be described as a raw, impulsive personality...the result of a variety of factors stemming from his fractured childhood in Liverpool, England. His father, Alf, was a jovial, charming man...yet far from a stable one. His choices too often lead him away from his family...and into all sorts of trouble. Lennon's mother, Julia Stanley, rebelled against her strict upbringing...marrying Alf practically out of spite. She was a beautiful, free-spirit, who adored and nurtured her son. Yet Julia also was unstable...living a care-free existence that horrified her conservative Stanley family. According to the book, not long after Julia and Alf's marriage fell apart (and Alf disappeared from his life) young John Lennon was taken away from his mother at the insistence of his Aunt Mimi...who yearned to give the child a stable home environment away from the sinful life of Julia. Despite good intentions, life under Aunt Mimi's rule had its benefits and deficits. Mimi provided love and support, yet she was also cold...and perhaps insensitive. Mimi's husband, George, provided much of the friendly love and affection that the young Lennon needed in his life...Yet his heart always belonged to his beloved mother, Julia. He loved, desired, and resented his mother all at once. When Julia was killed by a car when John Lennon was 17, it left him broken...in a state of shock and emptiness that he perhaps never really recovered from...
By the time John Lennon became a young rock and roller, inviting Paul McCartney to join his band in 1957...he was full of anger and rebellion...coupled with incredible raw talent. John Lennon: The Life does an incredible job chronicling Lennon's formative years as an art student, and musician...navigating through his tenuous relationships with friends and lovers alike...each tinged with various forms of love, jealousy and violence.
The Beatles years are covered in great detail. In a sense, once the Beatles story begins...the book ceases to be a John Lennon biography, as the focus goes strictly to the magnificent rise and rise of the Fab Four. I suppose it would difficult to tell a complete John Lennon story without also including a complete Beatles story inside of it...yet I could not help but notice how much I missed the intimacy of the book's earlier chapters...where I really felt I knew the young John Lennon. Beatle John was observed more at a distance...or at least it felt that way. I never really thought the book got to the heart of what John Lennon was experiencing during the height of Beatle fame. At one point while reading the Beatle chapters, I had to remind myself that I was even reading a Lennon biography at all...As a Beatles fan, though...I enjoyed reading about the various goings on during the height of Beatlemania...some facts I knew, others I did not.
The arrival and presence of Yoko Ono in John Lennon's life is treated with the utmost respect by the author. Though, he is also not shy in presenting aspects of Ono's life that she would probably prefer to remain private...such as her over-reliance on tarot cards and numerology...as well as a heroin problem that continued to plague her during the later years with Lennon. That said, Philip Norman takes great pains to point out that Yoko Ono was a successful artist in her own right prior to meeting her famous Beatle husband. Although he was already married to the kind, and deferential Cynthia Lennon at the time of their first meeting in 1966...Ono was exactly what Lennon had been searching for...a strong, domineering woman like his Aunt Mimi, as well as a motherly, nurturing artistic force like his beloved mother Julia. John Lennon's attachment to Yoko Ono was an absolute...an inevitable one at that. Of course, in typical Lennon fashion...such an absolute would throw his life as Beatle John into complete turmoil...
Philip Norman does well with the post-Beatle years...up to a point. From 1970 through 1975, we learn much about John Lennon the outspoken advocate, and his immense struggle with the FBI and U.S. immigration efforts to have him removed from the United States due to his political views, and a flimsy drug conviction from 1968. The author touches briefly on Lennon's solo music made during these years, as well as the infamous "Lost Weekend" from 1973-1974. Not as much detail is poured into this period as much as the Beatle years, yet there's still plenty things of interest...such as Lennon's experience in Primal Scream therapy, his acclimation to New York City, and his wavering from belligerent drunken player in L.A., to sober task master producer in New York. Unfortunately, post 1975, up to and including 1980...Philip Norman goes from insider to outsider.
Less than 100 pages is devoted to John Lennon's final years...the years in which he retired from music, traveled, and took time away from the world to raise his son and be with his family in private. From what is included, it's quite good. We get a small sample of Lennon's househusband years...taking Sean for walks in the park, teaching him how to swim at a YWCA, travelling to Japan on numerous occasions to be with Yoko's family. We learn of John Lennon's love of the sea, and of his learning how to captain a schooner during a rocky trip to Bermuda during the summer of 1980. The Bermuda trip was the catalyst for his reemergence into the public eye...culminating in the release of his final album...Double Fantasy, a record he made with Yoko Ono. The book mentions the big plans Lennon had for 1981...including a return visit to his beloved England, as well as his first ever world tour. Yet it would not to be. On December 8, 1980...John Lennon met the same fate that also strangely befell Yoko Ono's great grandfather...assassinated by a crazed fan...a tragic end to an incredible life.
Of interesting note throughout the book are John Lennon's relationships...with his Aunt Mimi, with his wives Cynthia and Yoko, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, with his sons Julian and Sean, with close confidantes like Pete Shotton, and Stuart Sutcliffe during his youth...and folks like Harry Nilson during his adult years. Lennon had love for them all, yet his propensity for conflict, and anger and violence would sometime manifest itself into insensitivity, and out right cruelty...He would hurt the people who loved him, as if he could not help himself.
As mentioned earlier...the book portrays John Lennon as raw and impulsive...not so much a leader, but a man who was a keen observer and confessional reporter...highly influenced by whatever, or whomever interested him at the time Like many great artists...he was highly sexual, and prone to a certain degree of selfishness. John Lennon did whatever he wanted to do, and said whatever he wanted to say...regardless of the consequences. This was his strength, as well as his weakness. The book does well in its portrait of John Lennon the man, the vulnerable human being...with his own set of virtues and vices.
John Lennon: The Life is quite a book indeed. Though not as all-encompassing as it could be, Philip Norman's book is still an incredible piece of work. I enjoyed getting to know John Lennon...as much as anyone can know anyone else by reading a book about their life. John Lennon was a genius, a brilliant, complicated man...who brought so much joy into so many people's lives...including my own. I applaud books like John Lennon: The Life for chronicling and celebrating Lennon's too-short existence. Though the book never truly touches on the greatness of John Lennon's music...and his immense skill as a singer and songwriter...it does provide an excellent glimpse into his life...doing its best to solve the mystery about who John Lennon really was. Philip Norman may not have succeeded, yet his work in John Lennon: The Life is possibly as close as you'll ever get...
From what I have gathered from John Lennon: The Life, Lennon could best be described as a raw, impulsive personality...the result of a variety of factors stemming from his fractured childhood in Liverpool, England. His father, Alf, was a jovial, charming man...yet far from a stable one. His choices too often lead him away from his family...and into all sorts of trouble. Lennon's mother, Julia Stanley, rebelled against her strict upbringing...marrying Alf practically out of spite. She was a beautiful, free-spirit, who adored and nurtured her son. Yet Julia also was unstable...living a care-free existence that horrified her conservative Stanley family. According to the book, not long after Julia and Alf's marriage fell apart (and Alf disappeared from his life) young John Lennon was taken away from his mother at the insistence of his Aunt Mimi...who yearned to give the child a stable home environment away from the sinful life of Julia. Despite good intentions, life under Aunt Mimi's rule had its benefits and deficits. Mimi provided love and support, yet she was also cold...and perhaps insensitive. Mimi's husband, George, provided much of the friendly love and affection that the young Lennon needed in his life...Yet his heart always belonged to his beloved mother, Julia. He loved, desired, and resented his mother all at once. When Julia was killed by a car when John Lennon was 17, it left him broken...in a state of shock and emptiness that he perhaps never really recovered from...
By the time John Lennon became a young rock and roller, inviting Paul McCartney to join his band in 1957...he was full of anger and rebellion...coupled with incredible raw talent. John Lennon: The Life does an incredible job chronicling Lennon's formative years as an art student, and musician...navigating through his tenuous relationships with friends and lovers alike...each tinged with various forms of love, jealousy and violence.
The Beatles years are covered in great detail. In a sense, once the Beatles story begins...the book ceases to be a John Lennon biography, as the focus goes strictly to the magnificent rise and rise of the Fab Four. I suppose it would difficult to tell a complete John Lennon story without also including a complete Beatles story inside of it...yet I could not help but notice how much I missed the intimacy of the book's earlier chapters...where I really felt I knew the young John Lennon. Beatle John was observed more at a distance...or at least it felt that way. I never really thought the book got to the heart of what John Lennon was experiencing during the height of Beatle fame. At one point while reading the Beatle chapters, I had to remind myself that I was even reading a Lennon biography at all...As a Beatles fan, though...I enjoyed reading about the various goings on during the height of Beatlemania...some facts I knew, others I did not.
The arrival and presence of Yoko Ono in John Lennon's life is treated with the utmost respect by the author. Though, he is also not shy in presenting aspects of Ono's life that she would probably prefer to remain private...such as her over-reliance on tarot cards and numerology...as well as a heroin problem that continued to plague her during the later years with Lennon. That said, Philip Norman takes great pains to point out that Yoko Ono was a successful artist in her own right prior to meeting her famous Beatle husband. Although he was already married to the kind, and deferential Cynthia Lennon at the time of their first meeting in 1966...Ono was exactly what Lennon had been searching for...a strong, domineering woman like his Aunt Mimi, as well as a motherly, nurturing artistic force like his beloved mother Julia. John Lennon's attachment to Yoko Ono was an absolute...an inevitable one at that. Of course, in typical Lennon fashion...such an absolute would throw his life as Beatle John into complete turmoil...
Philip Norman does well with the post-Beatle years...up to a point. From 1970 through 1975, we learn much about John Lennon the outspoken advocate, and his immense struggle with the FBI and U.S. immigration efforts to have him removed from the United States due to his political views, and a flimsy drug conviction from 1968. The author touches briefly on Lennon's solo music made during these years, as well as the infamous "Lost Weekend" from 1973-1974. Not as much detail is poured into this period as much as the Beatle years, yet there's still plenty things of interest...such as Lennon's experience in Primal Scream therapy, his acclimation to New York City, and his wavering from belligerent drunken player in L.A., to sober task master producer in New York. Unfortunately, post 1975, up to and including 1980...Philip Norman goes from insider to outsider.
Less than 100 pages is devoted to John Lennon's final years...the years in which he retired from music, traveled, and took time away from the world to raise his son and be with his family in private. From what is included, it's quite good. We get a small sample of Lennon's househusband years...taking Sean for walks in the park, teaching him how to swim at a YWCA, travelling to Japan on numerous occasions to be with Yoko's family. We learn of John Lennon's love of the sea, and of his learning how to captain a schooner during a rocky trip to Bermuda during the summer of 1980. The Bermuda trip was the catalyst for his reemergence into the public eye...culminating in the release of his final album...Double Fantasy, a record he made with Yoko Ono. The book mentions the big plans Lennon had for 1981...including a return visit to his beloved England, as well as his first ever world tour. Yet it would not to be. On December 8, 1980...John Lennon met the same fate that also strangely befell Yoko Ono's great grandfather...assassinated by a crazed fan...a tragic end to an incredible life.
Of interesting note throughout the book are John Lennon's relationships...with his Aunt Mimi, with his wives Cynthia and Yoko, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, with his sons Julian and Sean, with close confidantes like Pete Shotton, and Stuart Sutcliffe during his youth...and folks like Harry Nilson during his adult years. Lennon had love for them all, yet his propensity for conflict, and anger and violence would sometime manifest itself into insensitivity, and out right cruelty...He would hurt the people who loved him, as if he could not help himself.
As mentioned earlier...the book portrays John Lennon as raw and impulsive...not so much a leader, but a man who was a keen observer and confessional reporter...highly influenced by whatever, or whomever interested him at the time Like many great artists...he was highly sexual, and prone to a certain degree of selfishness. John Lennon did whatever he wanted to do, and said whatever he wanted to say...regardless of the consequences. This was his strength, as well as his weakness. The book does well in its portrait of John Lennon the man, the vulnerable human being...with his own set of virtues and vices.
John Lennon: The Life is quite a book indeed. Though not as all-encompassing as it could be, Philip Norman's book is still an incredible piece of work. I enjoyed getting to know John Lennon...as much as anyone can know anyone else by reading a book about their life. John Lennon was a genius, a brilliant, complicated man...who brought so much joy into so many people's lives...including my own. I applaud books like John Lennon: The Life for chronicling and celebrating Lennon's too-short existence. Though the book never truly touches on the greatness of John Lennon's music...and his immense skill as a singer and songwriter...it does provide an excellent glimpse into his life...doing its best to solve the mystery about who John Lennon really was. Philip Norman may not have succeeded, yet his work in John Lennon: The Life is possibly as close as you'll ever get...
Read
July 17, 2025DNF Why? TMI!
Maybe I'll pick it up again, skip over to the part where Ringo joins the band and go from there. I love John 'n all, but not enough to plow through 300 pages of minutiae on his early years with the Aunties &c. This kind of detail simply defeated me.
No rating
Maybe I'll pick it up again, skip over to the part where Ringo joins the band and go from there. I love John 'n all, but not enough to plow through 300 pages of minutiae on his early years with the Aunties &c. This kind of detail simply defeated me.
No rating
June 13, 2009
If you're a Beatle fan, you must read this book. If you're not a Beatle fan, you must read this book. If you have aspirations in music, art, politics, domestic homelife, or anything grandiose or banal, you must read this book.
It's easily the most comprehensive story of Lennon's life, and if you're like am, you'll find yourself fighting back tears at certain points in the story. Knowing how the story ends made it difficult, at times, to carry on reading. Learning of how optimistic John was of the future at the exact time of his death is one of the greatest tragedies in life.
One of my most vivid memories of young childhood was be woken on the morning of December 9th by my father. Just two months shy of my 7th birthday, my father and I watched the early morning news as it discussed the assassination of the John the previous night. Though at the time I had little comprehension regarding the concept of "death." I somehow seemed to understand that the passing of John Lennon was as significant a moment in my young life, as it was in that of my father's, as it was in so many, many, many other people's lives. What I couldn't realize at the time however, and something with which I still have difficulty reconciling to this day, is just how significant a loss that was. I'm not sure I can think of anyone else whose passing during my lifetime affected me as strongly as his did that day.
What really makes this book worthy of purchase is its honesty. While chronicling every stage of his life from boyhood to death, it manages to paint a very clear picture of the cruel side John Lennon possessed, as well. Anecdotes of his mean side are given unapologetically, but yet, the reader is forced to recognize and accept these mean streaks as character flaws in someone who was ultimately one of the most selfless, giving, kind-hearted, and immeasurably vulnerable people ever to walk this earth.
His influence on the world went so far beyond just music, that it's almost beyond comprehension. I would recommend this book to anyone.
It's easily the most comprehensive story of Lennon's life, and if you're like am, you'll find yourself fighting back tears at certain points in the story. Knowing how the story ends made it difficult, at times, to carry on reading. Learning of how optimistic John was of the future at the exact time of his death is one of the greatest tragedies in life.
One of my most vivid memories of young childhood was be woken on the morning of December 9th by my father. Just two months shy of my 7th birthday, my father and I watched the early morning news as it discussed the assassination of the John the previous night. Though at the time I had little comprehension regarding the concept of "death." I somehow seemed to understand that the passing of John Lennon was as significant a moment in my young life, as it was in that of my father's, as it was in so many, many, many other people's lives. What I couldn't realize at the time however, and something with which I still have difficulty reconciling to this day, is just how significant a loss that was. I'm not sure I can think of anyone else whose passing during my lifetime affected me as strongly as his did that day.
What really makes this book worthy of purchase is its honesty. While chronicling every stage of his life from boyhood to death, it manages to paint a very clear picture of the cruel side John Lennon possessed, as well. Anecdotes of his mean side are given unapologetically, but yet, the reader is forced to recognize and accept these mean streaks as character flaws in someone who was ultimately one of the most selfless, giving, kind-hearted, and immeasurably vulnerable people ever to walk this earth.
His influence on the world went so far beyond just music, that it's almost beyond comprehension. I would recommend this book to anyone.
September 13, 2016
The book was LONG but I fucking loved it.
August 22, 2016
Almost two months after I read it, the brilliance of this biography stayed with me and I thought about something from its contents daily. Philip Norman, who first dazzled me in the early 1980s with his "Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation," has achieved a depth and greatness with this work that sets a benchmark for all biography, in my opinion.
The first thing that transported me was, as always, the quality of the writing. Norman uses a wider vocabulary than most writers, and almost never falls back upon default phrasing. Note, for example, this sentence about a talent agent (p97): "Levis was an oleaginous Canadian, known in glamour-hungry and credulous postwar Britain as 'Mister Star-maker.'" This is the way, with a simple factual sentence, that Norman can recreate an entire milieu to give resonance to the life and times. He packages such richness with such economy.
Norman's evocation of 1950s Liverpool is nothing short of masterful. For that alone, the book is worth reading. He did his research. He digs up everybody, even the model who posed for Lennon's life studies class in art college. Impressive. It forms a vibrant backdrop for his portrayal of the vividly imaginative boy who lost himself for hours in Lewis Carroll and Richmal Crompton, author of several adventure stories about a rebellious naughty boy named William Brown. It also gives good perspective from which to understand how barbaric America must have seemed to the good folk of England, a land where Bible-quoting zealots shot at Lennon's airplane just because he indulged in thoughtful speculation about religion in an interview.
One effect of reading this biography is the feeling of being at a family reunion where you learn shocking secrets. We learn two major stunners about Lennon's Aunt Mimi in quick succession that Lennon himself never knew; both revelations certainly made my eyes fly open. Challenging Lennon's long-held and hurtful belief that he had been unwanted as a child, Norman argues that he was in fact loved dearly by many warring family members, and backs up the assertion with eyewitness accounts such as the one from cousin Liela, who personally saw his mother Julia fight bitterly against Mimi for custody of John. Most profoundly, Norman rehabilitates Lennon's father Alfred, formerly thought in accordance with Aunt Mimi's public account to be a ne'er-do-well who deserted John. The biography gives Freddie Lennon the opportunity he long wanted to demonstrate that he had, in fact, gone to great efforts to love and provide for John, in childhood and beyond, and we readers feel the peace along with the family when we learn that John learned this truth before he died. In the Freddie Lennon passages more than any other, we feel how important it is to set the record straight even after the death of the subject. It may not be in time to bring John comfort, but these are real people, real families, and their truths are sacred.
Speaking of which, Norman gazes clear-eyed at the rotten aspects of John Lennon, despite his obvious appreciation of the man's genius and lovability. Of course, the worst thing he did was neglect his first son Julian, and Julian's mother Cynthia, and to see the painful contrast with the loving fathering he provided second son Sean aches just as much now as it did 30 years ago. But Norman also tells of two people Lennon almost beat to death: one, the older impresario Bob Wooler, for making a homophobic crack about Lennon's solo vacation with gay manager Brian Epstein, and the other, Lennon's dearest friend Stu Sutcliffe. Lennon was infamous for his wounding verbal attacks, but the physical violence of his earlier days is even harder to reconcile with his peace-loving persona.
Speaking of Brian Epstein, Norman settles the speculation that has intrigued many for decades: on that two-man trip to Barcelona, did or did they not consummate the love and attraction that Epstein felt for Lennon? After carefully presenting the differing accounts that Lennon provided to various intimates, Norman concluded that they did not -- and convinced me utterly by stating that he was accepting as ultimately true the version that Lennon recounted "to the unshockable woman with whom he shared the last decade of his life." Considering that the undoubtably heterosexual Lennon discussed with Yoko whether he should have initiated an affair with Paul McCartney just because beatniks should experience everything, I tend to believe him when he told Yoko that he didn't respond to Epstein.
After his time travel back to mid-century Liverpool, Norman's best writing in the book comes in the passages of musical history and critique, unsurprisingly, since that writing has been his career. He must have written thousands of pages about Lennon's music, yet these treatments read as new and fresh.
The book had two flaws that bothered me, but both were minor indeed. One was the sloppy editing toward the end of the tome; often you find words missing, creating the impression that the author has a tendency to compose on the computer and think faster than he can type, his mind leapfrogging over the words to catch inspiration before it flies away. I don't know if they were up against deadline or the proofreader was simply overcome by the weight of the volume, but this was noticeable enough to be slightly disruptive and will have to be fixed for future editions. The other was Norman's use of a conceit that worked better for him in "Shout!," of heavily foreshadowing major events to introduce feelings of destiny, fate, and doom. It doesn't work as well here, partly because it feels clumsy -- did the telling of this life really need much narrative assistance, anyway? -- and partly because, by the end, well, I don't want Lennon's death foreshadowed. Please.
Having rehabilitated Freddie Lennon's image, Norman then renders the same service, subtly and quite lovingly, for the story of John and Yoko. It's so easy to caricature that love. Was Yoko the crazily controlling banshee reported by May Pang, the young woman with whom John had an affair during the marriage? We see Yoko here as the wife trying to make heads or tails of how to be married to John Lennon, making it up as she went along, rather bravely. The infamous primal scream therapy -- were John and Yoko, in fact, rolling around on floors screaming, the way I pictured? It turns out that it was just therapy, just talking to a doctor and sorting out the abandonment issues, and although it could not continue for as long as Lennon needed, it was greatly beneficial. My gosh, they were just two people, John and Yoko. They had a life. Norman demystifies it beautifully. And then it came over me, how huge of a debt I owe Yoko, as I live with my white husband and we parent our two half-white, half-Asian children. She did it first, and in public. She braved the racism and the abuse for all of us. Thank you, Madam Ono.
The finishing coup of the book is the sparkling, forthcoming interview with Sean Lennon, so human and real. For years -- decades, I guess -- it brought me comfort to think that Sean Lennon would hear the lullaby "Beautiful Boy" and know that, irrevocably gone though he was, his father had loved him. After reading this interview, though, and playing the "Double Fantasy" album, I found that exquisite love song well near unlistenable. It can't bring him comfort if it hurts too much to even hear. The funny thing about reading of Lennon's househusband years is that the account comes closer to my experience of stay-at-home mothering than any other I've read. The expected tenderness and quirkiness is there, of course; for some reason, Sean reports, John was intent on teaching Sean how to pick things up with his toes. We read that John was fierce about Sean getting sufficient sleep, and I identified with that more than anything, the way I can get frantic or enraged when anything disturbs my babies' naptimes, so that I laughed at the account of John scolding Paul and Linda McCartney for ringing the doorbell at the Dakota at 9 PM one night. And then, to my surprise, there's a story of toddler Sean having to go to the hospital to get his hearing checked because John had yelled at him so loudly for misbehaving at the table. I've lost my temper with my kids, too, and it's easy to imagine that John suffered severe remorse afterward.
I didn't know that the Lennon songs on "Double Fantasy" were composed while John and Sean were on a Yoko-less sailing vacation. That explains all the sea imagery in the music.
I don't want to end the review. I don't want him to have died. He died happy.
The first thing that transported me was, as always, the quality of the writing. Norman uses a wider vocabulary than most writers, and almost never falls back upon default phrasing. Note, for example, this sentence about a talent agent (p97): "Levis was an oleaginous Canadian, known in glamour-hungry and credulous postwar Britain as 'Mister Star-maker.'" This is the way, with a simple factual sentence, that Norman can recreate an entire milieu to give resonance to the life and times. He packages such richness with such economy.
Norman's evocation of 1950s Liverpool is nothing short of masterful. For that alone, the book is worth reading. He did his research. He digs up everybody, even the model who posed for Lennon's life studies class in art college. Impressive. It forms a vibrant backdrop for his portrayal of the vividly imaginative boy who lost himself for hours in Lewis Carroll and Richmal Crompton, author of several adventure stories about a rebellious naughty boy named William Brown. It also gives good perspective from which to understand how barbaric America must have seemed to the good folk of England, a land where Bible-quoting zealots shot at Lennon's airplane just because he indulged in thoughtful speculation about religion in an interview.
One effect of reading this biography is the feeling of being at a family reunion where you learn shocking secrets. We learn two major stunners about Lennon's Aunt Mimi in quick succession that Lennon himself never knew; both revelations certainly made my eyes fly open. Challenging Lennon's long-held and hurtful belief that he had been unwanted as a child, Norman argues that he was in fact loved dearly by many warring family members, and backs up the assertion with eyewitness accounts such as the one from cousin Liela, who personally saw his mother Julia fight bitterly against Mimi for custody of John. Most profoundly, Norman rehabilitates Lennon's father Alfred, formerly thought in accordance with Aunt Mimi's public account to be a ne'er-do-well who deserted John. The biography gives Freddie Lennon the opportunity he long wanted to demonstrate that he had, in fact, gone to great efforts to love and provide for John, in childhood and beyond, and we readers feel the peace along with the family when we learn that John learned this truth before he died. In the Freddie Lennon passages more than any other, we feel how important it is to set the record straight even after the death of the subject. It may not be in time to bring John comfort, but these are real people, real families, and their truths are sacred.
Speaking of which, Norman gazes clear-eyed at the rotten aspects of John Lennon, despite his obvious appreciation of the man's genius and lovability. Of course, the worst thing he did was neglect his first son Julian, and Julian's mother Cynthia, and to see the painful contrast with the loving fathering he provided second son Sean aches just as much now as it did 30 years ago. But Norman also tells of two people Lennon almost beat to death: one, the older impresario Bob Wooler, for making a homophobic crack about Lennon's solo vacation with gay manager Brian Epstein, and the other, Lennon's dearest friend Stu Sutcliffe. Lennon was infamous for his wounding verbal attacks, but the physical violence of his earlier days is even harder to reconcile with his peace-loving persona.
Speaking of Brian Epstein, Norman settles the speculation that has intrigued many for decades: on that two-man trip to Barcelona, did or did they not consummate the love and attraction that Epstein felt for Lennon? After carefully presenting the differing accounts that Lennon provided to various intimates, Norman concluded that they did not -- and convinced me utterly by stating that he was accepting as ultimately true the version that Lennon recounted "to the unshockable woman with whom he shared the last decade of his life." Considering that the undoubtably heterosexual Lennon discussed with Yoko whether he should have initiated an affair with Paul McCartney just because beatniks should experience everything, I tend to believe him when he told Yoko that he didn't respond to Epstein.
After his time travel back to mid-century Liverpool, Norman's best writing in the book comes in the passages of musical history and critique, unsurprisingly, since that writing has been his career. He must have written thousands of pages about Lennon's music, yet these treatments read as new and fresh.
The book had two flaws that bothered me, but both were minor indeed. One was the sloppy editing toward the end of the tome; often you find words missing, creating the impression that the author has a tendency to compose on the computer and think faster than he can type, his mind leapfrogging over the words to catch inspiration before it flies away. I don't know if they were up against deadline or the proofreader was simply overcome by the weight of the volume, but this was noticeable enough to be slightly disruptive and will have to be fixed for future editions. The other was Norman's use of a conceit that worked better for him in "Shout!," of heavily foreshadowing major events to introduce feelings of destiny, fate, and doom. It doesn't work as well here, partly because it feels clumsy -- did the telling of this life really need much narrative assistance, anyway? -- and partly because, by the end, well, I don't want Lennon's death foreshadowed. Please.
Having rehabilitated Freddie Lennon's image, Norman then renders the same service, subtly and quite lovingly, for the story of John and Yoko. It's so easy to caricature that love. Was Yoko the crazily controlling banshee reported by May Pang, the young woman with whom John had an affair during the marriage? We see Yoko here as the wife trying to make heads or tails of how to be married to John Lennon, making it up as she went along, rather bravely. The infamous primal scream therapy -- were John and Yoko, in fact, rolling around on floors screaming, the way I pictured? It turns out that it was just therapy, just talking to a doctor and sorting out the abandonment issues, and although it could not continue for as long as Lennon needed, it was greatly beneficial. My gosh, they were just two people, John and Yoko. They had a life. Norman demystifies it beautifully. And then it came over me, how huge of a debt I owe Yoko, as I live with my white husband and we parent our two half-white, half-Asian children. She did it first, and in public. She braved the racism and the abuse for all of us. Thank you, Madam Ono.
The finishing coup of the book is the sparkling, forthcoming interview with Sean Lennon, so human and real. For years -- decades, I guess -- it brought me comfort to think that Sean Lennon would hear the lullaby "Beautiful Boy" and know that, irrevocably gone though he was, his father had loved him. After reading this interview, though, and playing the "Double Fantasy" album, I found that exquisite love song well near unlistenable. It can't bring him comfort if it hurts too much to even hear. The funny thing about reading of Lennon's househusband years is that the account comes closer to my experience of stay-at-home mothering than any other I've read. The expected tenderness and quirkiness is there, of course; for some reason, Sean reports, John was intent on teaching Sean how to pick things up with his toes. We read that John was fierce about Sean getting sufficient sleep, and I identified with that more than anything, the way I can get frantic or enraged when anything disturbs my babies' naptimes, so that I laughed at the account of John scolding Paul and Linda McCartney for ringing the doorbell at the Dakota at 9 PM one night. And then, to my surprise, there's a story of toddler Sean having to go to the hospital to get his hearing checked because John had yelled at him so loudly for misbehaving at the table. I've lost my temper with my kids, too, and it's easy to imagine that John suffered severe remorse afterward.
I didn't know that the Lennon songs on "Double Fantasy" were composed while John and Sean were on a Yoko-less sailing vacation. That explains all the sea imagery in the music.
I don't want to end the review. I don't want him to have died. He died happy.
March 17, 2011
I hate to say this, but this book was disappointing on a number of levels: it compared poorly with Keith Richards' autobiography LIFE, which I read just previously, both in content and style; there were a number of mistakes in the text (on the copy-editing level); and it turns out that John was, simply put, kind of a jerk, especially when he was younger.
However, it was perhaps unfair of me to read it right after LIFE; if I could jump back in time two weeks, I'd read them in the opposite order. Keith's book had the immediacy of a first-person narrative, whereas John's was, necessarily, an autobiography. There were other factors going in as well: The Beatles' image as a smiley boy band, in suits and ties (despite their later long hair and other late-'60s/early-'70s trappings) raises the bar of audience expectation of the individual Beatles, whereas the Stones' bad-boy rock 'n' roll image lowers the bar. One expects all kinds of bad behavior from the Stones, but is more surprised to learn about the Beatles' very early years playing (and misbehaving) in the red light district in Hamburg.
Preconceptions aside, the Beatles did start out more rock 'n' roll before Brian Epstein cleaned up their act, and one gets the sense that John may have been happier with a grittier image, like the Stones. One clear point of contrast between the two is that Keith's love for music and for playing live shows shines through his whole book, but John came to hate playing to live audiences. No one was prepared for the unprecedented phenomenon of Beatlemania, and so "the boys" were not well guarded against it - not hidden behind a wall of security as they would be today. Additionally, it's easy to see how fans claiming to love the music and then screaming so loudly during the concert that the music was rendered inaudible could be extraordinarily aggravating.
The wonderful thing about Keith's book was his happiness, his enthusiasm about life and music and other people, and his sense of humor. If John had lived to write an autobiography, it might well have been a more enjoyable read than Philip Norman's biography of him. John's story as told by Norman is drier and more scholarly (Keith certainly couldn't be accused of either). And Keith has the perspective and distance of several extra decades; the flaws that stood out in John's youth and Beatles years were beginning to mellow before his premature death, but - if both accounts are to be taken at face value - John was far more insecure and had a much worse temper anyone who hears "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would suspect.
Not that I expect musicians (or writers or artists) to be paragons of virtue or shining examples of character, but it was a bit disillusioning reading about John in detail. I had a positive impression of his before I read the book, less so now. (Keith, on the other hand, was surprising in the opposite direction, as it were: despite all the drugs and trashed hotel rooms, he seems to have a relatively sunny outlook and peaceful personality. If I could hang out with one of these two, on the basis of these two books alone, I'd pick Keith, and not just because John's dead.)
Another difference between John and Keith is that Keith is primarily a musician: he goes into great detail about various chords and open tuning and riffs. Though it goes without saying that John was a brilliant musician as well, it seems he was primarily a writer; he wrote and drew from a young age. This difference is reflected in their respective songwriting processes as well as in their music. (When Keith and Mick wrote together, Keith usually came up with with central riff and a few words, usually the chorus - "it goes like this" - and Mick would fill in the verses.) In John and Paul's songs, there is often a strong story element; the lyrics are just as important as the music. In fact, the Beatles began printing the lyrics of their songs on their album covers, starting with Sgt. Pepper. Think of "A Day in the Life" - it tells a whole story in itself.
On a personal level, having been brought up to loathe Yoko Ono, there's really no way to do that after reading Norman's book, and that's a bit of a letdown. One does certainly feel for Cynthia and, especially, Julian, when one considers the radically different treatment of the first wife and son compared to the second; but, at least as presented in this book, it seems as if John did much better as a husband and a father the second time around.
Overall, John simply wasn't a person who could be constrained by one image or even one medium. He was undoubtedly creative and brilliant, but after nearly a decade, he didn't love being a Beatle the way Keith loved being in the Stones (or the way Paul loved being a Beatle; maybe I'll read a book of his next). Though the Beatles broke up fifteen years before I was born, I've always been sad about it (and also always blamed it on Yoko), but I don't know if I am anymore.
A final note: there were numerous typos and other small errors that ought to have been corrected in the copy-editing process. True, 850 pages is quite a long book, and this was a first edition, so some errors may have been corrected in subsequent editions. However, it makes this thoroughly researched book seem sloppy.
And it was thoroughly researched, and the writing was competent, if not lyrical or inspiring. There were certainly good tidbits about the origins of many of the songs, about who wrote what and why. There is solid primary source material, letters to and from John, quotes from many who knew and worked with him. But John Lennon: The Life just doesn't blaze off the page the way Keith Richards' LIFE does.
Re. Help!: "I remember, I got very emotional at the time, singing the lyrics. Whatever I'm singing, I really mean it. I don't mess around." (398)
Re. the MBEs: "Then it all just seemed part of the game we'd agreed to play. We'd nothing to lose, except that part of you which said you didn't believe in it." (400)
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." (641)
"Perhaps the revelations in my life story may bring you a clearer picture of how fate and circumstance control so much of our lives and therefore must be considered in our judgment of one another." (Last letter John's father sent to him before Lennon Sr. died) (755)
On the Beatles and Apple Corps: So great was the volume of brilliant work they had left, and so ineradicable their effect on the pop psyche, they could be said never to have broken up at all - simply changed from a band into a brand. (757)
However, it was perhaps unfair of me to read it right after LIFE; if I could jump back in time two weeks, I'd read them in the opposite order. Keith's book had the immediacy of a first-person narrative, whereas John's was, necessarily, an autobiography. There were other factors going in as well: The Beatles' image as a smiley boy band, in suits and ties (despite their later long hair and other late-'60s/early-'70s trappings) raises the bar of audience expectation of the individual Beatles, whereas the Stones' bad-boy rock 'n' roll image lowers the bar. One expects all kinds of bad behavior from the Stones, but is more surprised to learn about the Beatles' very early years playing (and misbehaving) in the red light district in Hamburg.
Preconceptions aside, the Beatles did start out more rock 'n' roll before Brian Epstein cleaned up their act, and one gets the sense that John may have been happier with a grittier image, like the Stones. One clear point of contrast between the two is that Keith's love for music and for playing live shows shines through his whole book, but John came to hate playing to live audiences. No one was prepared for the unprecedented phenomenon of Beatlemania, and so "the boys" were not well guarded against it - not hidden behind a wall of security as they would be today. Additionally, it's easy to see how fans claiming to love the music and then screaming so loudly during the concert that the music was rendered inaudible could be extraordinarily aggravating.
The wonderful thing about Keith's book was his happiness, his enthusiasm about life and music and other people, and his sense of humor. If John had lived to write an autobiography, it might well have been a more enjoyable read than Philip Norman's biography of him. John's story as told by Norman is drier and more scholarly (Keith certainly couldn't be accused of either). And Keith has the perspective and distance of several extra decades; the flaws that stood out in John's youth and Beatles years were beginning to mellow before his premature death, but - if both accounts are to be taken at face value - John was far more insecure and had a much worse temper anyone who hears "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would suspect.
Not that I expect musicians (or writers or artists) to be paragons of virtue or shining examples of character, but it was a bit disillusioning reading about John in detail. I had a positive impression of his before I read the book, less so now. (Keith, on the other hand, was surprising in the opposite direction, as it were: despite all the drugs and trashed hotel rooms, he seems to have a relatively sunny outlook and peaceful personality. If I could hang out with one of these two, on the basis of these two books alone, I'd pick Keith, and not just because John's dead.)
Another difference between John and Keith is that Keith is primarily a musician: he goes into great detail about various chords and open tuning and riffs. Though it goes without saying that John was a brilliant musician as well, it seems he was primarily a writer; he wrote and drew from a young age. This difference is reflected in their respective songwriting processes as well as in their music. (When Keith and Mick wrote together, Keith usually came up with with central riff and a few words, usually the chorus - "it goes like this" - and Mick would fill in the verses.) In John and Paul's songs, there is often a strong story element; the lyrics are just as important as the music. In fact, the Beatles began printing the lyrics of their songs on their album covers, starting with Sgt. Pepper. Think of "A Day in the Life" - it tells a whole story in itself.
On a personal level, having been brought up to loathe Yoko Ono, there's really no way to do that after reading Norman's book, and that's a bit of a letdown. One does certainly feel for Cynthia and, especially, Julian, when one considers the radically different treatment of the first wife and son compared to the second; but, at least as presented in this book, it seems as if John did much better as a husband and a father the second time around.
Overall, John simply wasn't a person who could be constrained by one image or even one medium. He was undoubtedly creative and brilliant, but after nearly a decade, he didn't love being a Beatle the way Keith loved being in the Stones (or the way Paul loved being a Beatle; maybe I'll read a book of his next). Though the Beatles broke up fifteen years before I was born, I've always been sad about it (and also always blamed it on Yoko), but I don't know if I am anymore.
A final note: there were numerous typos and other small errors that ought to have been corrected in the copy-editing process. True, 850 pages is quite a long book, and this was a first edition, so some errors may have been corrected in subsequent editions. However, it makes this thoroughly researched book seem sloppy.
And it was thoroughly researched, and the writing was competent, if not lyrical or inspiring. There were certainly good tidbits about the origins of many of the songs, about who wrote what and why. There is solid primary source material, letters to and from John, quotes from many who knew and worked with him. But John Lennon: The Life just doesn't blaze off the page the way Keith Richards' LIFE does.
Re. Help!: "I remember, I got very emotional at the time, singing the lyrics. Whatever I'm singing, I really mean it. I don't mess around." (398)
Re. the MBEs: "Then it all just seemed part of the game we'd agreed to play. We'd nothing to lose, except that part of you which said you didn't believe in it." (400)
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." (641)
"Perhaps the revelations in my life story may bring you a clearer picture of how fate and circumstance control so much of our lives and therefore must be considered in our judgment of one another." (Last letter John's father sent to him before Lennon Sr. died) (755)
On the Beatles and Apple Corps: So great was the volume of brilliant work they had left, and so ineradicable their effect on the pop psyche, they could be said never to have broken up at all - simply changed from a band into a brand. (757)
January 18, 2022
One of the best biographies I have ever read. Very well researched with lots of detail. Shows the complete John Lennon with his faults and failings as well as his genius.
January 7, 2013
can a gay male 'bottom' be detected through prose alone? Dr. Paul Ekman, who wrote extensively about 'microexpressions,' by the end of his forty years in ethnology, supposedly could take one look at a photograph of an obscure african or indonesian tribe and instantly tell whether the tribe was pacifist or violent, predominately hetero or predominately homo, agriculturalist or carnivore etc. (this would be a plain, color portrait-photograph with the tribe not carrying weapons or lugging around a side of cow...)
I've been working in writing or reading for twenty years, and I think I can successfully identify Philip as a homosexual receiver-type, based on prose alone. it would explain his fascination with rock gods.
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...
this issue aside, John Lennon: The Life is a meticulously researched and deeply well-written biography of John Lennon. Norman researches and recounts actual table-side conversations from the early 1960s, and apparently converses with all parties to recreate exactly who said what and why, to what emotional end. it is fantastic to follow along with John Lennon who in the course of the 1960s goes from Liverpool to Berlin to the famous "post-acid" style finally to Yoko and NYC, L.A. days... until you see it in print, it's hard to understand exactly the progression of years, but here it all written out in well-organized chronological order, age 10-20 rebellious, emotionally crippled teenager, 20-25 Hamburg and the Reeperbahn, 25-30 stardom, NYC and Ed Sullivan Show, 30-40 Yoko years incl. 'Lost Weekend' episode. every age progression is carefully researched, annotated, footnoted, and laid out so we feel exactly how long each period lasted and what everyone was feeling at the time.
and despite knowing all the Beatles' music, of course the "lost weekend," where lennon goes out for 18 months with a Chinese (!) girl was something I never knew. (= the "Lost Weekend")
Norman's work is not for everyone. among his more spurious accusations is that the early Beatles were formed by 15-hour work days in the hamburg red light district (fine) but also a gang of black-leather clad 'artists' who at one point threatened the beatles with a large handgun. because black leather at this point was a motif of the Nazi SS, the Beatles can therefore be read as a sort of residual product of the SS movement, accounting for their mass appeal (The Nazis invented crowd control). I find this somewhat hard to believe. do any pictures exist of the early beatles in black leather jackets and jackboots?... somebody research this.
second, Norman implies that Lennon was deeply sexually troubled throughout his life, existing in a sort of perpetual anguish, a deathly fear of being or becoming a "cripple," and this angst only lifted through the intervention of the Japanese, who not only rigorously controlled the Beatles' first show at the Budokan, but also took the form of a sexually-frigid older woman 'Yoko Ono' who both permitted Lennon to go off with a Chinese girl for 18 months, (May Pang?, I think the name was/) and also served as Lennon's only period of peace in his brief life. Lennon was eventually killed by another Japanese woman, Mariko Abe, who manipulated Chapman and possibly even provided the copy of The Catcher in the Rye, which more than one celebrity killer carried during their killings. we should be scared of Catcher in the Rye fanatics? Mariko Abe was middle-class and resentful of the upper-class Yoko Ono, and JL was just an incidental byproduct? this is getting stranger by the minute...
anyway a fantastic work, both stylisticaly, research, structure, and that famous writing problem: "characterizing music:. many kudos to Norman-- i just wish the thesis wasn't, "everyone had unrequited homosexual crushes on John Lennon," including Epstein, J. Edgar Hoover, possibly his father etc. etc etc.... more reality, less speculation please Mr. Norman!
I've been working in writing or reading for twenty years, and I think I can successfully identify Philip as a homosexual receiver-type, based on prose alone. it would explain his fascination with rock gods.
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...
this issue aside, John Lennon: The Life is a meticulously researched and deeply well-written biography of John Lennon. Norman researches and recounts actual table-side conversations from the early 1960s, and apparently converses with all parties to recreate exactly who said what and why, to what emotional end. it is fantastic to follow along with John Lennon who in the course of the 1960s goes from Liverpool to Berlin to the famous "post-acid" style finally to Yoko and NYC, L.A. days... until you see it in print, it's hard to understand exactly the progression of years, but here it all written out in well-organized chronological order, age 10-20 rebellious, emotionally crippled teenager, 20-25 Hamburg and the Reeperbahn, 25-30 stardom, NYC and Ed Sullivan Show, 30-40 Yoko years incl. 'Lost Weekend' episode. every age progression is carefully researched, annotated, footnoted, and laid out so we feel exactly how long each period lasted and what everyone was feeling at the time.
and despite knowing all the Beatles' music, of course the "lost weekend," where lennon goes out for 18 months with a Chinese (!) girl was something I never knew. (= the "Lost Weekend")
Norman's work is not for everyone. among his more spurious accusations is that the early Beatles were formed by 15-hour work days in the hamburg red light district (fine) but also a gang of black-leather clad 'artists' who at one point threatened the beatles with a large handgun. because black leather at this point was a motif of the Nazi SS, the Beatles can therefore be read as a sort of residual product of the SS movement, accounting for their mass appeal (The Nazis invented crowd control). I find this somewhat hard to believe. do any pictures exist of the early beatles in black leather jackets and jackboots?... somebody research this.
second, Norman implies that Lennon was deeply sexually troubled throughout his life, existing in a sort of perpetual anguish, a deathly fear of being or becoming a "cripple," and this angst only lifted through the intervention of the Japanese, who not only rigorously controlled the Beatles' first show at the Budokan, but also took the form of a sexually-frigid older woman 'Yoko Ono' who both permitted Lennon to go off with a Chinese girl for 18 months, (May Pang?, I think the name was/) and also served as Lennon's only period of peace in his brief life. Lennon was eventually killed by another Japanese woman, Mariko Abe, who manipulated Chapman and possibly even provided the copy of The Catcher in the Rye, which more than one celebrity killer carried during their killings. we should be scared of Catcher in the Rye fanatics? Mariko Abe was middle-class and resentful of the upper-class Yoko Ono, and JL was just an incidental byproduct? this is getting stranger by the minute...
anyway a fantastic work, both stylisticaly, research, structure, and that famous writing problem: "characterizing music:. many kudos to Norman-- i just wish the thesis wasn't, "everyone had unrequited homosexual crushes on John Lennon," including Epstein, J. Edgar Hoover, possibly his father etc. etc etc.... more reality, less speculation please Mr. Norman!
September 22, 2012
Very interesting book. I thought I would have to stop reading it so I would have time to start & finish the book I'm supposed to be reading for book club, but I found myself going back to this one each time. It was very disturbing at times & I know celebrities are very different from who they (and the media) portray themselves to be to the public, but it was still disappointing to read some of the things he did or how some of his darker personality traits manifested themselves. To be fair, my initial impression of John & the Beatles was as an adolscent & my image of him when I was 10-11 years old was all humor, fun & incredible talent. Somewhat of a pedestal to begin with. So, as an adult reading about some of this, it felt a little deflating to think that while we were getting so much enjoyment out of the music & he appeared to be having fun, he was hating the fame for much of it & resented the fans somewhat. And the happy-go-lucky guy we thought was there could do some awful things. Still, this book showed that John had some very endearing qualities too, & it was definitely a portrayal of a very complex person. I also enjoyed it because I liked reading how certain songs came about, the story behind the movies, trips to America, etc. Also, being that adolescent that paid attention to music, I remember the 70's with regard to John's deportation problems, his separation from Yoko, collaborations with Elton John, etc. So it was enjoyable to read how events came about that I either remembered happening at the time or that I had always read about. I was surprised at some of the parts about Yoko & how grounded she seemed at times; my only impression of her had been that she & John did very weird things (artistically & personally) & that she was a totally unrelatable person. There was more to her than that & I think people can very well identify with some of her feelings & actions. And as usually happens with celebrities, I ended up feeling so sorry for John's kids, Julian & Sean (for many reasons). I know so many people were very saddened by his death, me included. In fact, one of my favorite of his songs is "Starting Over" and it's still hard to listen to sometimes - it's such an optimistic song, and you got the feeling that John was finally in a very happy point in his life after so much craziness - and then you immediately think about what was taken from him & his family & friends.
February 4, 2010
Interesting history of John's parent and grandparents and a rather sordid account of the Beatles' yesr in Germany but in general, the book lacks much psychological underpinning to either John or his relatives. A potential bombshell; that Lennon may have killed artist Stuart Sutcliffe by kicking him in the head in an alcohol-fueled rage is left as an open question, leaving one to wonder whether there is a statute of limitations on homicide or manslaughter in England. Lennon's swings from meditation to aggressive alcoholism are minimized as was his antisemitism. Yoko Ono is described perhaps more sympathetically than she deserves and her vocal screeching is compared favorable to punk rock.
Perhaps Lennon is just too complex a character; an unusually talented but unusually emotionally damaged individual. It unclear from the book whether the subject is too difficult or the author too superficial.
Perhaps Lennon is just too complex a character; an unusually talented but unusually emotionally damaged individual. It unclear from the book whether the subject is too difficult or the author too superficial.
March 7, 2018
So I heard “Working Class Hero” by accident, because Spotify thought it would suit me at March 3rd and I was utterly destroyed by that number.
I mean, why haven’t I heard it before ? That’s just so many years without that fantastic tune. Pity. I’ve heard it around 100 times since then. Yes....I know...
I wanted to learn more about John Lennon, especially his childhood and the time after Beatles.
I was not disappointed. It is a great biography
Furthermore this was my first audiobook and certainly not my last.
Though english isn’t my first language it was great to hear a book read aloud, while you can work, travel etc. , at the same time.
I mean, why haven’t I heard it before ? That’s just so many years without that fantastic tune. Pity. I’ve heard it around 100 times since then. Yes....I know...
I wanted to learn more about John Lennon, especially his childhood and the time after Beatles.
I was not disappointed. It is a great biography
Furthermore this was my first audiobook and certainly not my last.
Though english isn’t my first language it was great to hear a book read aloud, while you can work, travel etc. , at the same time.
September 21, 2025
Imponerende og interessant, men samtidig litt kjedelig og altfor lang. Bob bob.
December 6, 2012
Growing up as I first became aware of the Beatles, (mostly through my mum belting out their songs from the tape deck of our '83 Buick LeSabre wood-paneled wagon) and my budding love from them, I absolutely felt like I first related with John. Mum is a Paul kind of lady, and I'd be just fine with her marrying Sir Paul when he's done with all these other floozies. Bc a left-handed bassist and genius of a songwriter I can surely support my mumsy settling down with.
Per usual digression over, I still have always felt drawn to Señor Lennon. He marched to a different style and didn't apologize for it. He drove authority figures a bit crazy...but nothing intensely awful, and constantly wandered off into his own world of art and music and colors. Quirky and out there with a weird but palatable sense of humor, every damn thing I read about him seems to hit home more.
That said, Norman does an excellent job, but 864 pages?! I'm fairly certain you could document every time John dropped a deuce and still have room for his life story in that time. But Norman is thorough though, and I can't help but respect that.
Through this book (which strangely, I received for Xmas years ago and still has the ASU bookstore discount book sticker on it....and yet years later, as pointed out, is now on display on the iPad mini commercial currently airing...weird, no?) Norman seem to outline a John Lennon that may have misconstrued his life and how he viewed it, or persnaps he just embellished a bit. Or, it's truly how he saw it and all the research Norman did everyone tried to point out how wonderful it was. How it really was is like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The wise old owl says the world may never know. But Lil' Kim says...well, I don't need to be slapped for inappropriate reviewing now, do I?
Anyways, as I said, this book is a monster. Was it really necessary to go into what a masturbating fiend Lennon was? Not that the story of him just barely failing to "wank off" ten times in a day to win a bet doesn't tickle anyone's fancy, but who knows maybe that facet of John's life helped him write "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds". I'll let you all infer what you want from that. But if your questioning whether this book is detailed, I feel secure that I just quashed any of those fears.
It is fascinating though to see just what a worldwide effect the Beatles had. Not just in Beatlemania and merchandising but the London stock exchange with stockbrokers and analysts checking the Top 20 in buying and selling shares of Northern Songs Inc. unreal.
Another fact I wasn't expecting was Yoko talking about John and how controlling and essentially awful he was. I mean I appreciate the candidness and all, and while I can't say I'm surprised that was how John was, I never expected her to speak about him like that. All in all, that relationship was not healthy, let's be honest. I mean having a bed brought in to the Beatles recording studio just bc she had a hurt back? Of course the band resented you!
In a way, this book showed more of John's human side, but also showed him as a dick and as a hypocrite. When someone commented on Yoko's spending on furs and such and said "imagine no possessions John" he replied "it's only a bloody song". Sadly, a lot of us take that song to heart. And hearing such things just cheapens so much of it. I don't expect my musical idols to be perfect, but it's just more and more telling that all the worldliness so many can spout is just bullshit. Be human. Mess up, destroy things, but really all you have are the words you leave and you even make those bullshit too.
I suppose I get disillusioned at the end even when Lennon mocks Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" bc of its religious background. While I'm not religious, I love that song for its true embodiment. Regardless, why judge someone for that? As the pages turn, so does a more bigoted side of John Lennon show itself.
In addition, his son Sean doesn't do himself any favors in his posthumous chapter on John. I'm sure it's painful to "hear his voice" and "carry on the Lennon legacy" as he says. But then, did anyone ask Julian how it felt to be abandoned most of his life? To be named after John's beloved mother and never beloved himself? It was a great memoir, but if all true...has left me saddened for loving Lennon so much up to this point. As human as he was, there's only so much I can abide by. Rest in peace John Lennon, but the sparkle in your star has just only faded with me in this. I'm fine with you being human and making mistakes, but not the utter cruelty you showed in your life. A musical genius? Surely. Doesn't mean I have to love you anymore.
Per usual digression over, I still have always felt drawn to Señor Lennon. He marched to a different style and didn't apologize for it. He drove authority figures a bit crazy...but nothing intensely awful, and constantly wandered off into his own world of art and music and colors. Quirky and out there with a weird but palatable sense of humor, every damn thing I read about him seems to hit home more.
That said, Norman does an excellent job, but 864 pages?! I'm fairly certain you could document every time John dropped a deuce and still have room for his life story in that time. But Norman is thorough though, and I can't help but respect that.
Through this book (which strangely, I received for Xmas years ago and still has the ASU bookstore discount book sticker on it....and yet years later, as pointed out, is now on display on the iPad mini commercial currently airing...weird, no?) Norman seem to outline a John Lennon that may have misconstrued his life and how he viewed it, or persnaps he just embellished a bit. Or, it's truly how he saw it and all the research Norman did everyone tried to point out how wonderful it was. How it really was is like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The wise old owl says the world may never know. But Lil' Kim says...well, I don't need to be slapped for inappropriate reviewing now, do I?
Anyways, as I said, this book is a monster. Was it really necessary to go into what a masturbating fiend Lennon was? Not that the story of him just barely failing to "wank off" ten times in a day to win a bet doesn't tickle anyone's fancy, but who knows maybe that facet of John's life helped him write "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds". I'll let you all infer what you want from that. But if your questioning whether this book is detailed, I feel secure that I just quashed any of those fears.
It is fascinating though to see just what a worldwide effect the Beatles had. Not just in Beatlemania and merchandising but the London stock exchange with stockbrokers and analysts checking the Top 20 in buying and selling shares of Northern Songs Inc. unreal.
Another fact I wasn't expecting was Yoko talking about John and how controlling and essentially awful he was. I mean I appreciate the candidness and all, and while I can't say I'm surprised that was how John was, I never expected her to speak about him like that. All in all, that relationship was not healthy, let's be honest. I mean having a bed brought in to the Beatles recording studio just bc she had a hurt back? Of course the band resented you!
In a way, this book showed more of John's human side, but also showed him as a dick and as a hypocrite. When someone commented on Yoko's spending on furs and such and said "imagine no possessions John" he replied "it's only a bloody song". Sadly, a lot of us take that song to heart. And hearing such things just cheapens so much of it. I don't expect my musical idols to be perfect, but it's just more and more telling that all the worldliness so many can spout is just bullshit. Be human. Mess up, destroy things, but really all you have are the words you leave and you even make those bullshit too.
I suppose I get disillusioned at the end even when Lennon mocks Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" bc of its religious background. While I'm not religious, I love that song for its true embodiment. Regardless, why judge someone for that? As the pages turn, so does a more bigoted side of John Lennon show itself.
In addition, his son Sean doesn't do himself any favors in his posthumous chapter on John. I'm sure it's painful to "hear his voice" and "carry on the Lennon legacy" as he says. But then, did anyone ask Julian how it felt to be abandoned most of his life? To be named after John's beloved mother and never beloved himself? It was a great memoir, but if all true...has left me saddened for loving Lennon so much up to this point. As human as he was, there's only so much I can abide by. Rest in peace John Lennon, but the sparkle in your star has just only faded with me in this. I'm fine with you being human and making mistakes, but not the utter cruelty you showed in your life. A musical genius? Surely. Doesn't mean I have to love you anymore.
March 4, 2020
I read this back in high school around the same time I read Helter Skelter and the only thing I remember is a scene of him and his friends wanking each other off in a circle jerk which was profoundly weird to me. Oh, and the shit about how he wished he had fucked his mother before she died. Can't forget that.
January 11, 2009
This is definitely a MUST for any John Lennon / Beatles fan.
Philip Norman, the author writes in this book:
"In September 2003, I suggested to John's widow, Yoko Ono, that I should become his biographer, Yoko Ono was upset by the book and would not endorse it . . . [saying:] I had been 'mean to John.'"
Maybe Yoko should have...it is by far one of the best John Lennon biographies that anyone has taken the time to research and write.
I am on page 451 of this book (chapter 18 of the 30-chapter book) and so far I love it...very, very informative yet as much as a John Lennon fan that I am, I am shocked to learn so many new things about him I did not know about.
John's parents abandoned him
His favorite uncle and only father figure suddenly dies
His mother dies unexpectedly
One of his very few best friends, Stu Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage
So basically, most of the people John loved either abandoned him or died...which probably accounts for why John was such a jerk and it may also explain his need to always have people around him "nothing gets done with John unless someone is with him"
I also learned that John was a narcissistic jerk who made fun of cripples referring to them as "crips" or "spassies"...something we would have never guessed in his Peace and Love days with Yoko
John had a voracious and possibly deviant sexual appetite...even having fantasies of engaging into sexual relations with his own mother
John Lennon needed help...even a musical genius like himself may have benefited from the help of a shrink
There are a lot of details about John's childhood,including how and when his parents met and their disturbing marriage and the hell they put John through as a child. The book details John's transition to Aunt Mimi's; complete with little boy antics and the hell he put the grown-ups around him through.
The book goes into John's adolescence, detailing his entry into the music world, his poetry, and art. The saddest part of the book so far for me has been the details of Julia's death and how the man who killed her got away with it
The book goes on into the formation of John's musical bands...and how they developed from leather-clad skiffle singers to the greatest rock group ever known to man...they went through high hell and water to become The Beatles. What I have learned from the book is that The Beatles were puppets for an establishment who paid them to dress, speak, and act according to what those who managed them thought was good and wholesome...something they did not always want to do but since money was the biggest motivator, they did it.
The Beatles, like all humans are just that, human and the book details their "bad side", their sexual exploits and drug use...alas The Beatles have a dark side too! They even evaded taxes, which caught up with them later
I feel sorry for Cynthia, who endured John's bullshit and poor Julian, to have a father who never paid much attention to him as a kid and only try to make up for it when it was too late.
What disappoints me about the book are the pictures...same pictures everyone has seen...John and Julia, John and Aunt Mimi, John and The Quarrymen, etc. etc. I was hoping for something different.
Philip Norman, the author writes in this book:
"In September 2003, I suggested to John's widow, Yoko Ono, that I should become his biographer, Yoko Ono was upset by the book and would not endorse it . . . [saying:] I had been 'mean to John.'"
Maybe Yoko should have...it is by far one of the best John Lennon biographies that anyone has taken the time to research and write.
I am on page 451 of this book (chapter 18 of the 30-chapter book) and so far I love it...very, very informative yet as much as a John Lennon fan that I am, I am shocked to learn so many new things about him I did not know about.
John's parents abandoned him
His favorite uncle and only father figure suddenly dies
His mother dies unexpectedly
One of his very few best friends, Stu Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage
So basically, most of the people John loved either abandoned him or died...which probably accounts for why John was such a jerk and it may also explain his need to always have people around him "nothing gets done with John unless someone is with him"
I also learned that John was a narcissistic jerk who made fun of cripples referring to them as "crips" or "spassies"...something we would have never guessed in his Peace and Love days with Yoko
John had a voracious and possibly deviant sexual appetite...even having fantasies of engaging into sexual relations with his own mother
John Lennon needed help...even a musical genius like himself may have benefited from the help of a shrink
There are a lot of details about John's childhood,including how and when his parents met and their disturbing marriage and the hell they put John through as a child. The book details John's transition to Aunt Mimi's; complete with little boy antics and the hell he put the grown-ups around him through.
The book goes into John's adolescence, detailing his entry into the music world, his poetry, and art. The saddest part of the book so far for me has been the details of Julia's death and how the man who killed her got away with it
The book goes on into the formation of John's musical bands...and how they developed from leather-clad skiffle singers to the greatest rock group ever known to man...they went through high hell and water to become The Beatles. What I have learned from the book is that The Beatles were puppets for an establishment who paid them to dress, speak, and act according to what those who managed them thought was good and wholesome...something they did not always want to do but since money was the biggest motivator, they did it.
The Beatles, like all humans are just that, human and the book details their "bad side", their sexual exploits and drug use...alas The Beatles have a dark side too! They even evaded taxes, which caught up with them later
I feel sorry for Cynthia, who endured John's bullshit and poor Julian, to have a father who never paid much attention to him as a kid and only try to make up for it when it was too late.
What disappoints me about the book are the pictures...same pictures everyone has seen...John and Julia, John and Aunt Mimi, John and The Quarrymen, etc. etc. I was hoping for something different.
August 27, 2019
I’ve never been a huge fan of the Beatles. I know most of their songs, as do most people who have been on planet Earth for the past 50 years. Oft times, I would grimace when Beatles fanatics would go off on their sycophantic rants at parties. I respect and appreciate their contributions but I felt like I’d been beaten over the head with the constant influx of their music.
To be completely honest, my desire to read this book didn’t come from the purest of places either. I saw a reddit post that claimed that John Lennon was a hypocritical piece of shit. Their words, not mine. Nevertheless, I saw this book on Amazon so I threw it in the cart and when it arrived, I realized that I might have bitten off more than I could chew. This is a monster of a book. For a non-Beatle fan, this book taught me everything about the band and their history, not just Lennon.
Were the claims true? Yes and no. Much of Lennon’s behavior came from his chaotic upbringing. Absent father, somewhat disinterested mother, raised by an aunt; it’s something that we’ve seen time and again with people who act out. He was a horrible father to his first son Julian and a despicable knave to his first wife Cynthia. He was not a nice person and many of my suspicions were confirmed time and again. He was a world famous rock star with unfettered access to booze, drugs, and women in a time when indulgence was favored in his circles. In what world would he come out on the other side as a choirboy?
Yet there is a charm to John Lennon. The John Lennon on page 200 is different than the John Lennon on page 500, 700, 750, and so forth. The book’s depth allow us to follow his journey through drugs, transcendental meditation, fatherhood, marriage, music, and on and on until that infamous December evening. As much as I sought to confirm the bias that led me to purchase the book, my stance softened with time and I found myself feeling rather empty when I finished.
I think the John Lennon that the public knows is an illusion and not a man who deserves the worship that he receives. The John that should be beloved is the one who came out the other side of his struggles as a better person. The man who met his demise as he was rushing inside to kiss his son goodnight. The one who averted death for an additional five hours because his genuineness and niceness disarmed his soon to be murderer. In spite of it all, I was won over and this is a very impressive book.
“I used to think that the world was doing it to me and that the world owed me something, and that either the conservatives or the socialists or the Christians or the Jews were doing something to me, and when you’re a teenybopper that’s what you think. I’m 40 now. I don’t think that any more, ‘cause I found out it doesn’t fucking work. The thing goes on anyway and all you’re doing is jacking off and screaming about what your mommy and daddy or society did… I have found out personally… that I am responsible for it as well as them. I am part of them.”
~John Lennon
To be completely honest, my desire to read this book didn’t come from the purest of places either. I saw a reddit post that claimed that John Lennon was a hypocritical piece of shit. Their words, not mine. Nevertheless, I saw this book on Amazon so I threw it in the cart and when it arrived, I realized that I might have bitten off more than I could chew. This is a monster of a book. For a non-Beatle fan, this book taught me everything about the band and their history, not just Lennon.
Were the claims true? Yes and no. Much of Lennon’s behavior came from his chaotic upbringing. Absent father, somewhat disinterested mother, raised by an aunt; it’s something that we’ve seen time and again with people who act out. He was a horrible father to his first son Julian and a despicable knave to his first wife Cynthia. He was not a nice person and many of my suspicions were confirmed time and again. He was a world famous rock star with unfettered access to booze, drugs, and women in a time when indulgence was favored in his circles. In what world would he come out on the other side as a choirboy?
Yet there is a charm to John Lennon. The John Lennon on page 200 is different than the John Lennon on page 500, 700, 750, and so forth. The book’s depth allow us to follow his journey through drugs, transcendental meditation, fatherhood, marriage, music, and on and on until that infamous December evening. As much as I sought to confirm the bias that led me to purchase the book, my stance softened with time and I found myself feeling rather empty when I finished.
I think the John Lennon that the public knows is an illusion and not a man who deserves the worship that he receives. The John that should be beloved is the one who came out the other side of his struggles as a better person. The man who met his demise as he was rushing inside to kiss his son goodnight. The one who averted death for an additional five hours because his genuineness and niceness disarmed his soon to be murderer. In spite of it all, I was won over and this is a very impressive book.
“I used to think that the world was doing it to me and that the world owed me something, and that either the conservatives or the socialists or the Christians or the Jews were doing something to me, and when you’re a teenybopper that’s what you think. I’m 40 now. I don’t think that any more, ‘cause I found out it doesn’t fucking work. The thing goes on anyway and all you’re doing is jacking off and screaming about what your mommy and daddy or society did… I have found out personally… that I am responsible for it as well as them. I am part of them.”
~John Lennon
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