What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From an Underground Man

by Art Garfunkel

From the golden-haired, curly-headed half of Simon & Garfunkel--a memoir (of sorts): artful, moving, lyrical; the making of a musician; the evolution of a man, a portrait of a life-long friendship and collaboration that became one of the most successful singing duos of their time.

Art Garfunkel writes about his life before, during, and after Simon & Garfunkel . . . about their folk-rock music in the roiling age that embraced and was defined by their pathbreaking sound. He writes about growing up in the 1940s and '50s (son of a traveling salesman), a middle class Jewish boy, living in a red brick semi-attached house in Kew Gardens, Queens, a kid who was different--from the age of five feeling his vocal cords "vibrating with the love of sound" . . . meeting Paul Simon in school, the funny guy who made Art laugh; their going on to junior high school together, of being twelve at the birth of rock'n'roll, both of them "captured" by it; going to a recording studio in Manhattan to make a demo of their song, "Hey Schoolgirl" (for $7!) and the actual record (with Paul's father on bass) going to #40 on the national charts, selling 150,000 copies . . .

He writes about their becoming Simon & Garfunkel, taking the world by storm, ruling the pop charts from the time he was sixteen, about not being a natural performer, but more a thinker . . . touring; sex-for-thrills on the road, reading or walking to calm down (walking across two continents--the USA and Europe). He writes of being an actor working with directors Nicolas Roeg (Bad Timing) and Mike Nichols ("the greatest of them all") . . . getting his masters in mathematics at Columbia; choosing music over a PhD; his slow unfolding split with Paul and its aftermath; learning to perform on his own, giving a thousand concerts worldwide, his voice going south (a stiffening of one vocal cord) and working to get it back . . . about being a husband, a father and much more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Memoir, Biography, Audiobook, Poetry, Autobiography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2017

About the author

Art Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter and actor, best known as half of the Grammy Award winning folk duo Simon and Garfunkel.

Reviews

[Steve Peifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Without a doubt this book ascends to the pantheon of the all time worst book of all human history. It clearly enters into the rare air of ‘so bad it’s great’ territory. Let me quote : ‘The Muse bit the ass of my beautiful wife, and I had an ear for the insight. A spiral of trust climbing in colored light. Love makes the Slinky rise.’

Several thoughts:

1. DON’T SMOKE MARIJUANA.
2. Anyone who reads this will go ‘Now I understand why the hippies died off.’
3. As big of a jerk as Simon is purported to be, this is the rare book that will make you feel sorry for him.
4. This is the poster child for people who have enormous success early in their careers and become entitled jerks living off those five years the rest of their lives.
5. His editor has GOT to hate him. No one who cared about him would let this mess go to press. I’m imagining the conversation: It’s GREAT Artie! Don’t change a thing! The kids will LOVE it!

[Roisin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok.. I was going to give this book 2 Stars for the nice photos of Paul Simon but I'm sorry, nothing could save this collection of mad man ramblings.. not even Paul Simon could save you this time, Artie.
He states in the book that he should maybe sometime write a "show off book", wow e wow, this is nothing but a show off book. Artie likes people to know that he is friends with Jack Nicholson, he wants you to know how many books he's read, how many pages he's read, how he helped produce S&G albums, how many miles he's walked, how much he loves his wife. He has lots and lots of lists of books he's read, don't you think after reading so many books, he should have an idea on how to write one? He also has a list of songs that are on his iPod. Is it a little weird that most of his iPod is solo Garfunkel records? This book is absolute drivel.. alot of sly little digs at Paul Simon and he mentions about there being an S&G tour on the back burner! Seriously, get with reality Art. The second half of the book is about how much he loves his wife. Yes, it's nice to know he loves and respects his wife but seriously, half of this book is about how great he is for loving his wife and kids! Don't buy this book unless you want to read unfinished stories and random thoughts. At least we know now why Paul was the writer. A great quote in the book "All is Vanity".. so long, Artie.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a really bad book, a complete misstep and misunderstanding about what his fans would want to read. Some editor and publisher thought Garfunkel's audience would enjoy reading his rambling "notes" from the last couple decades, none more than a couple paragraphs long, and most incomprehensible. How wrong they were! This worthless book has only 8 or 10 pages out of 240 that have any value (including lists of his favorite songs and ranking the importance of his own albums!). The rest are hard to understand or follow. Full sections I have no idea what he's even writing about. And they're all small pages with lots of white space and photos.

Are you looking for insight into Simon and Garfunkel's career? Forget it. He says near the beginning that someday he may write about it but not now. What in the world does he think we're reading the book for then?

Instead we get him crossing America, saying virtually nothing about his trip. Then him crossing Europe. In between are a few comments about how great he is as a singer, how his gift is from above. He overpraises his wife and firstborn son as well, and almost ignores his second child. He glosses over the suicide of his girlfriend. He's mad that his Christmas album wasn't promoted properly (isn't he Jewish?). Then a few sentences are asides about his strained relationship with Simon (which Garfunkel claims started when they were teens and Simon was recording songs behind Garfunkel's back) but there are no details or stories.

How does one write a book with no stories yet name drop some of the biggest stars of music and film? Either he was heavily drugged when he jotted these notes over the years (which he admits to having been under the influence of) or he doesn't know how to write (although he claims to have read over 1200 books, even giving you a list of what he recommends you read!).

If you are even thinking about buying this book, don't! If you must read it, save the money and go to the library. It's virtually not worth more than a few cents, because most of it makes no sense. Never has a publisher, editor, and author more misjudged what the audience is looking for. Give us his real autobiography instead.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

My mother made me listen to his music so I thought I would learn some about his life, his era, something...???
what a mess..is he on drugs still?? I did not take mine tonight, maybe it would be better if I did! It ok people, recovering from surgery and this what I pick to read!!!
This was a mess just random stuff. disappointed
Thank god he rabbles a short book!

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was wonderful...the format took a while to get used to...but it's called NOTES FROM AN UNDERGROUND MAN.....notes......thoughts.....etc.....so....the format fits the title..... We also enjoyed meeting him in person,and hearing him speak.

I enjoyed the book. It's not really a memoir or an autobiography...it's just sorta like someone carrying a notebook around,and just writing down snippets..... Had some beautiful inspiring things to say..I enjoyed his lists of important books, songs etc. too. I think I could read it again sometime,and get even more outta it. I think you really have to be a big fan (which I am) to really get a lot out of it.

Enjoy!

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A steaming mess, a wasted opportunity, a weird wank-fest, a curious and perverse joke - and yet I couldn't put it down, had to tear right through it because it was hard to believe it was even real...

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed. Stream of conciousness writing/poetry. Hints of life changing events with no follow through. I skimmed the entire book hoping to find substance. The writings are obviously important to Art but they are lost on the reader.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah.

[Moya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rambling stream of consciousness interspersed with some beautiful poetic prose. I enjoyed his spoken voice on the audiobook. It has spurred me on to re-listen to his songs, many of which are ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical, thoughtful and insightful, I love that these notes are available for a glimpse into the life of a beautiful man, father, husband and musical genius. The lists of hundreds of books he has read over the years, and found of note are an extra treat.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually didn’t finish this book. It started off promising enough but deteriorated rapidly as it just seemed to turn into random musings in no particular order so there was no story for me to follow. I‘ll give him credit for his creative and melodic prose but it just wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.

[Brian J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art tells you early in the book that this is not the story you want to read, and he's right. Between the jumping around and the incoherence of the stream-of-consciousness-style 8th grade poetry musings, Art quickly reveals that he has nothing meaningful to say, which is a shame because I'm sure he has a memory full of spectacular stories and events. I'm not sure what he wanted to achieve with this book. If it was to craft an uninteresting, cloying, annoying and bitter-toned collection of nonsensical diary entries, he's done an admirable job. Maybe someday he'll get his act together and decide to write the book we all want to read. If/when that happens, hopefully he'll employ a ghost writer.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

not your typical artist memoir but still enjoyed it. (I like the traditional rags to riches/hard work pays off type of success stories. )

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm perhaps the rare music listener who HAS bought every solo record Art Garfunkel has ever made while, on the other hand, I have NOT done so with his more famous on-and-off-again collaborator, Paul Simon. Thus, I approached this book (as I did his earlier collection of poetry, "Still Water: Prose Poems") with excitement. And it delivered moments of insight (particularly about his struggle to regain his ability to sing in recent years) and captivating turns of phrases. But the word "Notes" in the books sub-title is really descriptive of what this is: A collection of notes in no particular order, with no particular theme around each chapter, much less the whole book. As a die-hard Garfunkel listener, I would not have missed reading "What is It All But Luminous." But I was hoping for something more resembling a memoir than what it delivers - fragments of his recollections, as if scribbled on post-it-notes gathered up from the 1950s to the present day, and assembled in a stream-of-consciousness manner.

[Michale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these pieces were whimsical and captivating when he read them on stage, but the joy of hearing his unique voice and cadence did not translate to the printed page. Nevertheless, I did gain a deeper appreciation of his world experience and emotional range. Pet peeve: the charm of a handwritten manuscript has never been captured by the use of a faux handwriting font, particularly one which is always in bold. It only makes the text more difficult to read.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not read this. I thought it would be interesting because I always enjoyed Simon & Garfunkel - boy was I wrong. The entire book is just random musings with no real rhyme or reason. I didn't learn much about Art Garfunkel other than he likes to name drop is famous "friends", thinks highly of his accomplishments, and loves his wife - almost to an unhealthy obsessive point. Oh he also included lists of music on his Ipod (spoiler - it includes a lot of his own work!).

[Patrick Duran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art Garfunkel is a huge narcissist but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He sprinkles laudatory adjectives throughout the book about his angelic voice. He includes some nonsensical poems and even his pretentious reading lists throughout his life. The book would have been more enjoyable to me if he had stuck to a straight narrative.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a Simon and Garfunkel fan since the first time I heard Sound of Silence. This book is part memoir, part poetry and absolutely beautiful!

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun; poetic; painfully egocentric; mercifully short.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really like or get this book, and I see why now it has such a low rating. It felt like it wasn't sure if it wanted to be a memoir, autobiography, book of poetry, travel journal, personal social commentary, playlist, or book log; it was trying to be all of those things at once, with no segues or correlation, and I don't think it really worked.

It felt like I was reading the notes and scribblings of somebody who was old and jaded and hated almost everything but himself, his family, his music, and traveling. As a memoir of his life, it only offers snippets of detail and events, but no real substance. The writing is poetic and lyrical at times, but then dips back into being weird and egocentric rambling. (Also, something that stood out to me that kept turning me off from wanting to continue reading was how he described women; he'd be reminiscing or commenting about something, and then all of a sudden use, in my opinion, pretty misogynistic and vulgar language when it was not really necessary.)

Overall, this book skips around so much between too many different genres and thoughts; I really think it would have done with some editing (even if that would have just been breaking the book into the different categories I first mentioned so you had some semblance of what was going to come next).

[Kathi Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does not shine bright

I had higher hopes for this book, this life story, than I received. It reads like a daily diary and tracking of things like, how many books Art read or the most influential songs, etc. I get that he loved singing, being famous, his wife and children. I would have liked to have learned more from a significant artist and the time in which he and Paul made an incredible impact in our culture through their music.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with this book. I had hoped that this would be a pretty straight forward autobiography, but it had lots of poetry and lyrical narrative, that I thought was a bit much. I have known for years that Art is an avid reader, and I have followed his reading closely. He mentions authors and books throughout, which I enjoyed.

I did like this book, but if you are looking for a detailed autobiography of Art Garfunkel, this isn't it.

[Ari Choquette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The typeface in the print book—all the way through—is a digitized version of the author's handwriting, which seems like a neat idea but was actually distracting almost the whole time. That, plus the lack of narrative structure, made this one kind of a beast to get through on a cover-to-cover reading. But there were pieces of it that I loved and I can see myself returning to.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written and read by Art Garfunkel. It is a book that contains quite a bit of his writing that most often appears as poetry. I guess you have to remember that Art was the singer of the duo and that Simon was the major songwriter. So this book is not writing par Excellence by any stretch. It is very personal and therefore it is probably a little out of reach of many readers who are not very familiar with his life.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this a 3.5. Art Garfunkel writes a unique book. It is part memoir {sort of} part poetry and part "hodge podge" of thoughts and lists. I really learned just a little about this talented singer from Simon and Garfunkel. Instead, he writes poetry about his thoughts. Shares pictures throughout his book. Even gives lists of books he read over a period of time and shares the ones he likes best. This book has me thinking, Hmmmm this is an interesting way to write a book. kind of a fun read. You may learn a bit about Art Garfunkel. Just not too much.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG, Art! This was pure drivel. He literally read about a dozen definitions from the dictionary, listed books that he read, songs on his iPod. This was so hard to read. I expected a story from his life, not random memories mixed arbitrarily with poems, and slight digs at Paul Simon. I could not finish this book. I guess when I can't understand the title, that should be a hint.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little vague

[Jim Beatty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Think it's a 2. Need Some help with the math. 5% 5 ,15% 4, and 80% 1. 4 of the 5 most ludicrous statements I have ever heard appear in this book. Bon Apetït!

[Cecilia Madonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

num entendi se ele quer comer o paul simon ou ser ele

[Nikki]

I wanted to like this because I adore Simon & Garfunkel as a musical duo. But this book is so random and the "poetry" is pretty crappy. I wanted more stories of the group and the music. That's not in this book much. Plus he seems obsessed with his eldest son but doesn't care as much about his second son, which is weird that you can tell that in the book. Best part of the book is the photos...and the cutesy font.