What do you think?
Rate this book
John Lennon's Writings #1
როგორც მეწერება
ჯონ ლენონი – ბრიტანელი მომღერალი, კომპოზიტორი, პოეტი, მხატვარი, ყველა დროის ერთ-ერთი ყველაზე პოპულარული ჯგუფის „ბითლზის“ დამფუძნებელი და წევრი.
„როგორც მეწერება“ („In His Own Write“) ჯერ კიდევ 1964 წლის 23 მარტს გამოიცა ერთდროულად დიდ ბრიტანეთსა და აშშ-ში. ინგლისში წიგნის გამოსვლის პირველსავე დღეს 50 000 ეგზემპლარი გაიყიდა. მას შემდეგ ითარგმნა მსოფლიოს უამრავ ენაზე და ბესტსელერად იქცა. წიგნი მოიცავს ლენონის პატარა მოთხრობებს, ლექსებს, ნახატებს, ხშირად სიურრეალისტურსა და თითქმის მუდმივად არაადეკვატურს. აღსანიშნავია ის ფაქტიც, რომ ნებისმიერი გაგებით ეს ლენონის პირველი სოლო პროექტი გახლდათ.
„როგორც მეწერება“ („In His Own Write“) ჯერ კიდევ 1964 წლის 23 მარტს გამოიცა ერთდროულად დიდ ბრიტანეთსა და აშშ-ში. ინგლისში წიგნის გამოსვლის პირველსავე დღეს 50 000 ეგზემპლარი გაიყიდა. მას შემდეგ ითარგმნა მსოფლიოს უამრავ ენაზე და ბესტსელერად იქცა. წიგნი მოიცავს ლენონის პატარა მოთხრობებს, ლექსებს, ნახატებს, ხშირად სიურრეალისტურსა და თითქმის მუდმივად არაადეკვატურს. აღსანიშნავია ის ფაქტიც, რომ ნებისმიერი გაგებით ეს ლენონის პირველი სოლო პროექტი გახლდათ.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
89 people are currently reading
3798 people want to read
About the author
John Lennon
755 books1,974 followersJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE, was an English singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, and together with Paul McCartney formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next decade, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in October 1980 with a new single and a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered weeks after their release on the sidewalk outside his home in the Dakota. Ironically, "Imagine" (imagine all the people, living life in peace) was a featured cut from this album.
Lennon's album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
--Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia --
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up towards the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next decade, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".
Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in October 1980 with a new single and a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered weeks after their release on the sidewalk outside his home in the Dakota. Ironically, "Imagine" (imagine all the people, living life in peace) was a featured cut from this album.
Lennon's album sales in the United States alone stand at 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008 Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
--Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia --
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
January 31, 2020
How does a Beatle
write
?
John Lennon writes like this.
Like he took Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and a double-tracked James Joyce and fed them backwards through a Mellotron. And he did.
With drawings y'know.
Poetry reading with The Beatles, c. 1964
John Lennon writes like this.
Like he took Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and a double-tracked James Joyce and fed them backwards through a Mellotron. And he did.
With drawings y'know.
Poetry reading with The Beatles, c. 1964
April 13, 2008
I am a John Lennon fan... but this is complete crap.
If you think that this book is any good, I bet you like the cut and colour of the Emporers New Clothes too.
If you think that this book is any good, I bet you like the cut and colour of the Emporers New Clothes too.
April 5, 2019
When I was quite young, maybe around eight or nine, we had a joke format among the kids at my school called Antiwitze, anti-jokes. Anti-jokes were short nonsensical stories or even just sentences that lacked any kind of humoristic payoff. They thrived on their absurdity and on the fact that you expected a payoff while hearing one and then there was none, that was the whole concept. I remember a particularly short, ominous one:
Three people from Berlin are sitting in a telephone cell with yoghurt. (Drei Berliner sitzen in einer Telefonzelle mit Joghurt.)
For some reason, anti-jokes were all the rage for a while. I think even though none of us could've explained it or probably was even aware of it, we, as eight-year-olds already quite familiar with traditional joke formats and on the look for something new, had accidentally turned to dadaistic nihilism.*
(Then we grew up and tired of them and progressed to "your mama" jokes.)
Style-wise, many of the stories in In His Own Write reminded me of anti-jokes. Lennon also sprinkles in a good helping of puns, most often of the kind where you replace the word one would expect with a similar-sounding, nonsensical one (a little bit like Cockney slang) and he definitely likes to play with literary tropes - one story is written like a Famous Five story, another one like a seafaring adventure.
This mixture of anti-joke, pun avalanche and trope imitation works quite well because that way, Lennon manages to cleverly disappoint and disrupt linguistic and narrative expectations we unconsciously harbour, and I'd say that's where the pleasure in reading In His Own Write comes from.
God, my lit student is showing. Hate it. Who am I to say where the fucking fun in reading this hot mess of a book comes from? Maybe what you'll enjoy most is the cool little drawings (also by Lennon) between the stories. Maybe you have listened a lot to John Lennon doing interviews, like me, and while reading you've got a little Lennon voice in your head reading the stories to you. (That's what happened to me and it made the experience so much more lively.) Maybe you'll also hate this thing because it's problematic in many ways. Although only fleetingly apparent, certainly not as main themes - casual racism, sexism, antisemitism, above all ableism - in 1964, John Lennon had it all. And in general, for a good part of his very short life, he wasn't a very good person either. I can understand if he's not the kind of author you'd like to read a book by. All I can tell you is that I, personally, laughed on every single page, which hasn't happened in a long time, and even though the occasional terrible joke made me go "....... whoa", I gotta say I still majorly enjoyed reading this book.
Taken as a period picture of the mind of someone born in 1940s upper middle class English society and raised on casual racism, classism, colonialism, taken as a look inside the head of Lennon the man, or simply read as a bunch of dumb-but-clever jokey little texts, In His Own Write is a big recommendation from me. Just cake it with a stain of Walt.
*Or nihilistic dadaism. I'm just throwing around words here, anti-joke style.
Three people from Berlin are sitting in a telephone cell with yoghurt. (Drei Berliner sitzen in einer Telefonzelle mit Joghurt.)
For some reason, anti-jokes were all the rage for a while. I think even though none of us could've explained it or probably was even aware of it, we, as eight-year-olds already quite familiar with traditional joke formats and on the look for something new, had accidentally turned to dadaistic nihilism.*
(Then we grew up and tired of them and progressed to "your mama" jokes.)
Style-wise, many of the stories in In His Own Write reminded me of anti-jokes. Lennon also sprinkles in a good helping of puns, most often of the kind where you replace the word one would expect with a similar-sounding, nonsensical one (a little bit like Cockney slang) and he definitely likes to play with literary tropes - one story is written like a Famous Five story, another one like a seafaring adventure.
This mixture of anti-joke, pun avalanche and trope imitation works quite well because that way, Lennon manages to cleverly disappoint and disrupt linguistic and narrative expectations we unconsciously harbour, and I'd say that's where the pleasure in reading In His Own Write comes from.
God, my lit student is showing. Hate it. Who am I to say where the fucking fun in reading this hot mess of a book comes from? Maybe what you'll enjoy most is the cool little drawings (also by Lennon) between the stories. Maybe you have listened a lot to John Lennon doing interviews, like me, and while reading you've got a little Lennon voice in your head reading the stories to you. (That's what happened to me and it made the experience so much more lively.) Maybe you'll also hate this thing because it's problematic in many ways. Although only fleetingly apparent, certainly not as main themes - casual racism, sexism, antisemitism, above all ableism - in 1964, John Lennon had it all. And in general, for a good part of his very short life, he wasn't a very good person either. I can understand if he's not the kind of author you'd like to read a book by. All I can tell you is that I, personally, laughed on every single page, which hasn't happened in a long time, and even though the occasional terrible joke made me go "....... whoa", I gotta say I still majorly enjoyed reading this book.
Taken as a period picture of the mind of someone born in 1940s upper middle class English society and raised on casual racism, classism, colonialism, taken as a look inside the head of Lennon the man, or simply read as a bunch of dumb-but-clever jokey little texts, In His Own Write is a big recommendation from me. Just cake it with a stain of Walt.
*Or nihilistic dadaism. I'm just throwing around words here, anti-joke style.
September 24, 2018
"I Sat Belonely"
I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.
I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wonderous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice.
'Speak up, come forth, you ravel me',
I potty menthol shout.
'I know you hiddy by this tree'.
But still she won't come out.
Such softly singing lulled me to sleep,
an hour or two or so
I wakeny slow and took a peep and still no lady show.
Then suddy on a little twig
I thought I see a sight,
A tiny little pig,
that sing with all it's might.
'I thought you were a lady'.
I giggle, - well I may,
Tom my surprise the lady,
got up - and flew away.
I think with this book, you really have to take Paul McCartney's advice in the forward:
There are bound to be thickheads who will wonder why some of it doesn't make sense, and others who will search for hidden meanings...None of it has to make sense and if it seems funny then that's enough.
I love the liberty of writing doggerel, Jabberwocky, and gibberish. It helps disguise minor typos (like "it's" instead of "its" in the above poem). "That's not a typo, man. You just don't get it!"
Sure, John...
Still, I really do wonder how this was received when it was first released. This would have been during the height of Beatlemania, and it must have surely turned a few heads.
I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.
I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wonderous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice.
'Speak up, come forth, you ravel me',
I potty menthol shout.
'I know you hiddy by this tree'.
But still she won't come out.
Such softly singing lulled me to sleep,
an hour or two or so
I wakeny slow and took a peep and still no lady show.
Then suddy on a little twig
I thought I see a sight,
A tiny little pig,
that sing with all it's might.
'I thought you were a lady'.
I giggle, - well I may,
Tom my surprise the lady,
got up - and flew away.
I think with this book, you really have to take Paul McCartney's advice in the forward:
There are bound to be thickheads who will wonder why some of it doesn't make sense, and others who will search for hidden meanings...None of it has to make sense and if it seems funny then that's enough.
I love the liberty of writing doggerel, Jabberwocky, and gibberish. It helps disguise minor typos (like "it's" instead of "its" in the above poem). "That's not a typo, man. You just don't get it!"
Sure, John...
Still, I really do wonder how this was received when it was first released. This would have been during the height of Beatlemania, and it must have surely turned a few heads.
October 1, 2025
When I was 15, John Lennon’s book of poetry would send me into paroxysms of laughter. Sixty years later, it is not so funny as I found it then, but it is still an interesting reading experience. Like Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwockey, you must just submit yourself to the experience, and never mind whether it makes sense to you, or not. Because it won’t.
Quoting Johnny Wilson on Quora, “The fun of ‘Jabberwocky’ is that you can follow the action of the poem without knowing the meanings of the nonsense words. You are able to do this because the grammatical structure makes sense, even when the lexical words do not.”
In His Own Write is 79 pages of pure Jabberwocky-like nonsense and quirky line drawings which are quizzically amusing. To give you a writing sample, John wrote this author’s note on the back cover of the book:
“About the Awful — I was bored on the 9th of October 1940 when, I believe, the Nasties were still booming us led by Madalf Heatlump (Who only had one).” He ends his author’s note with “God help and breed you all.”
Now, many of the poems and prose make less sense than that. You can ask yourself, what other meanings attach to the words he changed? And in some cases, maybe that is where the laughter comes from; but to say so is like explaining a joke to someone — hard to do and still laugh.
When I was young, “No Flies on Frank” was my favorite. Now, not so much. I actually found I preferred the simple rhymes, such as “Deaf Ted, Danoota, (and me).” Here is how it starts.
“Through hilly grove and burly ive,
Big daleys grass and tree
We clobber ever gallup
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.”
It’s six short stanzas followed by a surprise ending and accompanied by an imaginative drawing. If I am not busting out laughing, I am at least amused and charmed by this book, its writing and its illustrations.
3 starbs rising to 3.5792, for my joust don melony lang. 😁
Quoting Johnny Wilson on Quora, “The fun of ‘Jabberwocky’ is that you can follow the action of the poem without knowing the meanings of the nonsense words. You are able to do this because the grammatical structure makes sense, even when the lexical words do not.”
In His Own Write is 79 pages of pure Jabberwocky-like nonsense and quirky line drawings which are quizzically amusing. To give you a writing sample, John wrote this author’s note on the back cover of the book:
“About the Awful — I was bored on the 9th of October 1940 when, I believe, the Nasties were still booming us led by Madalf Heatlump (Who only had one).” He ends his author’s note with “God help and breed you all.”
Now, many of the poems and prose make less sense than that. You can ask yourself, what other meanings attach to the words he changed? And in some cases, maybe that is where the laughter comes from; but to say so is like explaining a joke to someone — hard to do and still laugh.
When I was young, “No Flies on Frank” was my favorite. Now, not so much. I actually found I preferred the simple rhymes, such as “Deaf Ted, Danoota, (and me).” Here is how it starts.
“Through hilly grove and burly ive,
Big daleys grass and tree
We clobber ever gallup
Deaf Ted, Danoota, and me.”
It’s six short stanzas followed by a surprise ending and accompanied by an imaginative drawing. If I am not busting out laughing, I am at least amused and charmed by this book, its writing and its illustrations.
3 starbs rising to 3.5792, for my joust don melony lang. 😁
August 14, 2023
Meta literature like this is the worst thing ever, I don’t regret buying this per se as I like reading different things but this is just nonsense. I want my 10$ back 😭😭😭. It’s just a bunch of nonsense meant to be nonsense and idk how people read this and be like “wow this is so good”. I know that it’s intentional and meant to “rebel” against literary norms of the time, so I do get the point but it certainly doesn’t make it good in any way. I could write some goobly goober garbage like this and I don’t write. What doodoo water, the most unhinged book ever. I liked the drawings though they were pretty sick ngl.
September 3, 2012
In my edition In His Own Write is paired with A Spaniard In The Works, but I guess I'll write the reviews separately. Also, Paul McCartney not Yoko Ono wrote the introduction, and, frankly, I can only be grateful, because Paul gives the readers a good advice - the stories don't have to make sense and there is no need to look for a hidden meaning: "if it seems funny then that's enough".
It was often funny and sad at times, but brilliant all the way through. John Lennon had a knack for words and an ability to mess with them, creating something even better if extremely strange. Truth be told, a few years ago I probably wouldn't have understood this book. Two years in England certainly helped me when reading this book, I could recognise slang and all those every-day expressions they just don't teach you in English lessons at school.
In His Own Write is a quirky little book, certainly worth a read if you can get your hands on it.
It was often funny and sad at times, but brilliant all the way through. John Lennon had a knack for words and an ability to mess with them, creating something even better if extremely strange. Truth be told, a few years ago I probably wouldn't have understood this book. Two years in England certainly helped me when reading this book, I could recognise slang and all those every-day expressions they just don't teach you in English lessons at school.
In His Own Write is a quirky little book, certainly worth a read if you can get your hands on it.
November 27, 2012
People will say 'This book is absolute crap!'...They are dead wrong! They obviously have a short attention spam because this book is so meaningful! If you are willing to read this book, i suggest to take your time and read it slowly, if you don't, you will find yourself putting the book down after the very first poem! Make sure you spend time to think deeply about every word, you will find it much more enjoyable! i understand that not many people understand Liverpudlian but that is no excuse to let down such a great and meaningful song writer!
April 29, 2018
This is worth reading purely because it’s written by John Lennon and so it’s therefore somewhat historically relevant because of that. It’s basically a collection of psychedelic short stories and nonsense poetry, and as such as it’s hard to rate. It is what it is, you know? It’s alright and readable enough.
March 5, 2018
Brilliant. Reading this book makes me understand more how he could have written 'I Am The Walrus'.
January 14, 2019
Read this over 50 years ago, it still sits in a place of honor on my shelves. A favorite.
June 23, 2008
I read this title in a paperback "two-fer" edition back in the early 1990s. It was sandwiched together with Lennon's other Beatles-era book, A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS. Yoko, ever anxious to turn a buck off Lennon's legacy, has since reissued the two collections of nonsense verse and stories separately, in facsimile first-edition hardcovers. If you're a Lennon completist, then fine. Otherwise, trawl amazon for the "two-fer" version.
I guess you've got to know a bit about British nonsense verse and the British cockney tradition of word games---"Take a butcher's up the apples & pears", and that sort of thing. The selections here can be especially fun if read aloud. Otherwise, they will often seem like gibberish.
Lennon was breaking no new ground here, poetically. Authors such as Edward Lear and G.K. Chesterton (whose works Beatle John was clearly familiar with) had been mining similar veins decades before Lennon did. There's nothing especially profound or insightful here either. But there is a sly sense of humor and fun as Lennon plays with the English language and takes the piss out of literary pretense. An example from Lennon's poem "I Sat Belonely":
I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.
I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wondrous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice. . .
So, if this seems like your cup of tea (British pun intended), go ahead and imbibe with my blessings. IN HIS OWN WRITE, and its companion A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS, are good fun for a rainy afternoon---but best taken in small doses.
Lennon had a deft pen. But I think it was wise that he kept his day job.
I guess you've got to know a bit about British nonsense verse and the British cockney tradition of word games---"Take a butcher's up the apples & pears", and that sort of thing. The selections here can be especially fun if read aloud. Otherwise, they will often seem like gibberish.
Lennon was breaking no new ground here, poetically. Authors such as Edward Lear and G.K. Chesterton (whose works Beatle John was clearly familiar with) had been mining similar veins decades before Lennon did. There's nothing especially profound or insightful here either. But there is a sly sense of humor and fun as Lennon plays with the English language and takes the piss out of literary pretense. An example from Lennon's poem "I Sat Belonely":
I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.
I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wondrous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice. . .
So, if this seems like your cup of tea (British pun intended), go ahead and imbibe with my blessings. IN HIS OWN WRITE, and its companion A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS, are good fun for a rainy afternoon---but best taken in small doses.
Lennon had a deft pen. But I think it was wise that he kept his day job.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2024
(4.25) this was a crazy vibe. i read this in one sitting in my backyard with my beatles bestie (shout out quyn) and cackling at the humor and stories. this is just doodles and silly stories but they're somehow obscene, profound, sad and hilarious in the biting wit style that john lennon had and it reminds me so much of monty python. it's not that good but the fact that it made us cackle earns it over 4 stars. this is prime a hard days night/help era silliness and i loved playing the characters, playing with words. he has an incredibly knack for storytelling and character building, even when it's crass. also the intro by paul was hilariously sweet!
he was an incredibly complicated and incendiary person, and i find his art a revealing facet of understanding art and legacy because of it. some of the language is super outdated, crass and feeds into stereotypes because of the time it was written. definitely not all funny and lighthearted but dark and wrestling with such themes.
overall this was super interesting & it's funny that i've only read this now after like 8 years as a beatles fan!
he was an incredibly complicated and incendiary person, and i find his art a revealing facet of understanding art and legacy because of it. some of the language is super outdated, crass and feeds into stereotypes because of the time it was written. definitely not all funny and lighthearted but dark and wrestling with such themes.
overall this was super interesting & it's funny that i've only read this now after like 8 years as a beatles fan!
December 17, 2024
I first read this book when I was in high school. My English wasn't that good back then, so when I didn't understand something, I thought it was my limited English. Now, reading it after almost two decades, I understand that it wasn't me, it was you, John. ^^
All the poems and tiny stories in this book were deliberately written with many typos, phonetic equivalents of words, or shortened words. They all are messy and sometimes hard to follow. There are times when you don't even know what's going on. But these don't prevent this book from being hilarious, especially with all those doodles and little notes in brackets.
Also, the poems mostly have an internal rhythm similar to the poems written by the poets of old (Wordsworth, even Keats comes to mind), which could indicate that Lennon probably read those poets, and maybe some others, as he grew up and influenced by them. We all know he wrote amazing lyrics, so I have no doubt that he could write very successful poems in the style of Keats, Wordsworth, or any other poet if he really tried.
Should be read with patience while keeping in mind that John Lennon was a genius.
All the poems and tiny stories in this book were deliberately written with many typos, phonetic equivalents of words, or shortened words. They all are messy and sometimes hard to follow. There are times when you don't even know what's going on. But these don't prevent this book from being hilarious, especially with all those doodles and little notes in brackets.
Also, the poems mostly have an internal rhythm similar to the poems written by the poets of old (Wordsworth, even Keats comes to mind), which could indicate that Lennon probably read those poets, and maybe some others, as he grew up and influenced by them. We all know he wrote amazing lyrics, so I have no doubt that he could write very successful poems in the style of Keats, Wordsworth, or any other poet if he really tried.
Should be read with patience while keeping in mind that John Lennon was a genius.
May 4, 2016
Oh John (or #jawn if you have the misfortune of following me on Tumblr), how I love to hate you and hate to love you.
Honestly, I surprised myself by even picking this up considering he's my least favorite Beatle, but on my never ending quest to absorb as much Beatle knowledge and material as possible, I figured I'd give this a quick read.
I think the part I liked most about this little...whatever you'll call it, was Paul's (#pol, again for the Tumblr reference) introduction. He prefaces this mishmash of words and drawings with the simple statement that sometimes it's not supposed to make sense. It's just John's crazy (albeit sometimes genius) mind at work.
I'm sure somewhere there's a professor teaching this to a classroom full of bright-eyed creative writing freshmen who are buying the BS of "exploring your mind" and "letting go of all thoughts" but I think Paul was right, you should just take it as it is. It's John putting together a bunch of silly little stories, throwing in some drawings and capitalizing on his Beatle fame by selling a book. It's nothing more, it's nothing less.
Honestly, I surprised myself by even picking this up considering he's my least favorite Beatle, but on my never ending quest to absorb as much Beatle knowledge and material as possible, I figured I'd give this a quick read.
I think the part I liked most about this little...whatever you'll call it, was Paul's (#pol, again for the Tumblr reference) introduction. He prefaces this mishmash of words and drawings with the simple statement that sometimes it's not supposed to make sense. It's just John's crazy (albeit sometimes genius) mind at work.
I'm sure somewhere there's a professor teaching this to a classroom full of bright-eyed creative writing freshmen who are buying the BS of "exploring your mind" and "letting go of all thoughts" but I think Paul was right, you should just take it as it is. It's John putting together a bunch of silly little stories, throwing in some drawings and capitalizing on his Beatle fame by selling a book. It's nothing more, it's nothing less.
September 19, 2009
I loved it, but it's certainly not for everyone. the whole book is back to front, nonsensical, whimsy wordplay, which I find delightful, but others may feel they're wasting their time.
It's fun to read, and strangely reminiscint of Roald Dahl, in my opinion.
It's fun to read, and strangely reminiscint of Roald Dahl, in my opinion.
April 6, 2024
“I will not dance I shyballs” so glad music worked out for him!
May 7, 2025
my god was he stupid
June 24, 2023
- "One upon a tom in a far off distant land far across the sea miles away from anyway over the hills as the crow barked 39 peoble lived miles away from anywhere on a little island on a distant land."
- "Anne smiled the smile of someone who's seen a few laughs."
- "They killed him you know, at least he didn't die alone did he?"
- "Anne smiled the smile of someone who's seen a few laughs."
- "They killed him you know, at least he didn't die alone did he?"
August 23, 2025
Just a silly little book written by a silly little guy. Funny when it’s funny but often a very demanding read. The same energy you’d expect from a 14 year old poet who’s read James Joyce. Lots of self indulgent meandering but also clever word play that forces you to laugh. John Lennon’s llustrations are awesome. It’s fun to imagine John Lennon collaborating with Robert Freeman, the man who made the design for the book, because there are a lot of creative decisions made in the layout of the images on the pages in relation to the text, though not exempt from its fair share of fumbles (misaligned images-to-text, incongruent aesthetics, and some straight up illegible fonts). Overall, it’s a fun book. Very unorthodox but maybe not always in a good way. Worth a read!
December 6, 2023
Truly terrible.
August 22, 2017
I can only imagine what this book, published in 1964, did to shock Beatles fans. The Fab Four were still a squeaky-clean boy band; and yet their (at the time) lead songwriter releases a very puzzling collection of skits, filled with grotesque violence and psycho-sexual insinuations. Having heard The White Album or Plastic Ono Band, this book isn't too surprising of the strange, tortured life of John Lennon.
What it is, though, is a delight in the nonsensical, playing with words, sounds, and spellings for the sheer joy of it. At its very best ("Randolph's Party"), the writing is almost Joycean: names of characters continuously shift, unconventional punctuation suggests a grammar of consciousness, the 'nonsense' writing brings layers of meaning and ambiguity to what is being recounted, and the sheer sense of play is unmistakable.
The "stories" are all very short, few are over a page long; and Lennon clearly didn't have the patience to think out an actual story structure, leading to very abrupt endings for nearly every piece. Sometimes the unexpectedness heightens the shock value. The book is very adverse to sentimentality or political correctness. It is, however, quite funny, though, at its worst, a bit crude. It's also quite violent, mitigated though by how cartoonish it so often is. (In the book's most out-there moment, a man takes off his own head and beats his wife to death with it.)
Adding to the (surely unintentional) Joycean feel of it is a variety of formatting being used. There's short stories, lines loosely resembling poems, scattered blurbs, and even a section or two written as a play, which wouldn't at all be out of place in Ulysses' "Circe". Many of them feature delightfully absurd premises (one man has the problem that he is "partly Dave" [a predicament the author never delves into detail over, and which presumably needs to be taken at face value]); and all are accompanied by juvenile drawings that have a certain charm in their own right.
What it is, though, is a delight in the nonsensical, playing with words, sounds, and spellings for the sheer joy of it. At its very best ("Randolph's Party"), the writing is almost Joycean: names of characters continuously shift, unconventional punctuation suggests a grammar of consciousness, the 'nonsense' writing brings layers of meaning and ambiguity to what is being recounted, and the sheer sense of play is unmistakable.
The "stories" are all very short, few are over a page long; and Lennon clearly didn't have the patience to think out an actual story structure, leading to very abrupt endings for nearly every piece. Sometimes the unexpectedness heightens the shock value. The book is very adverse to sentimentality or political correctness. It is, however, quite funny, though, at its worst, a bit crude. It's also quite violent, mitigated though by how cartoonish it so often is. (In the book's most out-there moment, a man takes off his own head and beats his wife to death with it.)
Adding to the (surely unintentional) Joycean feel of it is a variety of formatting being used. There's short stories, lines loosely resembling poems, scattered blurbs, and even a section or two written as a play, which wouldn't at all be out of place in Ulysses' "Circe". Many of them feature delightfully absurd premises (one man has the problem that he is "partly Dave" [a predicament the author never delves into detail over, and which presumably needs to be taken at face value]); and all are accompanied by juvenile drawings that have a certain charm in their own right.
July 8, 2019
What stardom does is open the door to self play. But buyer and writers beware. What you write can always be seen from what you thought about as what you still think. I can't help but think John's assassin read this book and warped his meaning to justify his murdering one of the greatest band members of all-time. I look at this jibberish as a book written in code not nonsense. John was a paranoid manic depressive with Pollyanna tendencies. Nobody could figure him out since his disease scoped so many definitions. Very disturbed book but also, enlightening.
January 6, 2019
This is everything but nonsensical. Through his own writing (and drawing) style, you can have some clear bits of who he was and the things that worried him the most. A wordplay enthusiast who manifest the kind reality he was living in or had once lived in a short but considerably off-the-wall humour. There is more to John Lennon than meets the eye, when reading this book. Very recommended.
Happy reading x
Happy reading x
August 10, 2021
1/5 ✨ - Don't get me wrong, John Lennon is a literal musical genius. However, from this book, I've concluded he should stick to music. I'm 1000% sure that he was acid tripping when he wrote this book.
December 29, 2023
i get that the entire point of the gibberish is to rebel against literary norms and all that jazz, but bloody hell do i have a headache.
rounded from 3.5 to 4 stars because john winston lennon wrote it xx
rounded from 3.5 to 4 stars because john winston lennon wrote it xx
August 1, 2011
A really strange book
Read
January 15, 2019Read this when I was a teenager. No idea where I got it. I must have borrowed it because I had no $$.
January 22, 2024
ig just because ur john lennon doesnt mean u deserve to get published
August 7, 2018
ცოტა უცნაური წიგნი როა ამას ვერავინ უარყოფს.
დამუღამება რო უნდა და ისე შეიძლება ერთ დიდ უაზრობად მოგვეჩვენოს, ვერც ამას.
მაგრამ მგონია, რომ ვინც იცნობს ლენონის პიროვნებასა და შემოქმედებას, ვისაც ნანახი აქვს Yellow submarine, უსმენს არა მხოლოდ ბითლზს, არამედ "სერჟანტი პეპერსის მარტოსულ გულთა კლუბის" ბენდს, ვინც იცის, რომ ჯონი არა მხოლოდ აღიარებული ხელოვანი, არამედ ვალრუსიც იყო, იმათმა წესით დანარჩენებზე უკეთ უნდა გაიგონ აქ დაწერილი.
წიგნის მთლიანი ნარატივი ფსიქოდელია და აბსურდის თეატრია. ამ დაუსრულებელ, არაადეკვატურ ტექსტების კასკადში ჩანს მთელი ადამიანური კომედია და ჩემი აზრით სწორედ ეს აქცევს წიგნს "სასიცილხარხაროდ".
ჰო, და კიდევ, ის ადამიანები, რომლებიც ამ წიგნში, ისევე როგორც სხვა ყველაფერში რაღაც დიადი აზრის ძებნას დაიწყებენ ისეთივე სახარხაროები არიან, როგორც ამ მოკლე ამბების სხვა პერსონაჟები.
ერთი სიტყვით- თუ გაერთობით, შესანიშნავია, თუ არ მოგეწონათ, არც ამას უშავს რამე, ბოლოს და ბოლოს, ჯონი ისე წერდა, როგორც ეწერებოდა.
დამუღამება რო უნდა და ისე შეიძლება ერთ დიდ უაზრობად მოგვეჩვენოს, ვერც ამას.
მაგრამ მგონია, რომ ვინც იცნობს ლენონის პიროვნებასა და შემოქმედებას, ვისაც ნანახი აქვს Yellow submarine, უსმენს არა მხოლოდ ბითლზს, არამედ "სერჟანტი პეპერსის მარტოსულ გულთა კლუბის" ბენდს, ვინც იცის, რომ ჯონი არა მხოლოდ აღიარებული ხელოვანი, არამედ ვალრუსიც იყო, იმათმა წესით დანარჩენებზე უკეთ უნდა გაიგონ აქ დაწერილი.
წიგნის მთლიანი ნარატივი ფსიქოდელია და აბსურდის თეატრია. ამ დაუსრულებელ, არაადეკვატურ ტექსტების კასკადში ჩანს მთელი ადამიანური კომედია და ჩემი აზრით სწორედ ეს აქცევს წიგნს "სასიცილხარხაროდ".
ჰო, და კიდევ, ის ადამიანები, რომლებიც ამ წიგნში, ისევე როგორც სხვა ყველაფერში რაღაც დიადი აზრის ძებნას დაიწყებენ ისეთივე სახარხაროები არიან, როგორც ამ მოკლე ამბების სხვა პერსონაჟები.
ერთი სიტყვით- თუ გაერთობით, შესანიშნავია, თუ არ მოგეწონათ, არც ამას უშავს რამე, ბოლოს და ბოლოს, ჯონი ისე წერდა, როგორც ეწერებოდა.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews