| Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF | |
|
|
|
John Lennon: The Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip Norman
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $23.07
You Save: $11.88 (34%)
New (54) Used (15) Collectible (3) from $18.24
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 3196
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 864
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 006075401X
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42166092
EAN: 9780060754013
ASIN: 006075401X
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
For more than a quarter century, 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 belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be 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 before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John. 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.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Less about the myth, more about the man October 29, 2008
Wesley Mullins (Kentucky)
46 out of 52 found this review helpful
Forever romanticized by his tragic and puzzling murder, John Lennon has ascended to almost god-like status in pop culture. Remembered as the visionary and dreamer who soundtracked a generation, Lennon's legacy has largely been sculpted by those who loved and admired him, as his strengths, accomplishments and inspirations shine for all to see, while his flaws and failures have been forgotten. Philip Norman believes twenty-eight years of mourning-inspired deification seems about right, and with this book, he attempts to paint a more accurate picture of the man.
The artist Norman depicts has a lot in common with the popular description of a rockstar. The poet who sang about love never missed a chance to cheat on his women, and the man who championed brotherhood and neighborly living often strong-armed and bullied his friends. Norman shows us that he never let people forget that he was John Lennon and they weren't.
His book, however, is not a hatchet-job. Intertwined with his attempts to revise the pedestalized legacy of Lennon is a thorough, faithful account of the intimate and defining moments of a life that led to a canon of music unequaled in artistic merit and inspiration. Norman's intent was to show his readers both the sour and the sweet.
He achieves his goal in part with impressive, exclusive interaction with Yoko One, Paul McCartney, Producer George Martin and others. To those interviews, Norman adds research and his own conjecture and formulates theories about Lennon's mother's death and (what is sure to be the focus of much of this book's publicity) questions about whether Lennon harbored any homosexual tendencies/curiosities.
Norman's success is creating an account of an irresistible human being who has less in common with an Olympian figure than he does with the people who will be flipping through the book's pages. With that achievement, he has probably created the first genuine biography of the man who history has transformed into a mythic figure lacking authenticity and humanity.
 Nearly the definitive biography of Lennon November 8, 2008
Wayne Klein (My Little Blue Window, USA)
39 out of 40 found this review helpful
Do we need another biography on John Lennon? Yes. Why? Because the two most popular ones are the hatchet job that Albert Grossman did and Ray Coleman's fine biography that didn't quite capture the essence of who Lennon was and was hamstrung by trying to undo the damage of Grossman's book. The other question we need to ask is if there are any new facts about Lennon's life that make this worthwhile (and considering that Norman covered part of Lennon's life in his Beatles book SHOUT!). Yes--Norman digs up new facts both good and bad. He doesn't turn these new bits of info salacious or sensational comments or observations providing them with a context to help us understand Lennon as a human being.
Philip Norman has tackled one of the most difficult subjects for a biography because Lennon's life was well covered by the press and fostered a lot of myths himself. With access to Yoko Ono, Freddie Lennon's biography (and unpublished papers), Sean Lennon, Paul McCartney (via email) and others, Norman has prepared a biography that is fair balanced and presents his contradictory character thorughout his life--his bravado as well as his insecurities (of which there were many).
Fans that have read other Beatles books or Lennon biographies should be aware that the bulk of the book covers Lennon's pre-Beatles life and his time in the band throughout most of the 800 plus pages of the book. Norman does revisit familiar ground simply because they are essential events and there are those that haven't read ANY books on Lennon but he also introduces a lot of new information as well.
There are a few flaws because we are, after all, only human. There's no bibliography or discography for Lennon (although fans may be aware of the latter the former is important)although he usually cites his sources in the book. Nevertheless, Norman has written a nearly perfect (there are a few minor flaws that crept past those that reviewed the text)biography on Lennon in terms of the facts and the various opinions that knew him best. The book devotes too little in terms of Lennon's post-Beatles career and "The Lost Weekend" that he experienced when he broke up with Yoko. It also skimps over the recording sessions for "Double Fantasy" (where Yoko reportedly fought so much with Lennon during the sessions that co-producer Jack Douglas often scheduled them to work on their tracks at different times). Norman has his opinions as well and doesn't hesitate to let the reader know them. You may disagree with his opinions(I did on some) but he at least provides us with why be believes them.
Recommended.
Life of a Beatle November 17, 2008
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Most beloved public figures have many facets -- some of them nasty, some of them pleasant and admirable. Most biographies either focus on the good, or the bad.
But fortunately, Philip Norman is making a valiant effort to show, if not all of John Lennon's facets, then as many of them as possible. Having explored the Beatles and their impact on a generation, Norman narrows his focus down to "John Lennon: The Life" -- and he does a superb job unearthing the many details, relationships and differing faces of this much-lamented rock star. We'll never get a John Lennon autobiography, but Norman does a pretty good job of getting inside his shaggy head.
John Lennon was born into an incredibly stormy marriage (which broke up soon after) and raised by his loving, strict Aunt Mimi, though he was something of a hellraising trickster as a child. The one blot: the tragic, shocking death of his mother Julia.
Of course, everyone knows what happened later -- after a brief stint at art school, Lennon became part of a band with an ever-shifting name, and started working on pop songs alongside Paul McCartney. Though briefly devastated by the death of a bandmate, Lennon quickly rose to fame and fortune when the renamed Beatles became not just a hit band, but a new way of life for the youth of Britain, and then the entire world. Hit album after hit album poured from the Beatles, along with the usual rock-star intake of drugs, sex and occasional PR disasters.
But Lennon's interests began to stray in more spiritual directions, and as his marriage to the sweet-natured Cynthia fell apart, he met and fell in love with eccentric Japanese artist Yoko Ono. Suddenly he was devoting himself not to pop hits, but to experimental numbers, "bed-ins" and sitting in bags, and using his world-wide celebrity for the furtherance of peace. While this lifestyle didn't quite tame Lennon's wild side, it led to new focuses in his life -- until it was tragically cut short.
You have to hand it to Philip Norman. While most biographers tend to portray Lennon as a hippie saint or a hopeless jerk, he tries very hard to find a happy medium that encompasses all of Lennon's personality: a flawed man who had a boatload of issues and could be both cruel and kind. While he gets a bit worshipy in the latter parts of Lennon's life, Norman does a pretty good portraying both the musician and those around him in a realistic, compelling light.
Additionally, Norman gives as much careful attention to Lennon's youth as he does to the Beatlemania and John/Yoko years -- in particular, his relationships to his mother, Aunt Mimi, Paul McCartney and the delicate artist Stu, as well as the months and years as a struggling young musician. There's lots of pop psychology, but it works.
In he meantime, Lennon's life is carefully framed in the political and social climes of the time -- the post-war fifties, colourful psychedelic chaos of the 1960s, and the later, grimmer times of the Vietnam War. Politicians, pop art, Liverpudlian slang and changing societies are all explored in detail, and Norman has the perspectives of a lot of people who actually lived in the time and knew Lennon -- his wives, his sons, his bandmates, and even his Aunt Mimi (and she gets a LOT of words in).
He also injects a wry sense of humour into the story (Lennon's aunts turning up at a Beatles performance) as well as a steady, sometimes evocative writing style ("The room reeked of stale beer and wine, and was lined in dusty velvet drapes..."). At the same time, there's some pretty shocking allegations here, such as the claim that Lennon may have been inadvertently involved in the death of his bandmate, but Norman avoids tabloid journalism by explaining why he doubts Lennon actually did any of that.
Lennon himself is a colourful mosaic of seemingly contradictory qualities -- he could be mean-spirited (mocking the disabled), wild, kindly, romantic, neglectful, vibrant, brilliantly unconventional and craving a spirituality that's hard to get when you're filthy rich. As seen by Norman, much of his personality seems to be based on the fear of loved ones dying and leaving him, but we get glimpses of dozens of different sides to his psyche.
"John Lennon: The Life" attempts to accurately portray one of the twentieth century's most unconventional and beloved pop stars, and for the most part, Philip Norman does a brilliant job.
 In The Shadow Of Mummy December 9, 2008
Isis (NJ)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
It's not until the very end of this very long book that the reader discovers an interesting fact: Yoko Ono does not endorse Philip Norman's book. Why? Because, the author writes, his book is seen by Ono as being "mean to John". How odd! It's certainly well understood by many fans that John Lennon was Not a saint. He had many dark elements to his personality, as well as the lighter ones: humor, intelligence, talent and compassion. Philip Norman does a fair job presenting Lennon's flaws, as well as his many gifts. (For me, the best part of the book is when Paul McCartney explains how he and John were more alike, than not. At last, a rather stupid myth: John being the "genius" and Paul being the "light one", can receive a much more complex - and satifying - analysis. John's "genius" received a ton of help from McCartney and the other Beatles - and also from George Martin's musical genius and ability, as well).
In this book, it's really Yoko Ono, herself, who Norman paints as one-sided - in the positive sense, mainly. One can, of course, sympathize with Ono's trials by fire. It's through this book that I learned the concrete details of the anti-Yoko sentiment rabidly at play in the late 60's, (such as fans mean-spiritly thrusting yellow roses - thorn side out - into Ono's hands - the color of the Roses a racist comment on Ono's backround). Such disgraceful and hateful cruelty is not something that Ono deserved then, or now. That's not even a question to consider.
At this point, any fair-minded person can easily detect how Ono truly helped Lennon. Yet, it's also glaringly obvious how overly dependent Lennon was upon her. John Lennon was a damaged, wounded, very insecure man. The irony of John throwing barbs at Paul for McCartney's sappy "muzack" truly loses much of the intended sting when one considers all the love-sick songs that Lennon wrote (and/or Preached) about Ono. The better ones are, in fact, really quite beautiful. Yet, a vast many of them show how Lennon worshipped Yoko Ono's views as THE TRUTH, bar None. This over-heated dependency came from a man who was forced to learn, quite early, that he could never have "Mummy". This area of crucial loss which Lennon went through is one that Norman writes about with depth and honesty. He shows, in great detail, the devastation to Lennon's psyche, from age four onwards, over the crucial, cruel Double-loss of his mother. Unfortunately, Norman is far too respectful (and careful) around Ono, later on, when it's time to tie in this early loss to Lennon's later neediness of Yoko Ono as his one true center and (alternate) religion. Perhaps Norman needed to be timid around Ono, to get her cooperation.
Yoko Ono has gone from being a figure that everyone hates into a woman that No one must ever dare to view with anything short of John's complete awe. One cannot blame John Lennon for falling in love with Yoko Ono, but we do not need to join in this deifying of Ono that he espoused, during his life. In the Playboy Interviews, given shortly before his tragic death, Lennon speaks of Ono as this flawless Goddess of Truth & Reality. Lennon's view of Ono is part of the Grand Mythology he fostered in his lifetime. It's time to take a more unsparing look at this myth, without hating Yoko.
May Pang, in her book, Loving John, presents a far more complex picture of Lennon and Ono, as does Cynthia Lennon, in her two books. Philip Norman neglects to give either Pang or Cynthia Lennon much credit, though. He dismisses both of them far too easily than their importance in Lennon's life merits. He even writes off poor Julian. Sean's memories of his Dad, at the book's end, are interesting and important. Still, when Sean Taro ("firstborn" in Japanese, we learn - yet, one more way for John to try to deny Julian) Lennon starts talking about the "intensity" of his father, and this intensity making the Beatles a group that were more than just "sugary", this reader knows that Sean, too, has fallen sway to the Great Ono Myth: that She, Yoko - and Not the Beatles, nor even John Lennon, himself - was/is the True Artistic Genius. Regrettably, Philip Norman's book gives deference to this crazy bit of nonsense a bit too much, as well.
Lots about Lennon November 23, 2008
Sal Nudo (Champaign, Illinois)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is an impressively fact-filled book that details practically everything you'd ever want to know about John Lennon's life. Admittedly, I knew very little about Lennon prior to reading it, and what attracted me to the book in the first place was a newspaper review that talked about Lennon's not-so-admirable qualities, which shocked me because I always thought he was a peace-loving gentleman who had few enemies in his time. So based on the review of the book, I plunged into Lennon's story with the new viewpoint that he was a spoiled and heartless guy who plowed through life in a decadent and selfish way -- and those characteristics were actually true during parts of his life. But what I also discovered is that the guy was human, capable of maturation, thug-like behavior, insecurity, verbal impulsiveness, addiction, weirdness, artistic creativity, depression, sensitivity, possessiveness, generousness and complete outlandishness when the various moods struck. I won't delve in to how Yoko Ono affected all this, but needless to say, her influence was prominent later on in his life, and it usually wasn't for the worse in my opinion. In fact, I came away from this book actually liking and admiring Yoko.
Being one of the most famous guys to ever walk the Earth would inevitably warp anybody, but thankfully, as aptly conveyed by Norman, Lennon really turned his life around by his mid-30s. After a mind-boggling series of sour Beatle business dealings, way too many drugs and countless efforts to promote peace with Yoko, Lennon eventually became more of a reclusive "house husband," got sober, learned to sail a yacht and made a parting album, "Double History." In short, he seemed to be loving life and chock-full of creative energy before being tragically shot Dec. 8, 1980.
Regarding the Beatles, what's most sad to me is how the business side of the band's empire eventually crash landed with a vengeance. It gets complicated, and it's all explained in the book, but things like band management, money issues and creative differences rather swiftly caused the Beatles' all-too-soon demise. I actually came away feeling a bit sorry for Paul McCartney through the whole sordid process, though like Lennon, McCartney apparently had his moments of megalomania as well.
To me, the flawed portions of Norman's book occur when he's describing the meaning behind Lennon's body of musical work. Oftentimes, he simply relies on snippets of Lennon's lyrics and nothing more, so you feel like you're reading a parade of John's words with nothing behind them to drive the particular points home. Additionally, I was disappointed Norman didn't delve a little deeper into the quality of the early live performances by the Quarry Men, Lennon's band prior to the Beatles. Otherwise, besides several editing errors, this is first-rate work by Norman and a joy to read if you want to know more about Lennon and the Beatles.
One thing's for sure, Lennon lived an unbelievingly full life in 40 wild years. And it's no exaggeration to say he was a creative genius who possessed the singing voice of an angel. Strangely, it seems like that's the one thing Lennon never gets enough credit for -- his great voice and how it massively influenced so many other musicians, even to the present day.
|
|
|
| |
