Rating: 
Summary: Lots o' anecdotes
Review: Don't look to this work for any information about Basquiat as an artist. This is a book about fame. It took Ms. Hoban 7 years to write about an artist whose career wasn't even that long. This is a book about the eighties, fame, and excess. You will not learn much about Jean-Michel by reading this book. You will learn about the climate of the eighties art world and the ever-present parasites that the enormous speculation over great artists can create(Braghoomian for instance). The photographs of Jean-Michel are interesting, but because of the ownership of the artist's works, none are present to look at while reading this work. Buy a book of Basquiat's work if you are interested in the artist. If you are interested in the vacuum of New York 1980's culture, check this out at the library--it's not worth purchasing.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, He think.
Review: Don't look to this work for any information about Basquiat as an artist. This is a book about fame. It took Ms. Hoban 7 years to write about an artist whose career wasn't even that long. This is a book about the eighties, fame, and excess. You will not learn much about Jean-Michel by reading this book. You will learn about the climate of the eighties art world and the ever-present parasites that the enormous speculation over great artists can create(Braghoomian for instance). The photographs of Jean-Michel are interesting, but because of the ownership of the artist's works, none are present to look at while reading this work. Buy a book of Basquiat's work if you are interested in the artist. If you are interested in the vacuum of New York 1980's culture, check this out at the library--it's not worth purchasing.
Rating:
Summary: journalism vs biography
Review: For those expecting a true biography, this one may disappoint. Basquiat's childhood is dispensed with in a scant 10 or so pages, and before the obvious questions are addressed, the author begins dropping names of all the people Basquiat either did drugs, had sex or lived with. The author is a journalist, and the book reads like journalism - a little sensationalist (with just the right amount of mock apology to keep it legit) and fast and loose with the historical record. There is precious little attention given to the cultural background of the late seventies and eighties that led to the appearance of artists like Basquiat and Haring and Scharf. Ms. Hoban does lay bare, almost unwittingly, the pathos of Basquiat's mind, but I kept wanting to know more of where that pathos came from. She did not dig deep enough,something a good historian would have surely done.
Rating:
Summary: Lots o' anecdotes
Review: I have had a hard time putting down the book--it is very well researched w/ many anecdoates about the artist, and also about the 80s art world, including its various characters. A good read, in that way. I was disappointed I didn't really get a feel for who Baquiat really was--what he felt, what he thought, his philosophy toward his art, etc. It was a lot of "he did this" and "he did that", but I can't say I got a feel for who he was other than that he was tortured, *always* high, outrageous, a total glutton, and likely a brilliant artist. I would have appreciated insight into who he was--I'm still curious--though, as I said, it was interesting otherwise.
Rating:
Summary: Informative - but somewat petty and gossippy.
Review: I know that's a contradicition however one gets the feeling that the author was not a fan of Jean-Michele Basquait. His art or his work. She seems to take an almost preverse pleasure in sharing the more "scandalous" aspects of his behavior. There is much more time devoted to his alleged "drug abuse, whoremongering and venereal disease sharing" than his art work. Overall, I learned some interesting information about his relationship with art dealers. The author seems particularly infatuated/intimidated with the recording artist/actress Madonna (who Basquait has a brief relationship with) and the art dealer Mary Boone. But there is precious little about his family life, what motivated him or his connection to the Black community of which he was most assuredly. In fact, there seems to be a lack of respect for the African-American culture and the community as a whole. I wanted to like this book, and it was very detailed,however much of it came from interviews, innuendos and third-persons accounts. Fufilling at some points, it often reads like tabloid journalism too. Some objectivity would have been nice, but maybe that's another book. Surprisingly, I would recommend it to the Basquait fan, (for informational purposes) just check it out from the library or used stack.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice book there should be more out there!
Review: I liked to read about Black Painters that changed the way people think. Mr. Basquiat was one of the talented people in recent art history and still is at the auction house(because of drugs). Since, there is little written on other Black artists, we have to take what we are given. There are many artist out there that are of color, working away at there craft. But, there needs to be more written about them. There are no reviews about them and it seems that when one is talked about, they are a freak of nature and should be worshiped. This book is a good one, it talks about gossip and life in Soho. One takes what he or she can get.
Rating:
Summary: very interesting?!
Review: I really enjoyed the book. I wished there was more information given about Basquiat's relationship with his mother and sister then all the info. provided about his associates. I enjoyed reading about how fame, fortune, and drugs turned someone into a king and into a monster simutaniously. I think most of all, it was interesting to read about the rise of the art world in the 80's being that I was only 5 in 1980 and didn't experience that time the way others may have.
Rating: 
Summary: IF YOU NEED ONE BOOK ABOUT BASQUIAT, THIS IS IT !
Review: I really love this book ! I buy a lot of art books all the time. Some of them are pretty bad, and one of the art books I recently bought only because it was published 20 editions already. And that one was really a disappointment. This book, however, is the BEST art book I have ever bought! It is a book I will always come back to read again and again. (I have finished it 3 days after I got it and now I am reading it the second time) If you need only one book about Basquiat, let this one be it, and you will make a great choice. The writer has great knowledge in art, and that make this book so much more valuable! I cannot recommend the book called Widow Basquiat. Because nobody knows who should be called Widow Basquiat. There are at least 2 dozen girls fighting for that title and the money behind it, not-knowing that Basquiat senior has already got the best lawyer and inherited everything from his son.
Rating:
Summary: could have been so much better...
Review: i was overjoyed to see a biography on basquiat finally in print. however i was sorely disappointed in the product itself. ms. hoban talks around basquiat through the majority of the book as opposed to talking about him. also there is a great deal of condescension directed at the subject by the author. ms. hoban seems to have researched her subject thoroughly. but her account has glaring inconsistencies with previously published biographical material. which she neglects to even address. let alone clear up.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT FICTION
Review: I will agree with one of the reviews already posted. This book gives a very good detailed account of the overdoneness of the 80's. Therein lies why this book is such an important study on such an important artist. He was molded by his times. Basquiat's art is flashy and full of message. Okay that 80's were full of flash, so maybe the message part comes better into the 90's. Either way it is book worth reading. Samo, you died to soon. R.I.P.
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