Rating: 
Summary: a must read for Neil Young fanatics
Review: If you're a Neil Young fanatic this book is a must-read.
If you're not, its not.I'm a Neil Young fanatic. I read the whole book and learned
many things I didn't know before. I agree with other reviewers
about the book being repetitive, overly long, poorly organized,
poorly edited, and lacking a discography. Fanatics will be
able to overlook the book's problems, casual fans or less may
have more trouble.
Rating: 
Summary: A Whole Lot of "Shakey" Goin' On
Review: I'm a huge Neil Young fan, with over two dozen of his albums in my collection. But I'm not a fanatic, and as a result I found his biography, "Shakey" to be as stimulating, but as frustratingly erratic as the artist himself. One thing Neil Young could never be accused of is self-censorship, and author Jimmy McDonough writes about him in the same vein, telling in nearly 800 pages a stoory that could have been more succinctly and powerfully conveyed in about half that number. McDonough spent over ten years working on the book, however, and I guess he felt that his huge investment of time justifies the book's length. The book is a rambling narrative of Young's life, mainly as seen through the eyes of his closest associates, but is told in the Hunter S. Thompson "gonzo" style of journalism as McDonough frequently inserts himself into the story. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, in may have in fact been necessary, but it ends up padding the length. The main story is interspersed with a hundred or so pages of text from McDonough's various interviews with Young in which the artist is quoted verbaitim. It is a fascinating and unprecedented look into Young's mind, but again it starts to become wearing after awhile. Lengthy passages about such relatively uninteresting subjects as Young's passion for model trains slow things down even further. Ultimately, "Shakey" is likely to be endured only by Young's most ardent fans and will not win the artist any new converts. But I get the feeling that Young would prefer it that way. As McDonough recounts, the quickest way to get Young to drop a song from an album is to tell him its going to be a surefire hit. He is that rare rock star who actually eschews popularity. Young remains a startlingly original talent after nearly four decades in the recording busines and for all of its flaws, "Shakey" manages to capture his essence.
Rating: 
Summary: buying advice
Review: If you like this book, you should definitely get the author's other book, The Ghastly One, a true masterpiece of biography and one of the most amazing books I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I'm a fan of all the Neil Youngs: the one who plays with CSN, the one who plays unplugged, the one who plays with Crazy Horse, and the rest of them. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. For me, there are three major problems with the book. First, Jimmy McDonough inserts himself as a character in Neil Young's story, making him something other than an objective reporter, and distracting the reader to ... distraction. We get it, McDonough: you know the guy real well, and we don't. We inferred that you'd have to know him to get all those interviews. Second, this book is too "inside" for even a long-time Neil Young fan (who is still less a fanatic than those Neil Young fanatics who have no life). It's almost as if McDonough set out to write a book that would appeal to a very narrow audience. Finally, McDonough spends a disproportionate amount of time up through the seventies. While that period is interesting, it is dark and depressing, as well, and leaves me feeling uneasy about a song writer who is second to none. McDonough himself seems to have little interest in the Neil Young who has emerged in the last ten years, so he doesn't tell us much. The saving grace of the book, especially for those who have been studying enigmatic lyrics for thirty years, is some insight into some songs that would be difficult or impossible to achieve any other way. Not intrepretations, just insights: events surrounding the creation of some exceptionally fascinating songs. Overall, however, this seems like a big, long self-indulgence for Jimmy McDonough . He missed the opportunity to write a great three or four hundred page book that anyone interested at all in music would have loved reading. I'll try to put this book out of my mind and think of the Neil Young who is defined by his own songs.
Rating:
Summary: Great insightful reading for any Neil fan
Review: It's been quite some time since I tore through a book like I did Jimmy McDonough's "Shakey: Neil Young's Biography." This is almost everything a Neil fan could hope for: almost 800 pages of prose on one of rock and roll's most enigmatic artists. Although the book starts off a little slow and perhaps spends a bit too much time on Neil's childhood, it quickly approaches crusing speed and takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of Young's recording life. It's fascinating to read about the origins of Young's records interspersed with comments from Shakey himself. By the time I finished reading, I felt like I knew Neil a bit more than before, and my respect for him had increased greatly. I have even considered buying some of his oft-maligned albums from the 1980s. My only beef with the book is that it's a bit outdated; McDonough finished the manuscript mid-1998 only to suffer through a long legal hassle with Mr. Young himself, and because of this, there's nothing in Shakey about Neil's post-Broken Arrow work. But we know whose fault that is. :)
Rating:
Summary: It's a nickname! It's a title! It's a one-word review!
Review: For the first 500 pages, McDonough gives us the straight skinny on ol' Powderfingers from birth to "Rust." Then, Pegi Young dances into the teepee, and all the details flicker out like fireflies in August. So maybe this should've been a two-parter, with the sequel held until after Neil joins David Briggs, Pocohantas and Cortez around the great campfire in the sky. An illustrative lesson in why a biographer should never befriend his subject...I can understand why the Youngs want to keep their family stuggles private, but sheesh, Pegi's in the band now (along with Neil's half-sister Astrid, singing backup just like Linda McC), the Lionel train obsession came about as a way to play with his son Ben, and his daughter Amber is scarcely mentioned, despite the obvious question of why he chose to roll the dice again after his first two children (via different mothers) were born with cerebral palsy. These glaring omissions are akin to a Richard Nixon memoir that doesn't mention Watergate. So think of this as one that's more autobiography than a proper review of the life and times of the Topanga warrior. And I totally agree with the other crits regarding McDonough's shameless Hunter Thompsonesque participation in the historical process (although his trials might have made a great supplemental article in the New Yorker). While we're piling on, the 800 pages are rather light on the photos (none of Pegi, none of first wife Sue, none after 1990), and there's no discography either, which is totally lame, given the billion or so Neil Young websites with the information ready to roll. The credit page says it all..."copyright Jimmy McDonough and Neil Young, all ancillary and subsidary rights are separately owned by Neil Young." They give you this, but you pay for that...
Rating:
Summary: Over and over, again and again
Review: While I appreciate a book that I cannot rip through in a day, the 800 page Shakey becomes terribly repetitive. The worst part is that, beyond the fact that Neil does some things over and over (we all do), the author starts to write the same things over and over. First, we know McDonough likes Neil's music (OK, at least the few albums with Crazy Horse McDonough returns to, again and again) but is there really no other artist in the universe for whom he can spare a kind or even decent word? It gets tiresome, especially when McDonough often thinks Neil and his latest group/idea are lame -- but everyone else is lamer. Second, especially as the book drags on, it becomes clear that if only Neil would listen to McDonough everything is his life and career could be so much better. I really would rather have read more about Neil, and less about McDonough on Neil and how Neil rises above the vast wasteland that is popular culture. I found this McDonough pose particularly tiring -- it is all so very kneejerk, video-killed-the-radio-star, late '80ies. So, this is a reasonably engaging book, but I walked away thinking a really good editor could have made this a far better read.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe I read the whole thing!
Review: I have to be one of the biggest Neil Young fans but this book stinks. Not only is the content poor but the writing is horrible. McDonough seems to pride himself on being one of Young's cronies. I didn't buy the book to learn about McDoughs relationship with Neil. I'm not surprised that Neil sued McDonough to not release this book at one point. The man is a legend that doesn't let out much of his music or much about his personal life. Too bad McDonough didn't take this opportunity and really put out a good archive. I'm in agreement with some of the other reviews in that whoever edited this book should be fired. A horrible disservice to a real legend.
Rating:
Summary: Innaresting
Review: Great book, all 700+ pages. Though I grew a little tired of Neil somewhere around page 499.
Rating:
Summary: Citizen Young
Review: Shakey unfolds with the shadow darkness of Citizen Kane. Mc Donough, as the reporter, spends ten years trying to find the answer to "Who is Neil Young". He traverses a terrain of the famous, almost famous and unfamous peeling away layer by layer of the fabric of Young. It is a magnificent story that in the end leaves the reader longing for a simplistic explanation of who Neil is as opposed to what we thought he was. Unlike Kane, Young is able to provide a counterpoint commentary to the story adding an ethereal quality to his his detached perspective.
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