Rating: 
Summary: DIVIDED SOUL: The Life of Marvin Gaye
Review: This was indeed a FASCINATING and TRAGIC drama. It produces emotions of love and hate for Mr. Gaye in the reader. I had no intention of reading the ENTIRE book...but I just couldn't help myself! I wish MORE had been said about HOW IN THE WORLD did his crazy father "get off," because it became obvious to me that it was a cold-blooded and premeditated murder. I wish the photos had been better and that there had been MORE of them....esp. did I want to see a photo of Jewel Price and Eugenie. It's a shame Marvin's mother was too weak to protect herself and her precious son throughout his life from such a vicious, mean, sick father...I couldn't believe how the whole family put up with him. I also feel regret that the family didn't intervene and didn't band together more to bring SOMEBODY to help Marvin in those last several months he spent at home and to keep those bad, destructive elements and people from "hanging out" at their own property. It's such a shame and a loss for the world that Marvin never sought professional therapy to resolve his many and varied issues. I believe that these sensitive entertainers should have "Conflict Resolution" as a part of their contracts. It's terrible to lose such a talent and for him not to have ever been truly happy with the wonderful life he COULD have enjoyed. All in all though, this book was DEFINITELY "da bomb." I'll never forget it or the man behind the story--esp. since I was a big fan, front-row center admiring his handsome face and body during his performance at his Black Expo Concert in Chicago in the 70's and have felt a real "closeness" to him ever since.
Rating: 
Summary: Divided Issues With Divided Soul
Review: Through the first three quarters of the book, you get an excellent look into the life of the most interesting, and conflicted, R&B singer ever. Through the many, many interviews David Ritz conducted, he put together a very interesting and unflinching look into Marvin Gaye's troubled life and career.
For me, the most interesting chapters were the ones regarding the start of his career, and the recording of Let's Get It On and I Want You - two of the more seductive albums of all time.
There were problems with the book though. The author spent too much time reviewing the albums, and defending them against some of the negative reviews that a few albums received. I was far more interested in what Marvin thought the songs meant, not what David Ritz took from them.
While the first three quarters are told wonderfully, with great detail, the last quarter of the book feels very, very rushed. This is a shame, since it deals with a very interesting, albeit depressing, period of his life. I felt cheated, especially considering that it was during this time that the author actually met Marvin. They also gloss over the recording of Midnight Love, which Ritz was around for! I found it strange that he put much more detail and thought into the large period of Marvin's life when he wasn't around, and rushed through the interesting and tragic final few years when he actually knew him.
If you are a big fan, or just someone interested in finding out more about some of his albums, buy this book. The first three quarters makes up for the shoddy finish.
Rating:
Summary: Good start... stumbled in the end!
Review: Through the first three quarters of the book, you get an excellent look into the life of the most interesting, and conflicted, R&B singer ever. Through the many, many interviews David Ritz conducted, he put together a very interesting and unflinching look into Marvin Gaye's troubled life and career.
For me, the most interesting chapters were the ones regarding the start of his career, and the recording of Let's Get It On and I Want You - two of the more seductive albums of all time.
There were problems with the book though. The author spent too much time reviewing the albums, and defending them against some of the negative reviews that a few albums received. I was far more interested in what Marvin thought the songs meant, not what David Ritz took from them.
While the first three quarters are told wonderfully, with great detail, the last quarter of the book feels very, very rushed. This is a shame, since it deals with a very interesting, albeit depressing, period of his life. I felt cheated, especially considering that it was during this time that the author actually met Marvin. They also gloss over the recording of Midnight Love, which Ritz was around for! I found it strange that he put much more detail and thought into the large period of Marvin's life when he wasn't around, and rushed through the interesting and tragic final few years when he actually knew him.
If you are a big fan, or just someone interested in finding out more about some of his albums, buy this book. The first three quarters makes up for the shoddy finish.
Rating:
Summary: Scary!
Review: VERY VERY scary!I read 'Divided Soul' back to back with 'Careless Love', Peter Guralnick's account of Elvis' decline, and I couldn't help but be struck by the parallels in the lives of these two singers - the tensions of living with a talentless and resentful father; their immature needy personalities; their serial abusive relationships with girls far too young for them; the reliance on drugs to supply the self-confidence they lacked; a descent into nihilism, depression and eventual "suicide". Reading the two books back to back, they become one story - and what that story tells us is that fame itself is totally lethal to those who aren't equipped for it. And sadly, no one was less equipped than Elvis and Marvin.
Rating:
Summary: Insight to a Legend
Review: What can I say? This is as true of an insight as any that you will get into this man's life. If you admire and respect this man half as much as I do, you will thoroughly enjoy this bio. In addition to Marvin's life, Ritz gives quite a bit of insight into the workings of Motown. A GREAT read.
Rating: 
Summary: David Ritz: Get over yourself
Review: Writing about an incredible man does not make an incredible book. While Ritz has managed to compile a rich set of interviews, his execution is disappointing. This self-endulgent, arrogant piece is not worthy of its subject.
Rating:
Summary: Great Biography of a great singer
Review: Written by a longtime friend of Marvin Gaye's, this book is the best biography of the legendary singer currently available. Although Ritz is an insider, he does not flinch from providing a complete, complex portrait of a very conflicted and troubled man. The book is objective and fair, as well as loving and respectful toward the genius of Marvin Gaye. A fitting tribute to a legend..
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