Rating: 
Summary: Closest Perspective to a man in Isolation
Review: "Touching from a Distance" is an interesting book written from the most intimate persective possible. Ian Curtis is held in a very high regard by his fans and some strange mythology has evolved around him. He is often viewed as someone who was above human nature and above his fellow artists. His anti-glamorous appearance and epilepsy as seem to have given hima light of meek innocence by his most subjective of historians, his die-hard fanbase. I am a die hard Joy Division fan but I am in no way surprised by the violent controlling behavior of Ian Curtis as described in this book. So I guess he was (and is) toching from a distance but up close he was a troubled individual. While I am sure that that Deborah Curtiss, is still working out the trauma of a relationship that ended abruptly 25 years ago I certainly don't think the story is exaggerated. I found it amazing that even though she allowed him to follow his ambitions, she wanted to remain a normal family and did not become a "rocker wife". This book is a fine and interesting look into the life of a troubled soul and how fame was the catalyst for his final decision. I recommend the work highly and it is a must read for JD fans as well as anyone who is trying to figure out the Artist-Suicide connection. I thought Repeatedly about Sylvia Plath, Elliot Smith and, of course, Kurt Cobain while reading it.
I Found a couple things particularly interesting about the book and the first one is that Mrs. Curtis repeatedly blames Ian Curtis' behavior on managers, band mates and record execs who want to exploit or simply influence him. I couldn't tell if this was some sort of strange apology for his behavior or simply that she loved him too much to see reality as many abuse victims do. In reality there should be no excuse for his bahavior but admitedly Curtis was a visionary who really worked toward his singular goal of making music. From reading this work and reading between the lines I get a feeling that he was emotionally despondent and all together unsympathetic as a man and even had his managers not pushed him toward it, he would have certainly still not been the family man Mrs. Curtis wanted him to be. I am sure that he had emotions of love, I have heard his music, I think the problem was in the expression. Interestingly my struggle with Deborah's portrayal of her husband didn't get in the way my apreciation for how she portrayed him tenderly even while she described his affair.
Another thing required for discussion is Curtis's alleged right wing affiliations. The Author and his wife explains his facist fascinations and his love of order and organization but any definite Nazi relation is only alluded to requiring a cognitive leap to make the connection. By this logic Michael Jackson too should be a die hard Nazi. Many artists and thinkers who grew up in the wake of WWII were deeply affested by the tumult of the war and what facist governments were. By writing songs such as "They walked in a Line" Curtis is not describing his fascist lust but simple interest in the goings on of the 20th century's most important event.
I am getting completely off subject and returning to the book I will sum it up by saying that it certainly must take courage to pen such a work. I am glad that Mrs. Curtis wrote it and am actually smitten by her lucid style and the way she knew how to highlight the important stuff, not dwell on dull and sad things and make there relationship seem loving even during the worst moments was amazing. In a relationship that seemed like a drawn-out practical joke the punch line of which being a dead husband in the kitchen this book is not sarcastic or gloomy. It is important that we do our best to understand why suicide occurs and my conjecture is that it would have happened to Ian Curtis regardless of his fame. I recommend this book highly: It is a quick read and well written. JD Fans need to read this one.
Ted Murena
Rating:
Summary: Touching From A Distance. . .
Review: . . .further all the time. No kidding. Evidently from a distance was the only way Ian Curtis could touch or be touched, even in death. A fact especially touching for some, particularly those most distant from him- -the more romantic readers of this book. They like to call the story of his life and death "tragic," and "regrettable," for example. Granted. And Joy Division was indeed a phenomenon. But it is no longer "about" Ian Curtis or Joy Division. This is not his book. His story ended in May, 1980. This is Deborah Curtis' story. Ian Curtis happens to be the co-star. Anyone looking here for a "confessional" or "insight" into "the man's genius," (forgetting the music, forgetting the lyrics) or is disappointed because the book is not what he or she hoped is participating in and hoping for his or her own atrocity exhibition and personality cult. Oh, by the way- -congratulations and thank you, Deborah. This is one fine book.
Rating:
Summary: parallel lives
Review: 20+ years ago, I reviewed Closer for a university newspaper; I still agree with Bono that Ian Curtis's voice is holy, and with Kurt Cobain that "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is the most beautiful song written. I've recently been rediscovering Joy Division, and so have read Deborah Curtis's memoir of her life with Ian. This is a remarkable book. Deborah was never an industry insider, a musician or a groupie; she seems to have been a sensitive yet very practical girl, who mostly wanted a conventional sort of marriage where they would raise children and maintain their house. Yet she was also really drawn to Ian's ambitious taste in music and his brooding romantic singularity, and she genuinely supported his desire to be a musician and believed in his genius. The book mostly follows the period from their marriage through the formation of Warsaw (later Joy Division), with extensive discussion of tours and recording sessions, through to Ian's suicide shortly before the band was to embark on its first American tour. At the same time, it describes the medical crises following Ian's diagnosis with a severe, virtually untreatable form of epilepsy, the birth of their daughter Natalie, and Deborah's discovery of her husband's affair with Annik Honore. To her credit, Deborah keeps her perspective consistent, refusing to speculate on others' responses. This makes more heartbreaking the extent to which she was gradually shut out of Ian's life, with the apparent complicity of the band and its management, as she became apparently insufficiently glamorous for the role of rock star consort. Yet while this book both deconstructs and humanizes the myth, rendering Ian Curtis an often viciously callous husband, Deborah never comes across as spiteful herself: she did what she could, and more, and always realized she'd have to learn to live on her own, and she never gave up on him, so that the glimmerings of mutual tenderness in their final difficult days are almost unbearably sad. Inadvertantly perhaps, she reveals a very young man whose visions were almost too great for him to bear, and whose loss of control over his life and health terrified him into severe depression, and she reveals a taciturn community in which she and Ian felt driven into an unspoken compact to cope by themselves. This isn't a depressing book; it isn't over-analytical, and there is real wit in her episodic treatment of their courtship, and her outsider's perspective on the Manchester music scene (such as when they go see the Sex Pistols, with Ian excited at the prospect of a band who 'fought on stage'). This book should be required reading for anyone whose introduction to Joy Division was the film 24 Hour Party People, whose history of the band is severely truncated and takes great liberties with the facts. Actually, I'd love to see the players in that part of the film in a film of Deborah Curtis's book. This is a brave and wonderful, incredibly intimate memoir, straightforward and unpretentious. It also includes an introduction by stellar punk historian Jon Savage, lyrics, as well as performance and recording information, and there is a centre section of photographs, some official (including an incandescent colour picture of Ian singing with his eyes closed in April 1980), some family snapshots (including a very cute engagement picture, and Ian with Natalie a few days before his death).
Rating: 
Summary: Joy Division still rocks
Review: A good book. Some nice pictures. If you're like me and weren't listening to Joy Division while they were around, it's a very good book for getting to know the whole scene and some of the basics of Ian's life.All of the best to Deborah and their child. There's a beautiful picture of Ian Curtis by the microphone with a black background.
Rating:
Summary: Joy Division still rocks
Review: A good book. Some nice pictures. If you're like me and weren't listening to Joy Division while they were around, it's a very good book for getting to know the whole scene and some of the basics of Ian's life. All of the best to Deborah and their child. There's a beautiful picture of Ian Curtis by the microphone with a black background.
Rating:
Summary: IAN CURTIS DEPRESSED GENIUS
Review: AL LEER ESTE LIBRO ME HE DADO CUENTA DE MUCHAS COSAS QUE YO NO SABIA SOBRE TAN FABULOSO CANTANTE , COMO LO ES IAN CURTIS , UNA DE LAS RAZONES POR LA CUAL COMPRE ESTE LIBRO ..FUE PARA ENTERARME MAS DE LA VIDA INTIMA DE TAN GENIAL CANTANTE , QUERIA TRATAR DE INTRODUCIRME EN SU CABEZA Y DARME CUENTA DE DONDE SALIAN TAN EXTRANAS CANCIONES ..DE DONDE SALIA TANTA OBSCURIDAD..(LO CUAL ES LO QUE MAS ADORO)LA OBSCURIDAD DE VUESTRAS CANCIONES ME HAN DEJADO SIN ALIENTO MUCHISIMAS VECES Y NO ME CANSO DE OIR SUS CANCIONES UNA Y OTRA VEZ ...ES UN BUEN LIBRO PARA TODO AQUE QUE SEA UN FANATICO DEL GRAN GRUPO BRITANICO ."JOY DIVISION" Y AUN SI NO LO SON .POR LO MENOS SI SON AMANTES DE LA LITERATURA ..ES UN BUEN LIBRO EN TODO EL SENTIDO ..OS GUSTARA ..OS LO PROMETO
Rating:
Summary: Poor Deborah meets Mr. Artfart
Review: Boy, in my youth, I used to admire and hold a certain reverence for Mr. Curtis, but after reading this biography, and after being old enough to flush out those romantic notions of youth, I realize our Ian was not dissimilar from one of those pseudo-artsy, snobbish, air-putting-on, immature, self-centered folks you see in coffee houses and the arts schools of various universities, etc.....yes I've known my share....true, he was a very talented lad, but too bad he was such a control freak that he felt he had to, in a sense, rope Deborah into staying with him, and too bad he agreed to become a father, because he sure wasn't equipped for reality. His wife and daughter were the casualties of his effete esotericism....we also get a glimpse of the gnawing insecurities that made him wildly distrustful of a wife who gave him no reason to be so. Sigh. My heart goes out to Deborah. She was/is a good woman. Ian, well...anyway, this is a very interesting book, which dispells many a myth, without overexposing Ian and their life to the point of mundanitude (is that a word?!). Thanks, Deborah, for writing this book.
Rating:
Summary: Demystifying a rock God
Review: Deborah Curtis certainly takes much of the luster off of thisextraordinary artist. Getting away from the "he said, shesaid" banter that dominates most of these reviews, she does make clear something none of the myth-makers has given enough attention to: Ian Curtis was suffering from a very serious neurological illness, and no one surrounding him in the music business was taking this enough into account, either before or after his suicide. When you and others don't understand the extent and scope of your illness, it leads to feelings of failure and despair. The combination of his illness and the drugs he was on would be enough to drive anyone over the edge, with or without a "Bizarre Love Triangle." I know whereof I speak, because I also have a neuroligical illness and have taken some of the same powerful medications prescribed for epilepsy. Ian was pushed beyond his limits by his "adoring" manager and sometimes bullied by his bandmates for his inevitable collapses. There may be many things Deborah didn't understand about her husband, but in all fairness, he got what he asked for in a wife. Women's lib hadn't reached the outskirts of Manchester in the early seventies, apparently, and Ian falls firmly into the retro male chauvinist pig category, despite his forays into eye shadow and fluffy pink funfur jackets. (Her first description of seeing him looking out over the wasteland below his housing project, thus attired screams out for film treatment.) The dead-end jobs, the stifling working class mores, the getting married straight from home is all too depressingly reminiscent of the lives of some of my own relatives. Listening to Joy Divisions music it's easy to read a more sophisticated backdrop into it. Seeing where the darkness actually came from is interesting. This is a very sad and true book. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that it is missing essential information about Deborah. Did she ever remarry? Find happiness with someone else? Did she get any decent money from record sales? And what about daughter Natalie? I'd have liked to know more about how Deborah developed and matured as a person, but,as in her marriage to Ian, she still seems to think her place is in the background. In pandering to the fans, she loses sight of the fact that we're reading this because we also want to know about her. Photographs of the teenaged young couple are absolutely priceless.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done memoir...
Review: Deborah Curtis did a great job with this narrative of her life with the former frontman for Joy Division, her husband Ian. Her story offers fantastic insight into the band behind the scenes, and also some tragic recounting of Ian's descent into depression and the reasons behind it. She goes into a lot of detail regarding her personal life, and shares things that most would have trouble sharing, and for that she is also to be commended. I have been intrigued for years by the music and mystery behind New Order, and the book answered many of the questions I had as to why events unfolded as they did. Excellent job, a must read for any die-hard New Order fans out there!
Rating:
Summary: Ian Curtis and Joy Division from a different perspective
Review: Deborah Curtis' revealing book provide insights in to Ian's life that other writers have only guessed at. Yes, he was epileptic and yes, he was having an affair. But these are only two parts of a much larger whole that led to his suicide. Deborah reveals details about Ian that are unique to her relationship with him. Ian's hopes, dreams, fears, things he never told other band members, flesh out the man who has been painted in shades of black and white. If you're looking for another hagiography, this isn't it. Deborah is brutally frank; this book will certainly put a dent in, if not shatter, some of your illusions about Ian
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