Rating: 
Summary: One-sided, but essential for JD fans
Review: Deborah is brutally frank in portraying herself as a dull domestic doormat type, totally unsuited to being the wife of a mercurial artistic genius. She gives the impression that she didn't REALLY know her husband deeply, since Ian gave her little attention once they were married. Ian remains an enigma even after reading this book, and quite what he saw in his totally unremarkable widow is an even bigger enigma. However Deborah reveals many hitherto unpublished facts which shed at least some light on Ian's life, background, lyrics and thinking. Together with the comprehensive lyrics (including some unreleased writings!) at the end, this makes the book essential for JD fans.
Rating: 
Summary: A wife who never nkew his husband
Review: I bought this book with great expectations, hoping to find the answers for the suicide and self distructive personality of Ian Curtis... yes he was a brilliant songwriter, and I agree with Bono when he says that Ian's voice was holy, I knew all that, but my main questions remain unanswered... she barely knew the man she was married to. Maybe he never did let anybody know who he really was, but you would have expected to find something else about him, the reasons (besides the epilepsy) for his behaviour. The book it's not bad at all, there some beautiful pictures inside, also unpublished and unfinished lyrics, that are trully jewels for Joy Division fans (like me)... one more thing that was very disappointing to me, was to find out that strange fetish Ian Curtis had with the Nazi period... I knew what Joy Division was (some escort service for the third reich members) but I thought it was some sarcastic joke, or some stupid way of rebellion... but no, the man seemed to be obsessed with Nazism, to me that was a disgusting thing to discover...
Rating: 
Summary: Honest and myth shattering
Review: I found Touching from a Distance by Deborah Curtis to be very honest. I don't feel she is a bitter person trying to slam the legend of gothic god Ian Curtis. Instead I found her to be very kind in her memories of the husband who abandoned her and their daughter when he found something more interesting to do. She was loyal to her husband then and she is loyal to him now. I enjoyed the book for many reasons, first it is an easy read, not too much of the boring history most biographies have. You experience England's pop culture of the late 70's from someone who was there, and I learned a little of the suffering epilepsy brings. I suggest this book only to those who want truth, not for those who insist on seeing Ian Curtis as a martyr for youth or a dark misunderstood genius. He was human and at times inhuman, but he did leave an invaluable legacy. I was disappointed in the lack of photos and would love to know what happened to Deborah Curtis (who I grew to like very much while reading Touching from a Distance) after her husband's death, what became of Annik, did Ms. Curtis ever get the royalities she so deserved and especially how was Natalie's life affected not only by losing her father but her father's fame? Deborah Curtis is not a door mat like some reviewers claim, she was in love and was desperate to save her marriage (she was 19 at the time of the wedding and 23 at the time she was a widow give her a break!!!!), she is honest and opened her life to a lot of strangers. Great book Ms. Curtis...bon couarge.
Rating:
Summary: An idolized genius as a flawed man
Review: I read Deborah Curtis' biography of her late husband and leader of the band Joy Division, Ian Curtis just a few months ago and was captivated by its stark reality of a man's inner hell. I myself am a huge fan of Joy Division and their continuation as New Order so I was compelled to read about the life of Ian Curtis from the intimate point-of-view of his neglected wife. I was shocked to learn that Ian Curtis was such an awful husband who had been falling down the path of self-destruction all his life. I guess I'm a lot like Ian Curtis which is why I just had to read this biography, which is the best insight into the life of a musical genius. May Ian Curtis' soul rest in peace.
Rating:
Summary: A personal view which we as fans never knew
Review: I read Deborah Curtis' book a couple of months ago and have been surprised that I have not felt the same about the memory of Ian Curtis that I had since I heard he had died so many years ago. I saw Joy Division in concert when I was 15 years old in London and a couple of times on TV, I was hooked. I grew up wondering what kind of life this man had, what he was experiencing, what made him so bizarre on stage (see the video "Here are the Young Men"). I have grown up and for the most part still wondered about these unanswered questions. I hoped that reading Deborah's book would help me understand a bit more and I was not disappointed. The book was not about the music, but about the man, his dreams and his failures. This is what we as fans did not see, we only saw this pail white man with thrashing arms singing about stuff that we did not necessarily understand, but knew he saw singing for us. Thank you Deborah for a wonderful insight into your life with Ian Curtis. Hopefully he can now rest in peace.
Rating:
Summary: in a room with a window i found truth...
Review: i think that deborah curtis' biography of her late husband, ian curtis (singer/guitarist for the 1970's post-punk band joy division) is really great. i think that it is very touching. it shows ian curtis "the person" without sugar coating him at all, as i think many biographers have a tendency to do, especially if written post-humously. i couldn't decide whether or not to listen to joy division for a while after i read the book. ian curtis was kind of a mean, posessive person, but that person did write some very excellent music that still resonates today, more than 20 years later. this biography will no doubt leave you in disbelief, mouth agape, and more than likely, in the end, crying. a very good book with a very different insight to ian curtis. highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Disturbing History Of This Man
Review: I was was shocked to read about the life of Ian Curtis. My memory of him is now completely different. I was amazed to hear of how badly he treated his wife, how controlling and manipulative he was with her. He really did only care about his music, and that's not such a good thing in this case! Granted, Joy Division's music is amazing and influential, but at what expence? Deborah Curtis was very brave to write the truth about thim. The book itself was written fairly well, has a disography, published and never-before-published lyrics, as well as color photographs. I enjoyed it! All in all, I found the book inlightning, disturbing, depressing, but full of information and insight. Thank you to Deborah Curtis for having the courage to be so candid. One last note: I have to wonder what happened in his childhood to make him turn out that way??
Rating:
Summary: The enigma lives on
Review: Ian Curtis has been dead for over 20 years but he has left an enigma that still lingers on . If you want answers in this book inevitably you are not going to find them . Deborah had known Ian since their childhood but even she doesn't know why he killed himself . And that mainly is the story . It's how she grew up with him became his wife and the troubles she had to deal with from having a child , Natalie , and Ian having epileptic fits . But yet when it comes to Ian's suicide it is quite chilling all the same . It provides lyrics both known and unknown to us and various unfinished pieces that he was working on . You may scratch the surface but you will never get the true meaning of Ian Curtis no matter how many sides of the story you get .
Rating:
Summary: A brave, personal & unique insight into a genius
Review: Ian Curtis was, after Dylan, the most talented, visionary poet ever to grace the skimpy depths of pop. His writing bore the distilled intensity of the greatest poets, best exemplified on Joy Division's posthumous masterpiece Closer, a peerless, terrifying, airless work which in its final two songs suddenly transforms into a beautiful, war-torn smile of relief, a wonderful, liberating acceptance of death.Deborah Curtis tells her story - and her husband's - with terrifific passion and urgency but with a heatbreaking, neverending determination to understand who he was and what led him to take his own life. This book is a must for all Joy Division fans and anyone interested in the scaffolding behind the dazzle of genius and celebrity - not to suggest that Curtis wasn't the former, because he most certainly was.
Rating:
Summary: Intimate protrait of troubled lives
Review: Ian Curtis' dreams had come true and were even surpassed. The band he fronted, Joy Division, put out two major albums, a single off each, and went on several tours. But just days before they were to leave for their first American tour, Ian achieved his final goal: dying young. He died by his own hand. This is the story by his wife Deborah, of their life together and apart. It is a wonderful portrait of Ian's complicated life. It is highly recommended for anyone, not just fans of Ian or Joy Division.
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