The Lives of John Lennon

Rating:
Summary: A look at Lennon throughout his good and bad times
Review: This book was excellent it gave a lot of information I needed to know. I would recommend it to anyone who might seem interested in John Lennon or the rest of the Beatles. The book can seem a little harsh in some places but it comes out beautifully. Anyone who would read it can feel a closeness to John they never felt before. I would read it over and over again. It's very long so you must have patience. He was a beautiful man and I'm glad to have had the pleasure of reading a well put together book about John Lennon and his unique life.

Rating:
Summary: I'm embarrassed I loved this book so much
Review: My only excuse for gulping down every word of this sewage was that I was only 14 years old when I read it and didn't know any better but to believe it. I had no reason to believe a biography would tell lies, esp. one that was allegedly as well-researched as Goldman claimed this one was. Though Goldman's attempts to paint John and Yoko (as well as many other people in their lives) as these horrible horrible Satanic and psychologically messed up people failed; every negative trait of John's he gleefully wrote about, every shocking story, disgusting anecdote, vulgar practical joke, bad public behaviour, only made me love and admire him more. I felt more and more that he really was just like everybody else, an ordinary human being with lots of flaws, someone even more heroic because he had to work so hard to overcome his sordid past and to bring his bad traits under serious control. I was so naïve I couldn't even read between the lines in all of the many scenes attempting to portray John or one of his friends as bad people or fools, like the insinuation that Yoko set up Paul's 1980 drug bust in Tokyo, or the scene where Linda McCartney called someone (David Spinoza?) to come over and help them with the recording of 'Ram,' where Spinoza later gave a sneering account to 'Melody Maker' about how Paul didn't know the names of any of the chords he was playing and that therefore he was a bad musician.

Finding out most of this book was a lie was like finding out there's no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy, since I'd believed and treasured these stories for years, feeling that they made John more admirable and heroic since he had to suffer and overcome so much. Many of these stories are urban legends, like John and Brian Epstein in bed together in Spain, wildly exaggerated stories, unverified anecdotes, and just plain lies. Albert Goldman is like the boy who cried wolf; even if he is telling the truth in some instances, you have to doubt it because he's lied so many times before and been exposed as a liar in those instances. And there are an awful lot of times where Goldman depicts John as being alone, or with only one other person, like his Aunt Mimi or Yoko, and tells us all of the personal thoughts in his head. How would he know this if John was alone and never wrote those thoughts down, or he never expressed what was on his mind to the other person he was with?

Still, it was lively reading, a real page-turner, and even though I'm disgusted I believed every last word, I still vividly remember a lot of it years later. And it does provide a lot of details on Yoko's art shows and her custody battle for her daughter Kyoko, which most other biographers haven't had much information on. It's not totally worthless.

Rating:
Summary: A horrible book by a horrible man... but still
Review: It is a hatchet job based on hearsay within hearsay. albert is an untalented, jealous hack. i can't wait for someone to write his biography.

however, the book is interesting in so far as it does a pretty good job of discussing the apple fiasco / management suits which ultimately led to jacko owning the publishing rights.

good bathroom literature -- you can use it to wipe when you are done.

Rating:
Summary: Gimme Some Truth
Review: Before writing this review, I must first mention that unlike some reviewers and cynics I have read the entire 700 pages of Albert Goldman's biography of John Lennon; secondly, I must mention that I had read many reviews elsewhere on the internet, and what I have found is mixed praise and scorn for this book. Allow me to summarize the reviews in such a manner: John Lennon purists should not read this book, partly because they will only fall into the category of fundamentalists, many of whom you can read reviews from below, who write one line reviews such as, "I can't believe this guy gets off bashing Lennon's image" or somesuch comments. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and if cherishing the legacy of John Lennon as saint and genius of rock music is your bag, then by all means, maintain that perspective - and do not read this book.
However, if you're interested in the most deepest personal aspects of John Lennon's life and legacy, then this book was written for those of us who seek truth. And that is the point of contention among those who read this book: Goldman is either the boy who cried wolf one too many times, or he's telling the truth really well, so well that you're not inclined to believe it. For example, let's say a teenager goes out for a night of partying with his friends, gets drunk, and wrecks his parents car into a tree. The next morning he tells them the full truth about him partying and wrecking the car - and the parents are skeptical. The truth is often unacceptable. However, I'm not saying this book contains 100% truth. In fact, if you were to arrange the book statistically, I would suggest that 92% of this book were truth and 4% would be craft and the other 4% would be rumour. A lot of people who find this book unacceptable had similar opinions about Peter Brown's book, "The Love You Make" back in the early 80's - that the truth was unacceptable. In a Playboy interview with Paul McCartney in 1984, Paul never discredited Brown's book, but only claimed that Peter Brown betrayed the friendship of the Beatles. Quite similarly, McCartney calls this book, by Albert Goldman "trash," but he does not discredit its contents. Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, and the remaining Fab Three never once said, "This book is not true," but were only upset by the publication of its contents. That, in and of itself, makes reading the book all the more intriguing: to find out what made everyone else so upset!
What you find inside is a very personal side of John Lennon who is as human as the rest of us: prone to faults, such as anger, adultery, and indecisiveness as he was a man and leader of Peace and Love. By the time you reach page 700, if you're a sympathetic reader like myself and others, you won't pity John's life, but you'll feel closer and be able to embrace the legend a little more.

Rating:
Summary: Truth
Review: John Lennon has been and will always be my favorite artist and someone i look up to very much. When i chose to read this book it was because i wanted to fully understand John Lennon. He was a great icon in the 60s and the 70s and did many things for peace and happiness, but i know this. I know what hes done in the public eye. What people don't seem to understand is that although he was a great man he was also a rock star. In the sixties none the less and drugs, sex, and lies play a hugh part in a rock stars life. For those of you who want to have that perfect image of Lennon remain in thier mind, don't read this book. Although it has not affected my views on Lennon, being that he is still the biggest icon/idol for me, it does not hold back any punches, and tells you about the truth behind music's biggest name.

Rating:
Summary: Viewing a life through cyncism and contempt
Review: If somebody wrote a book examining your life in intimate detail, with much of the data provided by people who don't like you, that focuses on every mistake or mean thing you ever did (while ignoring or downplaying every good thing you did), takes gossip about you as gospel, and looks at every one of your motives with utter cynicism and suspicion, I daresay you wouldn't come out looking very good either.

John and Yoko may well have done some of the nasty things Goldman claims, but although he scoffs at them for it, he inadvertently proves that John and Yoko were right, that some of the hatred towards Yoko was based on misogyny and racism.

Goldman consistently implies that strong women ruined John Lennon, starting with Aunt Mimi and he refers to feminists as "women's libs." The caricature of John and Yoko by David Levine for an article entitled "John Rennon's Excrusive Gloopie" and reprinted in this book is a perfect illustration of the racism that some people were not ashamed to express in the early 70s. But aside from reprinting the Levine illustration, Goldman doesn't mention ANY of the abuse heaped on Yoko by the media. Lennon appeared once on a British talk show and complained that Yoko was called "ugly" by the British press. Goldman can't be bothered to mention the talk show appearance nor the original source. No doubt because to mention such things could possibly inspire sympathy for Yoko, and Goldman avoids that whenever he can.

The strangest thing about this book is the characterization of John Lennon. One minute Goldman portrays him as a brain-dead zombie recluse being held prisoner by Yoko, and in the next portrays Lennon as coherent and sharp in the recording studio. There's no way this could be the same person.

Goldman writes as if he can read peoples' minds, and the text is liberally sprinkled with his own opinions, especially about the Beatles' work. He considers "Tomorrow Never Knows" a bad title, for example. I don't agree, but more importantly, I don't want to waste my time reading Goldman's opinions, especially of the Beatles' music.

In some cases Goldman's opinions seem to be based on his own fantasies - for example, he describes the size of Lennon's member, visible on the cover of "Two Virgins" as large. When I saw the photo, I had the exact opposite impression.

The Ono-Lennons may have engaged in media myth-making, but Goldman makes them out to be complete phonies with no true affection for each other or anybody else. And so when Mark David Chapman shows up to kill Lennon, it seems as though Goldman's sympathies are with Chapman.

Some of the facts given seem plausible, but in general the book is so slanted and full of innuendo that you can't trust it, so it's not very valuable. Everything of interest has already been printed elsewhere, and usually without such a heaping helping of contempt.

As Lennon said in the Playboy interview in 1980:

PLAYBOY: But what about the charge that John Lennon is under Yoko's spell, under her control?

LENNON: Well that's rubbish, you know. Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that's just barely possible.

PLAYBOY: Still, many people believe it.

LENNON: Listen, if somebody's gonna impress me, whether it be a Maharishi or a Yoko Ono, there comes a point when the emperor has no clothes. There comes a point when I will see. So for all you folks out there who think that I'm having the wool pulled over my eyes, well, that's an insult to me. Not that you think less of Yoko, because that's your problem. What I think of her is what counts! Because -- f** you, brother and sister -- you don't know what's happening. I'm not here for you. I'm here for me and her and the baby!

Rating:
Summary: Why can't we just believe?
Review: First off, let me say that I consider myself a bit of an AMATEUR Beatles historian. Certainly, however, I am no authority on the subject (or any other for that matter). However, apparantly I am qualified to write a book on the subject since I certainly know more than the author of this work. John Lennon was not perfect. J.F.K. was not perfect. Neither was Lincoln, Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Ghandi. NO ONE IS! This book though seems to treasure the fact that John Lennon had faults. So much so in fact that Goldman decided to add so e fictional ones for the effect. Why can't we, as a society accept that there are people who have earned their place upon the pedestals which we have constructed for them. So John wasn't flawless. SO WHAT? Everything I know about John Lennon points to the fact that, while he didn't always do the right thing, he always TRIED TO. Isn't that just as important in it's own way. Skip this book. PLEASE, don't allow Mr. Goldman to get rich by taking away the things we believe in. In some ways, the myth of John Lennon is every bit as important as the truth. Don't you agree. Please feel free to contact me if you read this review, I am always looking to meet new Beatle fans. [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Goldman hates Yoko, not John!
Review: I've glanced at most of the reviews of Goldman's book. Having just completed it, I must say I found it to be much more sympathetic toward John than most reviewers seem to feel. I think Goldman's thesis is that Lennon's great genius (being able to communicate the deepest and most honest emotions via music) was thwarted at almost every point of his career. Whether it was Brian Epstein turning the Beatles into adorable mop-tops, thus selling out the hard-living rock and roll lifestyle of the Hamburg years, or Yoko Ono forcing him toward a bogus avant-garde lifestyle, Lennon's life is a harsh reminder or how impressionable the very talented often are. The Beatles were a case study in bad communication. Lennon had very different goals as a songwriter as compared to those of Paul, but certainly not so different as to make the group's dissolution the fait accompli that's presented here. Yet the resentment, financial stress (imagine that!) and inability to recall what brought them together initially is heartbreaking, and that's to Goldman's credit.

Once Yoko arrives, however, Goldman's barbs become much more pronounced. There cannot be a less sympathetic portrayal of an individual in all of rock literature. I can't imagine anyone being more manipulative of Lennon's insecurities than Yoko. Her crackpot ideas about art took Lennon's attention away from his music, and her emotional bullying sapped his own desire to create music, that in Goldman's view, was revolutionary in its portrayal of a complex artistic mind. Lennon didn't need silly installations, or videos of him repeating meaningless phrases at Yoko's insistence. There can be no doubt that she ruined his solo career.

Read closely and you will find an author who is furious that Lennon was unable to direct all of his energies toward the emotional honesty that made his work so compelling and appealing. 'The Lives of John Lennon' is excessive, ugly, and painful. Kind of like Lennon's best solo work.

Rating:
Summary: I'm embarrassed I loved this book so much
Review: My only excuse for gulping down every word of this sewage was that I was only 14 years old when I read it and didn't know any better but to believe it. I had no reason to believe a biography would tell lies, esp. one that was allegedly as well-researched as Goldman claimed this one was. Though Goldman's attempts to paint John and Yoko (as well as many other people in their lives) as these horrible horrible Satanic and psychologically messed up people failed; every negative trait of John's he gleefully wrote about, every shocking story, disgusting anecdote, vulgar practical joke, bad public behaviour, only made me love and admire him more. I felt more and more that he really was just like everybody else, an ordinary human being with lots of flaws, someone even more heroic because he had to work so hard to overcome his sordid past and to bring his bad traits under serious control. I was so naïve I couldn't even read between the lines in all of the many scenes attempting to portray John or one of his friends as bad people or fools, like the insinuation that Yoko set up Paul's 1980 drug bust in Tokyo, or the scene where Linda McCartney called someone (David Spinoza?) to come over and help them with the recording of 'Ram,' where Spinoza later gave a sneering account to 'Melody Maker' about how Paul didn't know the names of any of the chords he was playing and that therefore he was a bad musician.

Finding out most of this book was a lie was like finding out there's no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy, since I'd believed and treasured these stories for years, feeling that they made John more admirable and heroic since he had to suffer and overcome so much. Many of these stories are urban legends, like John and Brian Epstein in bed together in Spain, wildly exaggerated stories, unverified anecdotes, and just plain lies. Albert Goldman is like the boy who cried wolf; even if he is telling the truth in some instances, you have to doubt it because he's lied so many times before and been exposed as a liar in those instances. And there are an awful lot of times where Goldman depicts John as being alone, or with only one other person, like his Aunt Mimi or Yoko, and tells us all of the personal thoughts in his head. How would he know this if John was alone and never wrote those thoughts down, or he never expressed what was on his mind to the other person he was with?

Still, it was lively reading, a real page-turner, and even though I'm disgusted I believed every last word, I still vividly remember a lot of it years later. And it does provide a lot of details on Yoko's art shows and her custody battle for her daughter Kyoko, which most other biographers haven't had much information on. It's not totally worthless.

Rating:
Summary: Er..
Review: Me being a fan of The Beatles and John Lennon as a solo artist picked up this book at some bookstore. I started to read (as I always do before I buy) and felt sick afterwards.

Poor John Lennon. The author did something very cowardly here. We all know John could not defend himself against this attack and the author knew that.

How the author seems to know every detail about the supposedly affair between John and Brian is a mystery to me. He makes it seem he was in the room with the two.

If anyone can point me to an article or something of the sort that proves the book was a load of garbage or mostly garbage please email me.

[e-mail]