Hellfire

Rating:
Summary: Great Balls of Fire
Review: Tosches does an outstanding job outlining the life and trials of Rock 'N' Roll pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis. His book follows the "Killer's" rural upbringing in Louisiana, his breakthrough at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, and the downward spiral of his career after an ill-fated marriage to his 2nd cousin. Tosches does not try to get the reader to feel sympathy for Jerry Lee, but merely states the man's history, warts and all. What makes this story all the more entertaining is the knowledge that tonight, somewhere in the world, Jerry Lee is pounding his piano with the same manic fever first exhibited in the '50's. A true American original.

Rating:
Summary: Great Balls of Fire
Review: Tosches does an outstanding job outlining the life and trials of Rock 'N' Roll pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis. His book follows the "Killer's" rural upbringing in Louisiana, his breakthrough at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, and the downward spiral of his career after an ill-fated marriage to his 2nd cousin. Tosches does not try to get the reader to feel sympathy for Jerry Lee, but merely states the man's history, warts and all. What makes this story all the more entertaining is the knowledge that tonight, somewhere in the world, Jerry Lee is pounding his piano with the same manic fever first exhibited in the '50's. A true American original.

Rating:
Summary: A Dark Fable With No Happy Ending
Review: Tosches has done a brilliant job of streamlining Jerry Lee's life into a smooth novelistic parable about Heaven and Hell. Unlike most biographers, he eschews parading facts. He is a very literate writer with lots of classical flourishes. Drama, plot atmosphere and the negative rule, making Hellfire into a dark fable with no happy ending. It is a different approach to biography, one that takes some license with the truth in order to entertain. But it is a great story about a great presence in rock and roll. I enjoyed the book a lot, but when it was over found myself wanting more. More information about why Jerry was the way he was, his effect on the culture, and where he is now.

Rating:
Summary: A Dark Fable With No Happy Ending
Review: Tosches has done a brilliant job of streamlining Jerry Lee's life into a smooth novelistic parable about Heaven and Hell. Unlike most biographers, he eschews parading facts. He is a very literate writer with lots of classical flourishes. Drama, plot atmosphere and the negative rule, making Hellfire into a dark fable with no happy ending. It is a different approach to biography, one that takes some license with the truth in order to entertain. But it is a great story about a great presence in rock and roll. I enjoyed the book a lot, but when it was over found myself wanting more. More information about why Jerry was the way he was, his effect on the culture, and where he is now.