Customer Reviews

Angels Dance & Angels Die : The Tragic Romance of Pamela & Jim Morrison

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This book was so interesting, I finished it in a few days. Couldn't put it down. This is not a "fairytale". This is a book Ms. Butler obviously did a lot of research on. There's an extensive SOURCES section at the end of the book. For each chapter, everyone she interviewed, every source, is listed. Ray and Dorothy Manzarek, Robby Krieger, Julia Densmore-Negron, Bill (former Doors manager) Siddons, and many otheres in the Doors camp, too many to list here, are interviewed. People who knew Jim and Pam as far back as elementary school are interviewed. It makes for a very interesting read. Since so many people who knew Jim and Pam are constantly quoted, this book never feels like a delusional fairytale. It's not the biased POV of a single individual with an axe to grind, it's the words of MANY people who knew Jim and Pam for years.

The book didn't tell me anything about Pam's favorite bands, but I did get a sense of what drew her and Morrison together. They both came off as sort of "outcasts" in highschool, rebels who didn't fit in and refused to conform. There's consistency here. So many people described Pam as "sweet", but also someone gutsy enough to stand up to Jim if she had to. The book also gets into Jim's pattern with other women. A pattern of using other women as sounding boards to vent his frustrations with Pam, stringing these women along with poetry, letters, books, lots of attention, then returning to Pam. One of these women, named Anne, is interviewed. Her story reminded me a lot of Patricia Kennealy's, only without all the self-importance and bitterness. Anne wisely learned not to take Jim too seriously.

There are some very interesting interviews in here. I started reading "Strange Days" by Patricia Kennealy before this book. So imagine my surprise when Babe Hill is interviewed in "Angels Dance" and talks about a woman who came to FL during Jim's trial, claiming she was pregnant and married to Jim. Babe doesn't mention any names, but this interested me very much! Anyway, Babe goes on to ask Jim if it's true he's married, Jim tells him possibly, he doesn't know, he was drunk, and there were no feelings for this woman. This isn't something Butler "made up", this is what Babe Hill told her when he was interviewed.

Leon Barnard, the Doors European publicist, recalls the last conversation he had with Jim. "He said that Pamela had gotten under his skin, that she was his cosmic mate. He considered her to be his cosmic counterpart. He felt that he couldn't live without her, that she was the one he always returned to and she was the compliment to his existence". This isn't a made-up fairytale. It's Leon Barnard, someone who knew Jim personally, being interviewed by Patricia Butler. People who have no agenda and nothing to gain. People who witnessed Pam grieving during the aftermath of Morrison's death are interviewed.

If you put it all together, along with John Densmore's book "Riders on the Storm", and Ray Manzarek's book "Light My Fire", you get a pretty good picture. While Pamela is hardly the ruthless black widow certain ex-flings of Morrison would have us believe, it seems to be common knowledge in the Doors camp Jim got into Pam's stash. I've read Marianne Faithfull's book, and she talks about her boyfriend (Count Jean, also a flame of Pam's) being summoned to Jim and Pam's apartment. This seems to corroborate what John Densmore learned in his book. Marianne says Jean was a dealer who provided the smack Jim took. I won't buy Butler's "death by asthma" theory! Everything else Butler digs up is much more believable. Such as the revelations in the un-published manuscripts of Max Fink, Jim's lawyer. As for Pam being a "junkie", Butler dug up the actual autopsy report on Pam. Seems Pam was a serious dabbler, not a serious junkie, when she died. I think the coroner is less biased than certain bitter, ex-flings of Morrison who resented Pamela. Butler's overall research is quite impressive. I recommend this book to any Doors fan, right along with books by Manzarek and Densmore!

I have to admit it, I've been intrigued with Jim Morrison for close to 20 years now and, I've read a lot of book which all seem to re-hash the same story. This book was genuinely different though. Perhaps because it was written by a woman and perhaps just because the author did her homework and turned over stones no one had looked under before. Whatever the case, this book gives a unique perspective of Jim, Pamela and, the Doors. It brings to life a much more human side of Jim that seems very hard to convey and yet Patricia Butler has done just that. You can almost feel the anguish and grief Jim must have felt as beinig labelled a "rock star". In the same respect, you can almost feel the anguish and grief Pam must have felt by some of Jim's behavior. This is truly a good book even, if you're not a huge Doors fan, I highly recomend it.

Patricia Butler does a brilliant job in uncovering new facts about the relationship between Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson. Previous books about Jim underestimated his relationship with Pam. Butler's book looks at the couple's tender side and battles. It is obvious that Jim loved Pamela to the chagrin of Patricia Kennealy. I was not aware that Pam encouraged Jim at the end of his life to reconcile with his parents. Also, I was not privy to Jim's relationship with Tom Reese. Tom and Jim had a brief homosexual fling during Jim's stay at St. Petersburg Junior College. Furthermore, Butler mentions that Jim was molested as a small boy. When Jim told his mother, she called him a liar. Perhaps this explains some of Jim's bizarre episodes that occurred later in his life.
There are a few facts that trouble me. Butler attributes Jim's death to asthma. In Break on Through by James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky, they have reliable evidence that Jim got into Pam's heroin, and overdosed. Also, many sources from other Morrison books say that Pam became a severe drug addict after Jim's death. Butler does not mention this. Instead, she paints a better picture of Pam during her last years. I did not like how the book jumped through periods. For example, Butler dwells on Pam's relationship with Randy Ralston after Jim's death. What else was she doing? Other books point to her dark side; i.e. drugs, sexual affairs. Furthermore, Jim never planned on leaving The Doors. John Densmore reveals in his book Riders on the Storm that Jim was writing more material in Paris for a new album. Butler also relies heavily on No One Here Gets Out Alive for material.
In conclusion, I recommend this book to Doors fans. Although some facts can be disputed, the book is far better than Oliver Stone's movie. I learned that Jim and Pam did love each other, despite their fights and drug addicted personalities.

Angels Dance and Angels Die is a completely unbiased telling of Jim Morrison's life with his commonlaw life, Pamela Courson ( or as Jim said, she was his "cosmic mate"). Throughout the years many have cashed in on their "experiences" with Morrison, ahem, Patricia Kennealy- I read her book. It singes with jealousy of Jim Morrison's devotion to Pamela Morrison and defamates Pamela's character, and unfortunately, Pamela isn't exactly here to defend herself now, is she?

If this book hadn't been written, the world, not just Doors fans, would be deprived of one of the most romantic, tragic love stories ever told. However this book isn't just a "story." It is unbiased, eloquent, and painstakingly honest. All the crazy rumors of Jim's death are put to rest.

And the ultimate suicide of Pamela Morrison was heartbreaking to read. As I read, I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be Pamela at the moment Jim Morrison passed away. Her so- called friends stopped coming around, members of the Doors tried to sue her because Jim had left Pamela EVERYTHING in his will. Death is funny, it brings out the best and the worst in people. And Pamela was only 24 years old. Imagine.

The night before Pamela died, she was having dinner with a friend, at the end of the dinner she stood up and revealed, "It's time for me to be with Jim now."

In the morning she was dead.

There is a song by Corinna Fugate called Angels Dance and Angels Die. This book will be remembered as one of the greatest romances ever written. To quote Ray Manzareck: It's Romeo and Juliet. It's Heloise and Abelard. It's Jim and Pam.

I have read many books on Jim Morrison, some better then others. I always found most of these books lacking in their depth of his most intimate and profound relationship, Pamela. For this I found the story very satisfying and seemed to ring true. Patricia Butler does a excellent job of collecting hard evidence to support the story she tells with all its craziness and romanticism thrown in for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures too.

The research in this book is mostly impressive. Everyone she interviews is listed, and there are many! I'll give the book three stars for that. However, the book falls flat because it doesn't have enough on the relationship of Jim and Pamela, which is supposed to be the whole point (I thought). What you do read about their relationship is really no surprise. Everyone knew Pamela was Jim's #1 squeeze, even though he fooled around with other gals. Everyone knew they fought and made up. You get more insight into their relationship looking at all the lovely pictures than you do reading this book. The fact Jim was photographed so many times with Pamela tells you something about Pamela vs. "other gals", more than this book will tell you. Pamela was "Queen of the Highway", but there's not enough of her here. It's still worth a read, just not what it could have been.

Very well written, researched well and fairly comprehensive. Some extremely interesting interviews including Jim's good friends from childhood and college. It covers some of his bizarre behavior early on. Good account of Jim's relationship with his highschool girlfriend and his life while living in Florida. Stories of Jim's homosexual encounter(s) was shocking. Author took some literary license with regard to a few of Jim and Pam's (and other's) private conversations. There's no way the author could have known what was said verbatum since she never had a chance to speak to Jim or Pam. And no mention was made as to any drugs being found at the Parisian apartment. I think I recall reading somewhere that Bill Siddons had a chance to sneak through the apartment during the days after Jim's death and he found white powder amongst Pam's things. And there was no mention of the Count (or Marianne Faithful) being summoned to the apartment that morning(or for that matter the Count being mentioned in any part of the book!). I was also shocked to read what food was found in the frig in Jim and Pam's place in LA. The hitchhiking story from FL to CA was also good. I didn't know Jim was thinking of going solo the year before his death. Randy Ralston, Pam's boyfriend later on was an insensitive snot and had no tolerance for her brooding. After you read this book you'll see how much Jim was really tied to Pam throughout their entire relationship: how he would go to great lengths (emotionally and financially) to keep her happy up until the day he died. They even took out at least three marriage licenses during their relationship. This is an excellent character study of Jim Morrison, I feel I know him much better.

A good biography is one that captures the reader's attention and doesn't let go until the entire life story has been told. A great biography not only tells the story of a life, it shares the life in a personal, intimate way not achieved in other works. Patricia Butler has written a great biography. After reading this book, one comes to know both Jim and Pamela Morrison as much more than just names from our shared musical past. We meet them on the most intimate of levels, learning what makes them tick -- with each other, with their friends and families, with the fans of the Doors. This isn't a book just for fans of the Doors; it's a book for anyone who wants to know a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story. Buy this book, and read it. You will not be sorry that you did. Well done, Ms. Butler, well done indeed!

It takes a lot of guts to research and write a book about/connected to Morrison...there will always be an inevitable backlash from some Morrison camps. Fans want to hear more and more about the great velvet menace but they want to only hear what they want to hear. You can't have it both ways guys.

Whether you like the book or not you walk away knowing more than you did before and wasn't that the reason why you read it in the first place?

Personally; I liked the book and having met Patricia in Paris many years ago before she even started writing it, I can say her heart is in the right place and she wrote the book with the truest of intentions.

I have got something out of every book I have ever read about Morrison, even the bad books. Having also enjoyed 'My Life With and Without Jim Morrison' it was nice to see another side of the story.

I think the Romeo and Juliet comparison is fairly apt. They were in love, he spoke with poetry and they both died tragically. Why this comparison surprises people is beyond me.

Im still unsure as to how he really died and how much of a part Pamela played in; a definative factual book on that alone would be great. There was one book that alluded to that but it didn't really tell us anything solid in my opinion. But we love a mystery dont we.

Well done Patricia...you did what you said you were gonna do on Rue Beautreilles that night in '92, I'm proud of ya.

I have read a lot of books about Jim Morrison and this one is by far the best. It is not written by a so-called ex lover as are the books by Linda Ashcroft and Patricia Kennealy, which are full of lies that dead people cannot fix. It is the ONLY book that gives Pamela the credit that she deserves, as she was Jim's only TRUE lover! This book is well written and will take you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. I recommend this book to every Doors fan and every Pamela Morrison fan. It is one of my favorite books of all time.