Customer Reviews

Bound for Glory (Plume)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this book many years ago, and I easily recommend it to anyone. You don't have to be a fan of folk music (I'm not particularly), or ascribe to any particular ideology to ejoy it. Woody Guthrie is a very intelligent and insightful but writes in a straightforward plain English without any of the pretense of some of the Beat road stories.

Essential reading for those that need a deeper understanding. There are many poetic passages, sad stories and a great reference to what America is like for those who were poor and often at odds with their country. This is a book that holds up so well today and will make you want more. Dylan probably brought you here in the first place. You won't be disappointed. Everybody should read this book.

Bound for Glory expresses the heart of a man, a life and a people. Told in true storteller fashion, one which twists and turns language into something alive and personal, Woodie Guthrie recounts his life, from Oklahoma to all around this great big old country. And by the books end, you feel you've rambled the whole way with him and seen what he had. This is an American classic on par with the Autobiography of Mark Twain. No American history book or teacher or what have you can give you a tenth of what this book can---i.e., the ethos of the American people who suffered many trials and tribulations, depravations and hardship, and yet managed to still be beautiful. So forget your Beatnicks and your New England Transcendentialists, and pick up a book worthy of being called an example of the American Bardic Tradition. You most certainly won't be an inch disappointed.

This was a really great book. It's hard to believe one man would be so talented as both songwriter and autobiographer. It all had a very Beat feel to it, but I might actually like it better than On The Road because it's got all the fantastic enthusiasm for living, but it's so completely devoid of pretense. It immediately jumped into my top 5.

Woody has meant much to me. I found out about him through hearing Dylan's Tribute to Guthrie (An Amazing Poem/Bootleg Series Volume 1). My girlfriend picked up the book for me when I was out of a coma for two weeks due to a motorcycle accident. Coincidently Guthrie died the same month and day of my accident October Third. Which happens to be the last line of the book. I was knocked back. Guthrie represented a man, a real man out to do what he wanted to do in the way he wanted to do it. Hard to find in our times. Guthrie has been an inspiration for me and I cherish this book, and I am going to take the same approach as he has done in Bound for Glory, as I will in the book I have just begun, 'In the Eye of a Flower'. Check Bound for Glory out if you wish to connect with the struggle of a true American Individual.

I'm not even done reading it but I love it. This is one of the best books I have ever read. When you read it, it makes you feel like you are right there with him. At times it is very funny and also sad. Even if you dont like Woody's music its still a great book to read.

This book written by Woody Guthrie was also made into a movie. The movie starred David Carradine and Randy Quaid among others. I have never seen the movie and I had little idea what this book was about until I opened it up and started reading.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not simply the story of a famous County singer and songwriter's life, but a "Hobo-ing America" adventure story. It was written in the Mark Twain tradition - with all the down home and backwoods country dialect included.
I enjoyed this story - it is a "real" story about real people. Woody did a fine job in telling this story.
The book has great drama and pathos and would be enjoyable reading even if you didn't know who the heck Woody Guthrie was or what he turned into. I read it as a history novel and place it in the category with the "Grapes of Wrath" or "Gone with the Wind".

Richard Edward Noble - The Hobo Philosopher - Author of:

"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."

I enjoyed reading this book. Woody writes with a unique perspective and style. This book along with his fictional/ autobiographical-Seeds of Man are must reads to get to know this uniquely american hero (but Joe Kleins biography-Woody Guthrie, a life is the best way to really get to know Woody.)

if you area woody guthrie fan you will love this book. well done. it would be a good book for anyone who is interested in music or our country when it was younger.

The story is real and keeps you turning pages. The delivery is perfect. His words are just so much fun to read.