Customer Reviews

Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Ritz did a wonderful job with seperating the man from the myth. Growing up, I listened to Marvin's music with my father, and there was always a spirit in the music, that to this day, I still can't explain. Just his voice had a presence, which could either frighten or enlighten you. He was truly one of the best.

I got a hold of this book about four years ago, and have read it a few times. There are some parts of the story that are hilarious (like him wanting to beat up Lou Rawls for "stealing" the grammy from him), and some parts are just tragic (his candid talk about his cocaine use, suicide attempts, and death), but overall, it makes you wonder how someone with such an incredible artistic mind could be so self doubting, and self destructive. It makes you wonder: had he not been killed, would he have done something to himself to end his own life? His honesty in regards to his envy and admiriation of other artists was something you won't find in too many biographies, considering the auhtor will try to glamorize it's subject; not the case here. No matter how many charm classes the Motown artists were required to take or how poised Berry Gordy wanted them to be, in this book Marvin bares all, and voids pride.

Although I was only 7 when he was killed, I remember not knowing all too well what a loss the world had suffered- that was until I got older. All I knew then was that man who had the voice that could scare me, or make me feel safe was dead, and I cried. Being a young adult, it is easy to identify with the man's music, considering the world we live in now, is the world he was telling us was to come. Like his music, Marvin is timeless, and his story is one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded. Beautifully written, and painfully honest, this is a must have for music lovers in general.

This was indeed a FASCINATING and TRAGIC drama. It produces emotions of love and hate for Mr. Gaye in the reader. I had no intention of reading the ENTIRE book...but I just couldn't help myself! I wish MORE had been said about HOW IN THE WORLD did his crazy father "get off," because it became obvious to me that it was a cold-blooded and premeditated murder. I wish the photos had been better and that there had been MORE of them....esp. did I want to see a photo of Jewel Price and Eugenie. It's a shame Marvin's mother was too weak to protect herself and her precious son throughout his life from such a vicious, mean, sick father...I couldn't believe how the whole family put up with him. I also feel regret that the family didn't intervene and didn't band together more to bring SOMEBODY to help Marvin in those last several months he spent at home and to keep those bad, destructive elements and people from "hanging out" at their own property. It's such a shame and a loss for the world that Marvin never sought professional therapy to resolve his many and varied issues. I believe that these sensitive entertainers should have "Conflict Resolution" as a part of their contracts. It's terrible to lose such a talent and for him not to have ever been truly happy with the wonderful life he COULD have enjoyed. All in all though, this book was DEFINITELY "da bomb." I'll never forget it or the man behind the story--esp. since I was a big fan, front-row center admiring his handsome face and body during his performance at his Black Expo Concert in Chicago in the 70's and have felt a real "closeness" to him ever since.

In reading this David Ritz account of the life and times of Marvin Gaye, you get the feeling he was the ultimate contradiction. He had the public persona of being a sex machine, but privately he thought of himself as sexually inadequate. He praised God and His message, yet was constantly consuming cocaine and other drugs. He thought of himself as the prince of soul, yet was always doubting his ability. In fact it seems that just about everything that Marvin Gaye did in his life was marked with both pain and pleasure. Ritz provides the reader with entry to the innerworking of Gaye's mind and soul. The chapters that contain the reviews of Gaye's musical work (especially the one regarding his musical masterpiece What's Going On) are extremely insightful. The one drawback to the book is that Ritz is a little too melodramitic in his account of the last years of Gaye's life. He details them in a bit of a soap opera fashion. That is only a minor complaint though and I would highly recommend this book. Marvin Gaye was a tortured genius and his life makes for compelling reading.

It usually takes me about four days to get through a book. "The Divided Soul" took me almost two months! I had no idea how tortured Marvin Gaye was...I'm surprised he lived as long as he did.

He was obviously sexually addicted and had conflicts about his own sexuality, especially with his father being androgynous and leaning more to the effeminate side.

To think that a singer as great as Marvin Gaye, would have any jealousy for other male singers was surprising. His admiration/jealousy for singers like Levi Stubbs and David Ruffin astounded me. The fantasies about his wife having sex with other men and his obsession with prostitution, debauchery and pornography made it clear that something had happened to Marvin early in his early life. Never explained.

His move to Belguim and his bazaar behavior had me reeling (thus, I put down the book for a couple of days).

The book DOES have its funny moments. Gaye crawling out the men's room window, leaving Dionne Warwick deserted in the recording studio "playing tempermental diva" (Marvin had no time for that!)

Mr. Ritz did a fabulous job. Too bad he was so dazzled by Aretha Franklin's legend with "From These Roots", not to grab her by the shoulders and scream, "let's tell the WHOLE truth, Diva!"

He certainly laid bare Marvin's life. Reading this was almost too much to bear.

It's obvious from the start of this book that David Ritz had a great deal of appreciation and love for Marvin Gaye. It's also very apparent by the last chapter that his appreciation and love hasn't prevented Ritz from seeing Gaye's life from all sides. He explores his subject's strengths and failings with a deft hand; details that could have been tawdry and sensationalistic in a lesser writer becomes revelatory when Ritz deals with them.

Everybody discussed in this book emerges with three dimensions. Marvin Gay, Sr., who was his son's killer, certainly did a monsterous, horrible thing, but Ritz goes to great lengths to try and understand both father and son and their hateful relationship, in order to make some sense out of the day Marvin, Jr. died. Similarly, Berry and Anna Gordy, Marvin's former boss and former wife, are neither roundly vilified or let off the hook; Ritz takes pains, for instance, to show that however much Berry Gordy may have stifled Marvin's growth as an artist (he hated WHAT'S GOING ON, rightly considered by many as the finest album Marvin Gaye ever recorded), he also gave Marvin his freedom on a number of other projects and always respected his talent.

And Ritz doesn't whitewash his subject, either; it becomes clear that Marvin Gaye could be very warm and very hostile, equally surefooted and wreckless in his career. By the end of his life, Gaye had succumbed to the madness of his own demons and maybe, just maybe, there was no other way things could've turned out. If you've ever been buoyed by the jubilation of "How Sweet It Is" or moved by the passion of "What's Going On," you'd do well to read this excellent biography.

David Ritz I would just like to say Thank you. I think I can speak on behalf of the legendary Marvin Gaye's fans; You did an exquisite Job on documenting the life of this troubled Genius. I recieved the book November 3 in the mail and I finished it November 5. I have never read a book so quickly in my life, All the while dreading the end. I recommend it to any fan out there who only knows marvin through his music and want to learn more about him as a person. I could relate to Marvin in the fact that I had to move past personal demons in my life, But I was able to defeat my dark forces; While tragically he succumbed to them. He was a master of telling us how he felt through song, Whether he was asking us "WHAT'S GOIN ON?" or telling a young lady "LET'S GET IT ON"..we all loved him because he echoed how we feel as human beings. I was far to young to appreciate Mr. Gaye when he was alive(I was 7 when he died)But now that I am older I truly appreciate the genius and I have the utmost respect and love for him. There will never ever be another Marvin Gaye; And I am glad because he was a precious gem. His light was extinguished far to soon but He will live forever in his music. Mr. Ritz put a human face on Marvin..A person who was struggling with himself, and ultimately lost the struggle. He was a complex person who wanted love but did not know how to accept it. It shows how the acts of a parent can influence a child..Gay sr. Was truly a dispicable human being; and marvin and his dear mother both had to pay the price for it. I happen to be a person of faith and I believe that Marvin is in Heaven and his soul is still singin! I love you marvin gaye! You will never be forgotten! simply the best!

I've just finished _Divided Soul_ and it gave me an insight into Marvin's rollercoaster world that I had never dreamed he endured (and caused). The book is simultaneously informative, candid, and sad. At times, Marvin's behavior is so arrogant that I had to quit reading. Yet, I found myself crying at the end as I read the final seconds of Gaye's all too brief life. Ritz is a keen observer who gives fair and objective accounts of such prominent figures in Marvin's life as Berry Gordy and Anna Gaye. This book has definitely opened my eyes to the divided soul of the beautiful Marvin Gaye.

Just reading this book is enough to make you laugh, cry, and feel for this man. Marvin was an innovator, way ahead of his time. He let us come into his life and live it with him. You read about his inspirations for his 1970s albums (Let's Get It On, I Want You, What's Going On?). You read about his pain, his triumphs, his insecurities. He was a human being as well as an artist. He is truly missed.

VERY VERY scary!

I read 'Divided Soul' back to back with 'Careless Love', Peter Guralnick's account of Elvis' decline, and I couldn't help but be struck by the parallels in the lives of these two singers - the tensions of living with a talentless and resentful father; their immature needy personalities; their serial abusive relationships with girls far too young for them; the reliance on drugs to supply the self-confidence they lacked; a descent into nihilism, depression and eventual "suicide".

Reading the two books back to back, they become one story - and what that story tells us is that fame itself is totally lethal to those who aren't equipped for it.

And sadly, no one was less equipped than Elvis and Marvin.

I read this book when it was first released. To this day, I still recognize it as one of the best biographies I've ever read. I'm such a fan of this book that I passed my original copy around for months to make sure not one of my friends or family missed this. David Ritz cut to the chase and made me put aside all my preconceived ideas about Marvin's life and death. At once Marvin Gaye's life and untimely death became real, painful and surprisingly personal to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates an unflinchingly honest, richly detailed and flawless account of a life, especially one as complicated as Marvin's.