Customer Reviews

Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain

5 star:		(124)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

Early on you get a good idea of the course Cross is going to follow, when in the Author's Note he casually, but shroudedly, admits to a childhood akin to Kurt's. At least he plays fair with the reader, admitting off the top that he might be predisposed to looking for suicidal tendencies in his subject. But the reader should also take this as a warning: this is not a fan's-eye-view of Nirvana's chart-topping success (Dave Grohl makes brief and scattered appearances throughout the book), but a gloves-off biography of their tortured leader. Read in that light, it is mostly a success. Mostly.

Cross' greatest strength is the depth and breadth of his research. Apparently Courtney Love, Kurt's widow, gave Cross extensive access to Kurt's personal effects. She also sat for repeated lengthy interviews, as did many of the other notable players in Kurt's life. This kind of access gives Cross an insight into his subject that those of us who read all the Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine profiles of the man never got. It's revelatory, to be sure. For example, he is able to quote liberally from Kurt's diary, which lets the reader into Kurt's head. It offers such revelations as the following, which describes his concession to the inevitable path of becoming a junkie: "if I feel like a junkie as it is [due to stomach pains], I may as well be one." Or, in Cross' greatest discovery, he describes a long lost video of Kurt bathing his daughter Frances, in a scene of seemingly domestic tranquility. The camera focuses on father and daughter for a long moment, and then abruptly pans around the bathroom. Cross, an observant viewer, notes that in the toothbrush holder, instead of a toothbrush, is a syringe. His commentary on this image, how it destroys the conventional familial image established moments before, is some of his best work.

Sometimes, however, Cross can go a bit overboard with the facts. Just because he found out a little tidbit like, "[Kurt's] favorite [infant] game was peekaboo, his first tooth appeared at eight months, and his first dozen words were, 'coco, momma, dadda, ball, toast, bye-bye, hi, baby, me, love, hot dog, and kittie,'" doesn't mean it needs to be included. Too often Cross recounts, in laundry list-like prose, trivial facts like this, which really do very little in terms of illuminating the life. It comes across more as showing off his knowledge.

He also, at times, can't help indulging into a bit of pop psychoanalysis, where pop psychoanalysis is not welcome. In Cross' hands a picture of the Cobain family, taken when Kurt was 6, supposedly does a precise job of predicting the sorrow to come. Based exclusively on body language on posture. The picture is included here for your perusal. I, for one, didn't see anything near to what Cross saw. He also, at one point, compares Kurt's image in early band photos to "Christ in Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'". I suppose one sees what one wants to see.

And anyone who lived through the period, like I did, will find dubious statements such as the following: "'The Cobain baby' was as talked about across lunch counters and supermarket checkout lines as the Lindbergh baby had been decades before." The Vanity Fair article that revealed Courtney had used heroin during her pregnancy was big news, true. But only within the community. It was not nearly the global tabloid scandal that Cross makes it out to be. Misleading analysis like the preceding calls into question every other statement Cross has to make. It does a lot of work undermining his credibility.

Further compounding the problem is Cross' hit-or-miss writing. For the most part he utilizes an objective, almost journalistic prose style, laying the facts at the reader's feet without unnecessary ornamentation. But every once in a while he will indulge in odd analogies: "Like senior citizens going to a dentists' appointment, the band made sure they were early for this all-important show." Was that bit of superfluous style really necessary? These bits appear out of nowhere in the text, and come off as if the writer had a burst of inspiration, albeit a rather dull one. Though, even when he's playing things by the book, Cross is still prone to blunders. He clumsily describes the *melody* of the song "About a Girl" as "sweet, slow, and *melodic*".

Despite the numerous complaints I've outlined above, Cross' book is still consistently readable; although I suspect that the power of the story being told has a lot to do with that. I've always thought that a biography should be judged on how the author was able to stay out of the way, and let the events of the life present themselves. In this case, Cross is, like I noted above, mostly a success. His reputation as a respected music and entertainment journalist is apparently well-earned, despite some missteps along the way, and his objectivity is very rarely questionable. That being said, his greatest feat, paradoxically, is the way he handles Kurt's final days. Much of it of course is speculation, for no one but Kurt knows how it all went down. But what Cross comes up with to tell this part of the tale is moving and powerful, without ever pandering to melodrama. The final moments are recounted with credibility, pathos, sorrow, and, most importantly, empathy. The book breaks from being a standard biography at this point, adding untold emotion to these well-written scenes. Cross even manages to tie up the book's (and, consequently, the life's) main themes. These final pages do yeomen's work making up for any errors Cross has made along the way, and, ultimately, they make the book a worthwhile read.

If the author wanted to write Courtney's biography of Kurt, why not just be honest and say this on the front cover? There are many ways to do this. It could have said "by Courtney Love with Charles R. Cross," "by Courtney Love and Charles R. Cross," or "by Charles R. Cross and Courtney Love." It is so skewed in so many regards; if I were Cross I would not be able to sleep at night. Some things were funny, such as the assertions that Courtney touched heroin only because bad-boy Kurt lured her into doing so. Also interesting to me was the fact that Cross continually painted Kurt as a liar, talked about how similar his and Courtney's personalities and backgrounds were, yet never managed to infer that, duh, Courtney might be spinning a largely fictional account for him. I also don't find the book very well written; a brutally honest editor (with the ability to say things like "this is droning on and on," "your disdain for the subject continues to show through," "you're editorializing--who told you this?" and "the prose is a little too affected here") could have helped the project tremendously.

I bought this book with great hopes, but about halfway through it I became thoroughly disgusted with Cross's writing. For a biographer, he takes too many liberties when filling in the unknowns in Cobain's life. For example, the bit about Cobain walking around the entire day after first getting laid, smelling his fingers. Please. Cross ruins a potentially good story with fabrications like this.
Cross also neglects to write about Cobain the artist. We learn nothing of his creative process, of his long hours spent practicing guitar, nothing from anyone he's played with. This is too bad because to understand Cobain's life, one must appreciate the role that art played in his life. You cannot remove the music from Cobain's life and tell the story of an ordinary man, because Cobain lived and breathed music for most of his life. Alas, we are left to figure out for ourselves when events in Cobain's life occurred relative to his musical achievements. The only glimpse we get into Cobain's art is when we learn about the woman who inspired several songs on Nevermind, a token account when considering the consistent brilliance of Cobain's songwriting.
The worst problem with this book by far is that Cross relied too heavily on Courtney Love's version of events. This leads to numerous errors in the book, for example, we are told that Love helped Cobain pen Pennyroyal Tea, but any bootlegger knows that Cobain first performed this song in late 1991, before he ever met Love. One can only wonder how many other inaccuracies sprout from Love's egocentric retelling of events, events for which there is only Love's side to the story. For this reason, I consider virtually one third of the book entirely worthless, since it is based on interviews with a person proven to lack credibility.
All in all, it's worth reading, but I don't consider it a worthy biography of Cobain. The John Lennon of generation X deserves a more professional biography, but for now we will have to make do with the shoddy journalism that plagues so much of the literature on Cobain.

I give this 'biography' a star partly because it's well-written and dramatic fictional piece....Nah.. I take that back. There is no option to give this NO stars, otherwise I would have.

I quite admire Cross's ability to recall, in order, the actions taken by Kurt on the morning of his suicide. It's captivating. If you're not paying too much attention, you don't realise that, in order for Cross to be able to describe what Kurt did and what he felt at the time, he would have to have been there, not only watching, but talking to Kurt at the time. There are more examples of this that I could describe, but there's no point in me doing that: all you have to do is pick up a copy in a bookstore and read for yourself. It happens the whole way through.

*sigh*

It's such a terrible shame that this has been lapped up by so many people as 'the definitive' Kurt Cobain biography. Clearly, it is not. It's semi-truthful, and it completely relies on Cross's story-telling combined with questionable 'research' (most of which consists of interviews done with Courtney Love, a 'woman' renowned for saying the things that suit her and are most advantageous to her at the time).

I reviewed this once before, and I don't think it got posted possibly because it came across as a rant from a person who strongly believed that Kurt had been murdered. I'm not saying that even if I think it. I just really wish that this had been done properly, that it had been based on more factual evidence, and that it didn't read like a psychological examination of Kurt Cobain. I can see it now. 0 of (however many) found this review helpful. I completely understand. If I read something like this review, I'd also be thinking "What's wrong with this person? Surely, the book cannot be that bad". It's not that it's bad; Cross is obviously a great writer and a talented story-teller. As far as research-skills go, I wouldn't be surprised if this book relied on emails from Ms. Love every now and again. Now come on. This is a biography. The man is dead, cannot hold up his hand and object to romantic little truths-stretched about what happened in his life and what he felt at the time. As a fiction, 5 stars. As a biography, none.

If you want to read a cute little book about a rock star who takes loads of drugs and is an absolute parasite on his poor old wife before doing himself in, pick this up. If you want to know Kurt Cobain, look elsewhere.

Heavier Than Heaven reads like a lovely, dramatic, romantic piece of fiction. This book is full of literary tricks and smoke and mirrors. The author relates, as if it were fact, what Cobain was doing, thinking, feeling, & seeing during the last hours of his life. Poetic license shouldn't be tolerated in a book attempting to pass itself off as a definitive biography & the author's description of Cobain's last days are typical of this book. Cross either did very little research or is a terrible researcher because his information is largely provided by Cobain's former wife at the expense of many other valuable first person sources and facts of public record that could have been utilized. Bizzarely, almost totally missing is any input from Cobain's former bandmates, one of whom had a decade long friendship with Kurt. This book is poorly documented fluff & I cannot believe that I paid money for this.

If you're looking for more facts & less literary license, read Who Killed Kurt Cobain? For such an agressive title, it is surprisingly objective, provides details of Cobain's formative years & the early days of Nirvana, is much shorter, well documented & provides a much more inclusive look at an interesting life and unfortunate death.

The book, being a Kurt Cobain biography, is entirely based on him - and not on Nirvana. The band was, of course, a large and crucial part of the singer's life, but the book's main focus is not on the band. Therefore, many details on Nirvana, including their recording sessions and shows are just mentioned briefly - if discussed at all. Only a handful of shows are mentioned, and recording sessions are only dealt with by a few paragraphs. The recording session for the legendary 'Nevermind' album for example is covered in just a couple of pages, while the very same period takes up more than 50 pages in a different book (entirely about the "Nevermind" album) by the same author.

When it comes to the life of Cobain, however, few details are left out. Every aspect of Kurt Cobain is covered, beginning with his birth in February 1967 up until his death in April 1994. With a great and captivating writing style, Cross goes through Kurt's life chronologically throughout the book, describing the most interesting events in his life. The story of Cobain is pieced together with the help of interviews with, it seems, everyone who ever had repeated contact with Kurt - including close family members, band mates, girlfriends, musicians and many many others. As an unprecedented bonus, the book includes many excerpts from Kurt's own personal journals and descriptions of some of his artwork.

In general, the book sets itself dramatically apart the others on Nirvana and/or Kurt Cobain in that most of it offers "new" information that has not been published before, including several horrid stories. Even if you consider yourself a Nirvana expert, and have read "Come as you are" a dozen times or whatever, you'll still be able to discover many many new details and facts in this one - and you will probably find answers to many unanswered questions you may have had.

In conclusion, the book is an excellent description of Kurt Cobain's life, all of it's major events, and his part of Nirvana. As mentioned, it gives many interesting and fascinating details, stories, descriptions and much information that all Nirvana fans should know. This is not a Nirvana book and is not a book about music, but about the life of one person. Whether this is a bad or good thing depends on how interested you are in Kurt Cobain, I suppose.

I don't claim to be a Kurt Cobain expert. Nobody is except for Kurt himself. His life will always be a mystery. This book,however, Describes events and thoughts that nobody in world could know in such detail. He couldnt know what he was thinking when nobody was around. In every paragraph the book contradicts what it said in the paragraph before that one. He lead people to believe the Cobains were happy. When Courtney said herself that he wrote unflattering letters about her. He told people he was gonna divorce her. I think the author should just stop writing forever if he won't even attempt to make it interesting. Hopefull this is his last fiction novel!

The mainstream press has praised it to high heaven as the Cobain book to buy. However, there are some major issues here. It was a collaboration between Courtney Love and Charles Cross, which is a red flag off the bat. Love is blatantly trying to change history in it, and paint herself and her late husband in a totally different light. Some of it is based on diaries Kurt left behind. Diaries that could have been easily manipulated at some point or another. It's no secret that Kurt was prepared to divorce Courtney before he died. She admits it herself in taped conversations with Tom Grant in 1994 and 1995. People around them have also spoken out about the turmoil between the two at the time. Yet this book wants us to believe that they had a great marriage. Remaining Nirvana members are also accusing Courtney Love of changing history and pasting herself into things so they benefit her. Clearly a slap in the face to them, as well as Kurt's memory. Cross also likes to take speculation and present them the same way as he does facts. He writes of Kurt's last morning like he was actually there. Heavier Than Heaven has some major flaws, so read this book with caution.

This book is well written, but unfortunately the only reliable information lies within Kurt's early years which is history that is hard to alter. As a fan of Hole and Courtney Love, it is fact that she is a proven liar (and a self-admitted one) and one only needs to look at the back of this book to see how often Charles Cross cites her word as a source. The fact that Love was in very close contact with Cross during the writing of the book was evident, and if you compare to the stories told by her and in other books you will see countless inconsistencies. The author made no attempt to seek out the real story - it painted Kurt as a depressed and hopeless man who was bound to kill himself from the first chapter, and it is almost an explanation of why he did so rather than being a tribute to his amazing career and intelligence that made him one of the most legendary icons ever. This fictional account of Kurt's life culminates in COMPLETE GUESSES as to what happened in Kurt's last days. Only one person that knew Kurt, Michael DeWitt, was documented as seeing him on April 2, 1994 - which he claimed thought was a dream - and nobody saw much of what he did. Cross still dares to go forth and say how Kurt proceeded to take his life, detailing what he did, when he did it, up to putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. While this case is labelled a suicide, coming up with his own guesses and claiming they are 'fact' is an insult to all literature. I am not claiming the murder theory be addressed by any means, it is simply a travesty that Cross decided to completely speculate on what Kurt did in his last days and hours after leaving rehab, primarilly using Courtney Love as the only person who painted him as a hopelessly depressed man who she "knew" was going to kill himself. Cross makes a mockery of his own credibility with this book, as anyone with just a small knowledge on Kurt's life can verify. If you want to learn more about the life of Kurt Cobain, this is the last book you want to read.

As the book starts out describing how beautiful Courtney Love is, you know right away that the book is trash.

It gets worse.

Everything Kurt says and writes is depicted as a sign of suicide. Courtney Love adds to this by stating how happy they were and how he could never seem content. Yet, interviewers state how happy and contented he had been toward the year of 93 and 94. That's ignored, however, as the author writes more about how selfish, arrogant, and contradictory Cobain is.

It's pure trash. I also know I'd hate it if when I die, people go through my diary. I know I've written 10x worse things than Cobain did in my journals.