Customer Reviews

Jimmy Buffett: The Man from Margaritaville Revealed

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

 

 

Eng has a lot of facts about the life of Jimmy Buffett but that's about all. Those of us who have been fans of his since the very beginning already knew most of them. Too much rambling speculation about Jimmy's possible ancestors. Eng does not have near the writing talent that Jimmy does so he should not have done this bio. His motivation seems to be celebrity and riches. If you want to read a really good book about the life of Jimmy Buffet up to age 50, "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" is the best book I have read in many years. But what would else would we expect from a master storyteller?

I found the book very confusing. The author leaps from past pirate adventures to modern day Jimmy Buffett and back. I have had this book for over a year and have not been able to get past page 50. When Jimmy urges Mr. Eng not to continue the book, I think it was more for the reader's sake and not for his own. Fins Up!

This book is downright awful. Let me warn you - stay away. I agree with the other reviews. There are detailed facts about things totally unrelated to Jimmy Buffett or even the point that the author is trying to make. I guess if you took out all of the irrelevant lines, the book would be only 20 pages of nothing new.
*You have been warned*

i have had this book since it first came out and i havent finished it yet!!go to your local bookstore,find this book,if its still out there.read jimmys letter to the author.close the book and go home knowing you have read the best part!!true parrotheads will find A PIRATE LOOKS AT 50 the true JIMMY BUFFETT bio.

As a serious (if that descriptor could possibly apply) Parrothead, I jumped at this title. Wow! More good stuff about a good guy. Wow! What a disappointment.

What's truly ironic is that the author is a gold-card member of the Nashville establishment, the music community that Buffett rejected shortly after it rejected him. Which was for the better, I'd add. The author has done deep research, and reported every word of it. He rambles into mostly irrelevant and fairly menaingless anecdotes that do nothing to help us understand the inner Jimmy.

This is a demanding book. You almost need a notepad to keep track of the awkward leaps forward and back through history, along with unpredictable changes in narrator, tense and setting. This is not a four-Margarita-in-the-hammock read.

I enjoyed some of it, but I understand why Jimmy refused to cooperate. I'll wait for the autobiography he's promised in 36 years.

I found this book to be superb. Buffett did not like it being written.

However, it is very well written and full of interesting facts.

Did you know that Hugh Taylor and Alex Taylor and not just James Taylor contributed to the "Volcano" album?

Did you know that Bob Mercer, the President of the now defunct Margaritaville Records is married to Margie, Jimmy Buffett's ex-wife?

A very interesting and informative book. Don't listen to these sheep who reject it only because Mr. Buffett did not like Steve Eng writing it.

This is one of the most poorly-researched and writtenbiographies I have ever read. As a longtime Parrothead and journalist,I find this book particularly offensive. It is clear from the outset that the author did not have the cooperation of Buffett, which would have been fine had he compensated by putting some extra effort into his research. Instead, you are deluged with trivial anecdotes and insignificant quotes from marginal figures in Jimmy's life. Most Buffett fans will already know most of the pertinent information in this book, so it is just not worth the time and supreme effort it takes to read it.

The only thing more frustrating than wallowing through this book is the knowledge that Mr. Eng will make Any money from it. I wisely got the book from my local library and am very glad I did. As a native of New Orleans and someone who lived in the city at the time Jimmy was playing there I was amazed at the lack of research done and the balant errors in this work. Save time and read " A Pirate Looks at Fifty".

The book begins by trying to link Jimmy Buffett with a sailor named Buffett who participated in the Mutiny on the Bounty. It doesn't get much better. Buffett reveals more in songs and interviews than Mr. Eng was able to dig up.

This book begins with a letter from Jimmy Buffett where he asks Eng to not undertake this project. As a Parrothead, I enjoy hearing about the life of Jimmy Buffett. But, as Jimmy stated in his letter, if anyone is going tell his story, it should be him. Eng's writing style is, to sum it up in a word, boring. It was a chore to read and I filed it away after reading only 60 pages. Let Jimmy tell his own story and don't waste your money.