Customer Reviews

The Mourning of John Lennon

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

 

 

This book is unlike any Lennon book I've read before. It is intuitive and emotionally vivid in its description of Lennon. Beyond the myth of Lennon's "Beatle John" image, The Mourning of John Lennon manages to give you a powerful sense of what his life was about - up close and personal. Fantastic.

Having read the two previous reviews, I got a chance to look at the book in the Cleveland Public Library. It is a great source, and a nice addition to the other Lennon books out on the market. It is well researched and gives a clear (although somewhat academic) portrait of an artist worthy of an indepth study. I would highly reccomend to other Lennonologists.

I read this book and I believe it is a great analysis on the life of John Lennon. I appreciate the fact that the first reviewer has their own opinion on the book but it is really not a waste of time. I highly recommend this book!!!!!

This book has some interesting analysis of Lennon's work, but it is cluttered with post-modern jargon, odd wording, and badly-researched claims.
p. 41 Elliott confuses Freud's "primal scene" (accidentally viewing parents having sex) with Janov's "primal scream," which involved *any* key childhood trauma, quite often non-sexual in nature.
p. 84 Elliott states "some critics...suggest[ ]that he [John] actually beat up women, including his first wife." No need to suggest: in the Hunter Davies '60s Beatles bio, both Lennon and then-wife Cynthia openly discussed his violent episodes during their dating days. Although Cynthia later back-tracked in her book _John_, indicating that this was an isolated incident, in the Davies book both John and Cynthia gave the impression that he was violent more than once, on one occasion shocking a cleaning lady who witnessed his behavior and later warned Cynthia not to get involved with a person like that.
p. 116 and elsewhere Elliott uses "sedimenting" where one would use "cementing," as in, "cementing his image." Is this a regional slang usage or just bad proofing?
All in all, it reads like a dissertation hastily adapted for publication.

I thought this book was filled with baloney.
He also trashes one of the best books I've ever read on Lennon by Seamans.
Read the book by Seamans; The last days of John Lennon. That author WAS REALLY THERE!
Elliot is just cashing in on the Lennon name to sell his opinions on events he was not there to witness.
Maybe the Seaman's book presents truths people don't want to hear; exploding the myths about Yoko and the "great love" between Lennon and Yoko which fizzled.

This book is a psychoanalysis of John Lennon's life and songs. It is a waste of time and one of the worst books I have ever read about John Lennon. Give me a break!