Customer Reviews

Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Being a Neil Diamond fan for as long as I remember, I had to purchase this book and was not disappointed. Ms Jackson covers a surprising amount of information and really gives you tremendous insight into Neil's heart, mind, and character. She exposes you to what his life entailed and everything that influenced what he is today. It made me fall in love with him even more...if that was possible!!

Don't Judge this book by its Cool Cover. I LOVE NEIL but this is a puff piece, way to much of the authors opinion of what Neil thinks. Her opinions of the bands and the era's is a joke. It's like written by the church lady. I hope I can find another book with a more Neilistic view.

I did learn some things but overall I was kinda disappointed and Wanting a whole lot more.

This is not a biography. This is how the author thinks he feels about his life, his music, his passion.

I have been a Neil Diamond fan from way back. I have seen him in concert many times and will still continue to see him. He is an extremely talented man who has so much to offer but suffers from some road blocks at times trying to get out what he wants to. When he finds his groove it leaves me breathless. I enjoyed the book. My favorite Neil song is I am I said.

I received the above mentioned in great condition, and once I started reading I couldn't put it down!!!!!!!!!!! I am a huge fan of Neil Diamond and this book brought me closer to the man himself. Fantastic reading for any Neil Diamond fan.

This book is very much a cut-and-paste job with information gleaned from previous biographies and interviews and no new material save for the author's own opinions, which are occasionally very misinformed. It's one thing to have your own opinion, but very early on Jackson makes some really basic errors about the 1970s music scene and forms opinions based on those errors. Further, given that this author has somehow managed to write 15 in-depth biographies over the past 17 years -- releasing some of them with multiple titles as though they were new books -- makes me wonder just what is going on here.

If you want to learn about Neil Diamond, don't start here. What you need to do is first realize that he has not been officially involved (nor unofficially, as far as I know) with any book. You should also know that the information he has given in interviews is often contradictory. Accept this, learn to live with it, then go read He Is...I Say by David Wild if you want a nice overview of Neil's life. The liner notes for the In My Lifetime music set are also very informative. If you want more detail, try Solitary Star by Rich Wiseman and Diamond: A Biography by Grossman et al. Solitary Star is seen as more negative, and while the author does seem to be very irritated with Diamond throughout the book, he includes interviews from people who really like Neil so it's not all negative. Diamond: A Biography is more positive, sometimes so much so that they fudge the facts. (For example, Solitary Star goes into a lot of detail about the lawsuit and Lee Holdridge credit fiasco for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, while Diamond: A Biography skims over it and never discusses the ultimate repercussions for Neil.) Both Solitary Star and Diamond have errors, and both were written in 1987 so have no real new material, but they're good reads. Also, both books very deliberately do not even mention groupies or Neil's kids, which I personally think is only fair since Diamond himself did not contribute to either book, but it does mean you won't get much dirt. But you might as well buy those two books and get the relatively "original" information rather than read it in Jackson's bland book.

For anyone who's a Neil Diamond fan, this book will satisfy, I think. I enjoyed most of the story immensely (and it's not a thick one)- but the last 1/3 was mainly made up of what's got to be public knowledge: tours and personal appearances, recordings made. But the book did satisfy lots of my need to know about my favorite singer. There's the feeling I get that the author's "extremely testing time" (in her dedication) was that of trying to write this book about an extremely private guy!

So many good memories were brought back when reading this but Mr. Diamond is a private man, and we fans just have to understand and go along with that. We're lucky to have been shown the few private things that were brought out in this book! Private stars WANT to keep their lives private, remember. Just look at Paul Newman.

I'm not young - I'm over 80 - and this guy (Neil Diamond) has been a force in the music I've loved for many years. When I still had my husband the music of Neil was put onto our tapes, the lyrics typed out into a book we still cherish for their poetry. And this author brought out how much Neil's feelings go into those lyrics. Oh, the hours my husband spent on his tall stool, taping those songs, getting all those lyrics down! When the album "African Trilogy" came out we played those deep drums SO LOUD the floor trembled below our heads (which were on the floor with our bodies, to "get all the music". When Neil first hit the public stage, our girls went to the East Boston, MA free concert at the City Yard to hear him; probably in 1968. We were so afraid for them (all the drugs we'd heard about at these concerts), but "Holly Holy" became a song we absolutely loved after that. And when our Red Sox play, the song "Sweet Caroline" is what the 7th inning stretch is all about! When any performer does that song, this lady is right in there "boomp, boomp, boomp" -ing with the lyrics. I've been to three of Neil Diamond's live performances and wouldn't miss a minute of them. Thank you, Laura Jackson, for bringing back those wonderful memories of an absolutely marvelous performer. May the remainder of his life be good - he deserves it for what he's brought to his fans.

Thoughtfully written with tons of information about Neil Diamond's life and career. I loved this book!!

I really enjoyed this biography of a true legend of the music world. There was complete insight to Diamond's passion for songwriting and performing live. This is the best book for Friends of Neil Diamond.

There is really not much material available on Neil Diamond. So in that respect the book does quite well and sheds a lot of light on some of Diamond's albums and singles on the chart. Wish there was more stuff on the subject himself.