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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Last Years Of John Lennon,
This review is from: Nowhere Man:The Final Days Of John Lennon (Hardcover)
An infinite number of books have been written about the life and death of John Lennon, but very few have taken us into the inner sanctuary of the last years of his life when he was the self-proclaimed house-husband. Most people think that Mr. Lennon lived those last years in domestic bliss, taking care of Sean, baking bread with his biggest worry being what to watch on TV. Robert Rosen once had access to Mr. Lennon's personal diaries and he reveals that those above notions aren't the actual truth. The John Lennon we read about it in this superb book is a very fragile man who was concerned about his weight, his relationship with his first son Julian, his own relevance. We learn of his bizarre belief in numerology and how he delighted in any misfortune that befell Paul McCartney especially his drug bust in Japan. Mr. Rosen doesn't just focus on the failings of John Lennon, he tells stories of his tender relationship with Sean, the pride he took in learning how to sail and of his captaining a boat and the recording of Double Fantasy. The book also chillingly details the downward spiral of Mr. Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman and the days and months leading up to him actually firing the shots that ended Mr. Lennon's life. Nowhere Man expertly breaks down the final chapters in John Lennon's life and we see him as a human being and not just a reclusive rock star.
66 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Depressing yet Moving,
By Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nowhere Man:The Final Days Of John Lennon (Hardcover)
Even a dedicated Lennonphile who find new material in this well-written and poignantly sad examination of John's last year. The closer Rosen edges towards the assassination, the sadder and more wistful the reader feels. It's puzzling and amazing that an icon like Lennon was not very happy towards the end of his too-short life. The book brings out the numerous infidelities that marred the Lennon-Ono partnership, supposedly one of the greatest love stories of the era. Yoko comes off fairly well here, which is surprising considering the usually brutal treatment she receives at the hands of biographers.Her manipulative nature is exemplified in Lennon's decision to include Yoko's pathetic musical material on his last album, "Double Fantasy," which was utterly compromised by having Yoko wail on every other track. Her control over Lennon's decision-making processes is detailed here and is sobering. It's frustrating that John relied upon Yoko so heavily in making professonal decisions when his musical career had benn nearly without parallel. Ultimately this is an interesting and well-written book with few errors of fact and some new information (rare for any Beatles-related book). One of the most depressing nights of my life was when I heard John was killed, and this book brings back the anguish quite well. Twenty years later, all Lennon fans will eternally ask themselves how much more great music John had within him. Tragically, we will never know because of Mark David Chapman.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
....,
By A Customer
This review is from: Nowhere Man:The Final Days Of John Lennon (Hardcover)
This is an interesting book. I'd rate it higher, but for the whole legal disclaimer bit that says, "this is a work of imagination" etc., and is oblique in how the Lennon diaries were used. So you're uncertain whether what your reading is true or false. Obviously a lot of it is true, as Rosen admits to using other sources than the diaries. But, that aside, it is an interesting and well-written book. And one extreme but perhaps fair point is John Lennon's demons, and self-proclaimed--in his PLAYBOY interview--violent impulses. John Lennon in this book is madly jealous of Paul Simon and Paul McCartney for being bigger solo successes than he is. He is happy when McCartney gets thrown in jail in Japan. And the end bit gives an oblique comparison to John's killer...that if Brian Epstein had not come into the Cavern Club and discovered the Beatles, and Lennon had stayed a nobody, Lennon might have reacted with the envy his killer had toward him, toward someone else who became a big star. John's killer was jealous of Lennon...Lennon was jealous of Simon and McCartney...and what if Lennon had gone absolutely nowhere, and stayed in Liverpool? As he said in Hunter Davies' biography, "If not for the Beatles, I might have ended up like my father," a failed bum. Just like Lennon's killer. That's an extreme comparison. But As McCartney said in the expanded Davies' book, "Ever since John died, he's become Martin Luther Lennon." This book shows the anger and jealousy and pettines of Lennon...which makes him less than saint-like...but nonetheless human, and somewhat endearing because of it. A good book to be read with a pinch of salt.
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