Paperback Writer: The Life and Times of the Beatles, the Spurious Chronicle of Their Rise to Stardom, Their Triumphs and Disasters, Plus the Amazing [Paperback]

Mark Shipper (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace Books (June 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441651240
• ISBN-13: 978-0441651245
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,680,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, March 11, 2005

By 

Steve S. "dbronx" (Roswell, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paperback Writer: The Life and Times of the Beatles, the Spurious Chronicle of Their Rise to Stardom, Their Triumphs and Disasters, Plus the Amazing (Paperback)

As Mark Shipper writes in his introduction, don't take the book too seriously, because when all is said and done, rock and roll should never be taken all that seriously.

With that in mind, Shipper "reconstructs" (or deconstructs) the Beatles mythology in an absolutely brilliant and humorous way. His inventive melding of what Beatles fans know as fact with an ever-so-slightly skewing of other incidents in their lives makes for a terrific read.

Re-reading this after the Anthology releases and George's passing, it makes this long-time Beatles fan wonder, yet again, just what would've happened if all four of them could've been part of a true reunion. But as Shipper presciently realized in 1978, our expectations may never reconcile themselves with the reality. And as a result we should remain thankful, more than 40 years later, for a damn fine body of work and countless countless hours of enjoyment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Lennon would've loved it!, September 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Paperback Writer: The Life and Times of the Beatles, the Spurious Chronicle of Their Rise to Stardom, Their Triumphs and Disasters, Plus the Amazing (Paperback)

In the irony of ironies, I first read this book the day after John Lennon was murdered. Though of course the tragedy that had just occurred blunted some of my enjoyment at the time, it's nonetheless a hilariously-skewed rewrite of common-knowledge Beatle history. Shipper sends up everybody with the kind of no-holds barred irreverence Lennon was known for, and if you know your Beatle trivia, the in-jokes that abound here will have you rolling on the floor with laughter. This doesn't blunt the end of the book, which essentially holds the same moral as Ricky Nelson's song, "Garden Party." (You youngsters go look that one up!). A terrific book; hope it's soon available again!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remains one of the best books on Beatles -- and rock'n'roll, September 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Decatur, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paperback Writer: The Life and Times of the Beatles, the Spurious Chronicle of Their Rise to Stardom, Their Triumphs and Disasters, Plus the Amazing (Paperback)

I was 13 when I first bought Paperback Writer, after furtively glancing at it in a New Orleans bookstore. I was just going through my Beatles nut phase, and I -- like Scobo -- wondered why the album covers in the book didn't look like the real thing, and why Brian Epstein was a plumber when I knew he wasn't. (You have to read it.) Every so often, I'll take it off my shelf and re-read a chapter or two. It has gotten a little sillier, but it also seems, strangely, to have gotten closer to the truth. And it still has more laughs than almost any other book I've read in the 21 years since I bought it. I can't believe it's out of print -- heck, it even has a blurb from rockcrit high priest Greil Marcus on the back cover. Mark Shipper, where are you now?