John (Random House Large Print Biography) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Cynthia Lennon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Random House Large Print Biography | Publication Date: October 18, 2005

The Extraordinary Story of a Man, a Legend and a Marriage

When she was eighteen years old, a girl named Cynthia Powell met a boy named John Lennon and they fell in love. Their ten-year relationship coincided with the start of the Beatles phenomenon—from Liverpool’s dockside clubs to the dizzying worldwide fame that followed. And Cynthia Lennon, John’s first wife, was an integral part of the swirl of events that are now an indelible part of the history of rock and roll.

In John, Cynthia recalls those times with the loving honesty of an insider, offering new and fascinating insights into the life of John Lennon and the early days of the Beatles. And with the perspective only years can provide she also tells the compelling story of her marriage to a man who was to become a music legend, a cultural hero and a defining figure of the twentieth century.

Cynthia has seldom talked in any detail about her marriage and the painful events that followed John’s tragic assassination in 1980. Now she candidly reveals the good and the bad, the loving and the cruel sides of John. She tells of the breakdown of their marriage and the beginning of his relationship with Yoko Ono in more detail than has ever been disclosed before and documents the difficulties estrangement from John—and his subsequent death—brought for herself and their son, Julian.

In John, Cynthia Lennon has created a vivid portrait of the 1960s, the Beatles and the man she never stopped loving.


The time has come when I feel ready to tell the truth about John and me, our years together and the years since his death. There is so much that I have never said, so many incidents I have never spoken of and so many feelings I have never expressed: great love on one hand; pain, torment and humiliation on the other. Only I know what really happened between us, why we stayed together, why we parted and the price I have paid for being John’s wife.

I want to tell the real story of the real John—the infuriating, lovable, sometimes cruel, funny, talented and needy man who made such an impact on the world. —From the Introduction

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This isn't Cynthia Lennon's first book about her legendary ex-husband. A Twist of Lennon--a slim volume that John tried to suppress on grounds of libel--came out in 1978. But now, 25 years after his death, she finally feels ready to tell the "full and truthful story" of their life together. Why? In his foreword, son Julian writes of their being "dismissed or at best treated as insignificant bit players" in the story of John's life; it's Cynthia's goal, with John, to set the record straight. She does make a case for being more than just "the impressionable young girl who fell for him, then trapped him into marriage," and it's moving to read, in his own words, of John's love for his son. And while there's nothing new in her account of the Fab Four's rise to fame, as the greatest success story of the rock era, it's a legend that bears retelling. But most salient of all are Cynthia's sketches of pain, regret, and intimidation. John was indeed a brilliant, loving man, but he was also "passionately jealous," "verbally cutting," sometimes abusive, and often neglectful. (It is hinted that his behavior may have paralleled that of the woman who raised him, his Aunt Mimi.) Unfortunately, Cynthia's "response to John's provocative and cruel behavior was to stick by him more solidly than ever...[feeling] that if he could trust me and believe that I loved him he might soften."

It's not this dysfunction, however, but rather John's use of LSD, on which she blames the emotional "chasm" that led to the failure of their marriage. And though the Lennons' divorce comes relatively late in the book, the pages that follow are by far the saddest, as they chronicle John's increasing distance from and neglect of his former family--especially Julian, who would only see his father three times after he moved to New York in 1971. It's no surprise that Cynthia lays much of the blame for this at the feet of Yoko Ono, who is described as controlling and insensitive, especially in the wake of John's murder. But even though there's a lot of bitterness and resentment in these pages, it's not overwhelming, being offset by Cynthia's fierce love for her son and her continuing affection for her ex-husband. A full picture of John Lennon's life will never exist as long as Ono judges herself unable to write about their time together, but John goes a long way toward improving the situation. --Benjamin Lukoff --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

There's a lot of cruelty (his) and bitterness (hers) in this book by the late Beatle's first wife and mother of his elder son, Julian Lennon. A rehash of the Beatles' beginnings from the wife's point of view, the book reveals that Lennon was a pretty messed-up guy who preached universal love for the world and ignored his own family. Saddest, of course, is the effect of all this on Julian, who writes the introduction and praises Mum for her courage and love. Three marriages later, though, Cynthia still burns with anger—mostly at Yoko Ono, whom she believes brainwashed John. When asked if she was sorry she'd fallen in love with the singer-songwriter in the first place, she writes, "If I'd known as a teenager what falling for John Lennon would lead to, I would have turned round right then and walked away." If only she had let him be. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Random House Large Print (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739325817
• ISBN-13: 978-0739325810
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (157 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,443,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

220 of 227 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspring, eleqount, and ultimately sad., October 2, 2005

By 

Beatles Fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: John (Hardcover)

I have been a John Lennon fan since I was about six years old. I have read alot of books about him, and was always fascinated by him. This book by Cynthia is by far my favorite. I admit I have never been one to like Yoko, so I could come off as bias. I always felt really bad about Cynthia but never fully understood what had happened. I cant say for sure what she writes is true, but the pain that was caused at times had me disgusted with John.

In the beginning the book is wonderful. It provides really good mental pictures and shows a John Lennon that we havent seen before. Reading about their college years and younger days was fascinating. To see John more human was refreshing. We see a side of Mimi that has never really been written about. Cynthia seems to still be affected by her. Although Mimi is presented as nasty, rude, and demanding, you still feel she was loved.

Hearing about John during his first years of fame was really great too. It is neat to be able to see sides of him that we havent before. Although always on the edge, he is seen here as a loving man who desperately misses Julian but continues to mess up. The letter shown in here that John writes home is sad, and showed he was very vulnerable.

You begin to feel the tension as John spins more and more out of control. You feel the sadness and you can understand how both of them felt. That is one thing I really enjoy about this book. Althought written from Cynthia's perspective, she strives to explain John's also and understands they were both vastly different in many areas. It showed to me that she still loves John to this day.

The book gets pretty sad to read as John plummets. The chilling way in which he dumps Cynthia is almost hard to read. John goes from wanting to repair the marriage to coldly cutting both Julian and her off completely. It is really hard to read. And this is where I began to feel bad for Cynthia and Julian, and John who seems to be suffering from mental problems in some way. Someone I admire so much could do such cruel things. Cynthia mentions how it was disgusting to see John singing on T.V. about peace but couldn't even show peace to his family and most importantly Julian.

Throughout the book we are given the affect John's behavior had on Julian and this is also hard to read. But, I don't want to spoil the book anymore. But as I have always felt, John seemed to be really getting things together towards the end. He seems more like his old-self and I have read other accounts of this and it is sad considering what happened to him.

All in all, this is a fantastic book. It was a very easy read and offers incredible insight into John's life. A very well written book. I love it!

102 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Lennon history continued, October 10, 2005

By 

R. DelParto "Rose2" (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John (Hardcover)

As anniversaries are celebrated and observed, more information referencing the Beatles are released. However, works by immediate family members or those closest to individual band members may become less. The release is quite fitting in that it coincides with what would have been John's 65th birthday and 25 years since his death. As with any event in history, having the opportunity to read accounts from those who witnessed the events bring us much closer to understanding who the individual was and debunking any myths or rumors that have existed through out the years and laying them to rest. In this case, Cynthia Lennon attempts to show the truth about John Lennon. What makes her biography or memoir so unique is that she examines her relationship with John Lennon from his pre-Beatle days as a college art student in the late 1950s up to her bitter divorce in 1969 as well as the John's post-Beatle years. Her story shows the change and transformation of John Lennon to readers, and the emotions and guilt that she experienced as she went through the process -- the coming to terms with her loss and being at peace with what happened.

JOHN is not a book about the Beatles or their music. Cynthia guides the reader through a chronology of her life with stories about how she met John Lennon and relating events that pertained to her own personal life, her long-time friendship with her girlfriend, Phyllis McKenzie, and her mother, who were always there to support her through trying times. The most interesting aspect of the book is the love-hate relationship between Cynthia and John's Aunt Mimi, and more in-depth information about John's sisters, Julia and Jacqui. In addition, the most heart wrenching part of the book is the one between father and son, which covers Julian's birth up to John's death. Cynthia's correlation with what song or record John was working on or singing about was effective in telling the story as it related to Julian and Cynthia's reality. Cynthia ties loose ends of the John Lennon story, and suggests that drugs and John's longing for a "mother-like" figure may have caused him to forge a life with Yoko Ono.

Overall, JOHN is a compelling and inviting book. The photographs that accompany Cynthia's narrative are enthralling as well. Some have never been published and come directly from Cynthia Lennon's own personal collection, while others may be all too familiar to John Lennon and Beatle fans. JOHN offers readers another perspective of the man who became an iconoclastic figure after his passing, but was merely as human as his fans.

134 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arrogant Swine With a Heart of Gold, October 7, 2005

By 

rain cloud (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: John (Hardcover)

Having read almost every book written about Lennon, (including Cynthia's first one back in the seventies), I recommend this. However, be warned, if you see Lennon as "Martin Luther Lennon" prepare to be disillusioned (or pass on this book).

I'm not going to describe the whole book, since there are plenty of those below. I'll just throw out a few tidbits.

Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono became a love triangle and then John left Cynthia and their relatively fulfilling marriage for yoko ono.

I don't find John's behavior in this situation mysterious at all--he was an addict/alchoholic who discovered drugs. He begged his then-wife Cynthia to do drugs with him but she declined (described in the book).

Then, in behavior identical to every other alchoholic (this is oh-so typical) he went out and found himself someone who WOULD do drugs with him, the wonderful Yoko Ono. She not only joined him in drugging but introduced him to heroin. (She once referred to their heroin use as "a celebration of of us as artists.")

Sure, Yoko Ono, whatever you say.

Cynthia talks in the book about the massive personality changes Lennon seemed to go through in this period after his discovery of drugs. Well, yes, that's what drug addiction will do for you.

Cynthia actually amplified something my wife (who isn't a beatle fan) pointed out--in the pictures of John with Cynthia everyone is smiling, happy.

In the pictures of John with Yoko everyone is somber, almost frowning. Cynthia said she couldn't get over how HUMORLESS he became, how he suddenly began taking himself oh-so seriously. (This was him taking on the personality of his new drugging buddy, yoko ono, the unsmiling sphinx who apparently never thought about anything but her own tireless bids for media attention).

I also found it ironic that Cynthia Lennon is technically a better artist than either the celebrated John Lennon or the wannabe Ono. (Yoko Ono's idea of art was to hand out little cards that said things like: go sit on a cloud, try not to fall through). Cynthia and John Lennon met as art students and some of her drawings are in the book. They're far beyond Lennon's goofy cartoons. Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying he was a songwriting genius. However, if you know his timeline he was a heck of a lot better songwriter before he discovered drugs than after. Is the guy who wrote that stuff on rubber soul really the same guy that later wrote some of that wacky stuff on his solo albums? (There were flashes of genius still in there, that's certain).

Cynthia is a little bitter. I can't blame her. Lennon didn't really leave her or their son any money. Of course, he didn't plan on dying at forty but still, what a nit-wit thing to do. Finally Ono relented and gave Julian a hundred bucks a week allowance (out of at least twenty million, probably now five times that much). Wow, Yoko, your generosity is er,uh, underwhelming. She probably leaves waiters and waitresses a quarter tip. Of course, it's her money, she earned it...oh, wait, that's right, she didn't, did she? Well, she sort of did--it wasn't easy making up those cards that said things like, "breathe."

Another person who came off very well (for those who have read all these other books, like me) is the more-than-a-little controversial Fred Seaman. Seaman worked for Lennon in the last of his days on earth and had a bond with Lennon's son Julian. Fred spoke affectionately of Julian in his book "The Last Days of John Lennon" and it turns out to be accurate. You can feel Cynthia's gratitude coming out of the book, gratitude to Fred Seaman for taking charge when Julian (then only 16 years old) flew to new york hours after Lennon's murder. It turns out fred was at least as protective of the youngster as he claimed. Cynthia relates that as soon as Julian arrived in NYC Seaman picked him up at the airport and warned him: yoko is not going to give you anything, no time, no attention, no sympathy. She doesn't care about you at all, only about herself and Sean so prepare yourself. (That's a paraphrase not a quote).

Here's an anecdote from the book that should live in infamy: After Julian's arrival in new york after the murder, Yoko took him with her to tell his half-brotherSean (Ono's son by lennon) their father was dead. Julian said several helpful things to Sean. Then a few days later Ono released a press release wherein she described telling Sean about the murder. Not only did she scissor Julian completely out of the scene but she attributed some of the things Julian had said to HERSELF. Then she signed the press release "Yoko and Sean" not "Yoko, sean and julian." (Julian was just as much lennon's son as sean no matter what Ono seems to think). Apparently Seaman's warning to Julian was right-on.

Well, Julian, welcome to the land of giant egos and tiny hearts.

So there you have it. Lennon was one-half the greatest song-writing team to emerge from rock music. He was funny, artistic, but often a disappointing human being. I still agree with the writer who descried him as "The arrogant swine with a heart of gold." That was Lennon's contradiction. I wish he was still around to keep us all on our toes. The Beatles were magic. If you lived through that era like me, you remember how magical it was. However, you can know too much about these people.

Once Lennon sent Fred seaman to a Beatle fan club event to buy memorabalia. As he was leaving Lennon called after him, "Tell them to remember, the music is the main thing!"

He'd probably tell us exactly the same thing.