Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison [Hardcover]

Patricia Kennealy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1992

The wife of Jim Morrison offers a thorough portrait of the enigmatic leader of the Doors, discussing the shy, private, complex man he was, plus Woodstock, the Miami obscenity trial, and other rock celebrities. 75,000 first printing. Major ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Science fiction and fantasy writer Kennealy ( The Hawk's Gray Feather ), who exchanged wedding vows with Jim Morrison in 1970, gives an overwritten but essentially revealing account of her two-year relationship with the Doors' lead singer. This chronicle of an intense, unstable bond between two highly independent people presents sides of Morrison rarely glimpsed by the public: his shyness, intellect and complexity. Conversely the book also shows his petulant, selfish and erratic aspects, which were much more familiar to the Doors' fans. Unfortunately, Kennealy's descriptions tend to be outlandish--a dinner is comprised of "Hellenistic conglomerations of lamb and foliage and Zeus-knows-what," and Morrison "dwelled in Morrisonia, in Jimworld, in Lizard Kingdom; he dwelled there alone and he liked it best that way." Still, in recalling her time with Morrison and discussing her belief in Irish witchcraft, she displays a knowledge of herself and her subjects which is well thought-out and eminently satisfying. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Seekers of revelatory tales, insights, and experiences that enhance rather than obscure the Lizard King mosaic will relish this account. Kennealy, a practicing witch and author ( The Hawk's Gray Feather , LJ 3/15/90), met Morrison during her stint as editor of Jazz and Pop in 1969. Until his death in 1971, Kennealy and Morrison pursued a physically, emotionally, and spiritually intense relationship, the symbolic culmination of which was their exchange of Celtic wedding vows. Kennealy is brutally honest about everything: her witchcraft; her pregnancy by Morrison and subsequent abortion; the codependent, convoluted relationship between Morrison and Pamela Courson; Courson's significant role in Morrison's heroin-induced death; and the cinematic travesty perpetrated by Oliver Stone in his recent movie The Doors (1991). Throughout, Kennealy vents her Celtic spleen, rages, weeps, and exalts in her love for and by Morrison, while weaving a beautiful tapestry of their short but seemingly eternal spiritual bond. In the process, she illuminates Morrison the lover, poet, and artist. The recent flock of Morrison biographies and picture books are pretenders to the insights and perspectives offered here.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525934197
• ISBN-13: 978-0525934196
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bull in a music store, February 17, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

I-slept-with-a-rock-star stories are a dime a dozen in the rock bio world, and it takes something unusual to make the storyteller seem like anything but a groupie. Patricia Kennealy-Morrison has something all right, but her obnoxious attitude and sketchy details make it hard to regard "Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison" as much more than a curiosity.

Kennealy-Morrison was a journalist/editor working for Jazz'n'Pop magazine in the late 1960s. She was sent in to interview legendary rock bad boy Jim Morrison of the Doors, and was immediately impressed by him (the feeling was mutual, she says). They soon struck up a friendship, then became lovers while remaining on opposite sides of the United States.

Morrison and Kennealy-Morrison wed in a witch handfasting some months later, despite the fact that Morrison was still with his longtime lover Pamela Courson. Kennealy-Morrison chronicles the remainder of their increasingly volatile relationship, her abortion, Morrison's mysterious death in Paris, and the production of the distorted movie adaptation by Oliver Stone.

Never has so much been written over so little. Not very often, anyway. Morrison's brief involvement with Kennealy-Morrison is blown up into an affair to rival Guinevere and Lancelot (her own comparison). What an unbiased reader sees is a rather average rock romance, full of the necessary sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. And lots and lots of Kennealy-Morrison's everyday life.

Kennealy-Morrison has a curiously self-centered view of the world: whenever anybody is less than friendly to her, they must be upset over her gender, brains, religion or relationship with Morrison. Her attitude (a bull getting ready to charge at a matador) wears thin quickly. She heaps scorn on almost all rock'n'roll stars, on any girl who slept (or wanted to) with Jim, on any friend of Pamela Courson's, on Doors fans, on rock audiences... pretty much everybody. Special vitriol is reserved for Pam; rather than take Morrison to task for his behavior, Kennealy-Morrison vents on the pleasant, clueless Courson.

While Kennealy-Morrison is clearly knowledgeable, she seems to use her IQ solely to set herself above the groupies. She lacks the class, wisdom and vibrance of other rock paramours like Marianne Faithfull. If this book is anything to go by, her intellect is stagnant and unsophisticated, and her personality is childish (she beats a groupie for coming on to Jim). In fact, her claims that she's a strong, decisive, take-no-guff woman becomes funny when you see that she was allowing a ridiculous amount of garbage from Morrison. There's no denying that Kennealy-Morrison is a talented writer. At times her lyrical, detailed writing makes this seem almost like a novel. It's especially vibrant during scenes like Doors concerts and the famous Woodstock. But too often her words are used as arrows rather than paintbrushes.

"Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison" is a weird read. In the end, it's hard to see it as anything but Kennealy-Morrison's side of the story, but without any wisdom brought by time and thought. This is not the place to look for the "real" Jim Morrison.

51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Asinine, September 16, 2005

By 

Willie W. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

This woman is belligerent, obnoxious, delusional, angry, over-bearing, and a self proffesed know-it-all. If Morrison spent even half the time with her that she alleges, he must have been a very patient and tolerant individual. Or comatosed on booze. I read a third of the book and had to toss it because I couldn't tolerate her. She is so bitter, angry, and pushy, that she strikes me as one who would have been a consummate nag.

I have a suspicion that in reality she was just one of hundreds of convenient pit stops Morrison made while drunk. I also am left with the strong feeling that she knows this to be the case hence her flitting between love and deep rage toward this man. Unlike his other pit-stops, she can't let it go for some odd reasoning that only she knows. For some reason she seems obsessed with convincing the world that she has laid claim to the guy and nobody else should even have the right to mention his name.

She has a deep rage toward anybody who is not a Morrison fan. But she off-sets that by also having a deep rage toward anybody who is a Morrison fan. So in essence she has a deep rage toward everybody.

She seems to be jealously guarding this image of Morrison that exists only her mind. Hence her hatred for Doors fans. As for her referring to 'Doorzoids' as 'losers' that's ridiculous, coming from a woman who is obssesed and jealous of a relationship between a man and a woman who have been been dead for alomost 40 years. If anybody needs to get a life it is Miss Kennealy who does.

This woman is obviously not the person whom she is trying to convince the world that she is.... She's more like a nightmare run amuk.

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you're looking for a good Doors book, this isn't it!, August 14, 2001

By 

Mark Kosobiecki (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

Although I feel this book is fairly well written and informitive, it really isn't what I had in mind when I ordered it. I was expecting more of an insight into Jim Morrison and, less of a look into Patricia Kennealy. It does shed some light on another side of Jim which many other books haven't touched upon but, for me there just wan't enough of that insight. Instead we are treated to a running list of what Patricia wore at any certain event and, what drugs were consumed. I don't know about you but, I have a hard time remembering what I wore last week never mind, 30 years ago when I was stoned! From that perspective, I just had a hard time believing some of the other things that the author claims to have happened and, I question weather her perception of said events might not be clouded. I'm not calling anyone a liar but, it just seems to me that after 30 years the mind can have a very selective memory.