Customer Reviews

Things the Grandchildren Should Know

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A musician like Mark Oliver Everett -- aka "E" of the Eels -- could only be expected to write a rock biography like no other. And "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" lives up to that challenge by being part musical journey, part contemplation of crazy love, and partly a bittersweet life story full of losses.

Everett's family was the typical nuclear family of the times, but with an undercurrent of tragedy -- his withdrawn father died early, his mother didn't truly involve herself in raising her kids, and his sister got a head start on her downward spiral.

Everett himself got into trouble, acquired a rotten reputation and dated some incredibly weird girls ("my sister Liz came back from an AA meeting one day and told me that my first girlfriend was now a suicidal, alcoholic lesbian"), even as making music in his closet became the private passion of his life. When he could think of no other way of getting somewhere else, he chose to turn his music into a career.

Unsurprisingly, he struggled during the days of hair-metal. But as more raw, real music became big, Everett's unique brand of rock began to force its way into alt-stardom. But this couldn't bring him love -- and it couldn't save his sister from her copious inner demons, or his mother from lung cancer.

Reading "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" is not much like reading a straight biography.It's more like having a long, rambling, multifaceted conversation with Everett in a coffee shop, where he attempts to tell you his life story, but sometimes he keeps getting sidetracked by his tales of crazy girlfriends and meditations on life in general.

And he comes across well here -- a guy who has known plenty of tragedy, but still has his wry sense of humour intact. There's little bitterness towards his "crazy girls" or his immature mother, and he's even willing to talk about his now-embarrassing adolescence (complete with humiliating incidents like the "bloody sweatshirt" incident).

But while the first half of the book is a bit fragmented, the second half snaps together into a quiet, meditative cruise through Everett's life. An artist's struggles to keep his work from being put into car commercials is smoothly wound together with his personal struggles, including the tragic loss of his sister and mother -- and how he immortalized them in his work.

Fortunately Everett never becomes maudlin or depressing. He has plenty of witty stories that speckle the text, whether it's the controversy over his "obscene" songs or a story about his mother's really, really old boyfriend ("The Wright brothers? Oh yeah! I used to know Orville"). Not to mention his hilarious kooky ex-wife, who first greeted him with the words, "You are not beautiful!"

"Things the Grandchildren Should Know" seamlessly mingles Mark Oliver Everett's life story with his musings on life (and crazy women), his witty prose, and his artistic journey.

As a big fan of Eels, I was thrilled to find and read this. The stories about his turbulent family life and his early days as a starving musician are fascinating. However, once he "makes it," the book gets a little boring. Reading about A & R people and record company politics are not very interesting when juxtaposed with E's struggles as a young man. I read Louis Armstrong's autobiography about his life in New Orleans, now I know why the book ends before he became a worldwide sensation. Fame and fortune aren't nearly as interesting as the struggle that gets you there.

Anyone familiar with the Eels music will love this book. If you're not familiar with the Eels, you really should be...and then read this book.