Customer Reviews

Torn Apart

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

 

 

I found myself plowing through this book because it is filled with interesting facts about the post-punk scene in the Manchester area of England...the days when aspiring artists could walk into record label offices and be "found" instead of "made". However, it is a difficult read due the challenge of distinguishing who is sharing their point of view and when. The cast of characters (real life characters) is diverse and ever changing, so it is hard to follow who is sharing their story and in what `person' the story is being told. Ian's wife wrote her own portrayal of events (which I haven't read yet), but this book is missing her perspective. Even if Deborah Curtis didn't have a close relationship with Ian at the time of his demise, her input is clearly missing and it would have helped with some of the emotional gaps. We do get a lot of information from Annik Honore, the woman who participated in Ian's emotional love affair, but they had sporadic contact, over less than a year's time, so it's hard to tell how well Annik knew Ian. Did anyone `know' him for that matter? I came away from this book feeling like no one knew this man. So, the enigma lives on. I still recommend this book, but I'm still left wondering.

I have to agree that the book is a real pain to read because the writing is so lousy. I'm glad to finally have such a detailed account not only of the story of Joy Division but the whole Manchester scene in general. The information is good, but I just can't deal with the sub-standard writing.

An unfortunate strike against an otherwise interesting book.

here are the reviews found at Amazon.UK where the book is in circulation. Can't wait for this one.

5 stars.

This book takes you from the minutae of a child's life to an absolute monster of a tradegy.The the strength of this book

lies in the publication of the letters between Curtis and Honore and Mr.Middles identification of the many variables of epilepsy,fame,marital breakdown,love,art and business that broke a young and very talented guy. A great book.

Oh,and the depiction of Martin Hannet as somekind of MadHatter is brilliant...a real genius.

5 stars

This is an excellent biography featuring a lot of new information notably from Ian's family and from those who knew him intimately towards the end of his short life. Featuring photos from the Curtis family album, information about his childhood - right through to extracts from letters between Ian Curtis and Annik Honore.

Highly recommended and equally as important as Deborah Curtis's "Touching From A Distance".

If you want to know the real story of Ian Curtis - the one behind the myth - this book is for you.

This book has lots of facts and details. Some opinions from many who were involved. Clearly the band's surviving members chose not to participate for some reason (maybe they'd had enough of all this for the moment - maybe they didn't like who was doing it). You do have to put up with the belief system of (one of?) the authors - the possibility of communicating with the dead, palm reading, importance of star signs, etc. In the main, it is a haphazard collection of anecdotes and recollections. Terry Mason's quotes throughout the book are great - just as well they got him to cooperate or there wouldn't be much that can't be found elsewhere.

What lets this book down for me is that, apart from all the facts and some opinions, there is no attempt at insight. Most curiously, the music is firmly in the background - song titles might be mentioned in a set list of a gig which occurred the night of some important event which occurred in IC's private life - perhaps the night he phoned his girlfriend in Belgium. The "sound" of the music, the workings of Hannet, are discussed - but the songs themselves and the lyrics are avoided like the plague.

The book goes through all the "factors" involved in IC's death - torn love life, epilepsy, prescription drugs, letting people down, etc. It is taken that the private life occurred and this possibly fed the lyrics and music but yet, apart from that, the private life and music are completely separate things. There is no mention of the possibility that the lyrics and music had anything to do with the attitude IC was taking to the events which were occurring in his private life, that there was some connection between the two. For a more thoughtful take, see for example the review article on Control at the International Herald Tribune, which articulates well some of this:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/09/arts/division.php

There are a couple of easily-checked (or obvious) errors, e.g. the Jam didn't play Going Underground on the Something Else show of 1/9/79.

This biography is written in the style of an oral history. People do not speak in perfectly grammatical, always interesting or even easy to understand ways. If you want to read a biography written in an impeccable literary style, this isn't it. If you want to read a detailed life of Ian Curtis, this is probably as close as you will ever get. All you armchair editors out there should just calm down.

3 stars for new info contained in the book, but damn, the book was annoying to read because of grammatical errors and sloppy writing.

What ever happened to editors who are supposed to catch this stuff?