Customer Reviews

Wired Short Life/Fast Times John Belushi

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Funny how a quarter-century gives a bit more perspective. Wired was published two years after Belushi's death, and at that time so much of the focus on him regarded his drug use (fair enough, as that was what killed him), so it is only natural that a book about his life would touch on that subject. Reading Wired again recently for the first time in many years, I found the book to be even more lopsided in emphasizing this aspect of Belushi's life than I did when it first came out. The book opens with a three-day drug binge in 1979, and the last quarter of the 400-odd page book it is entirely focused on Belushi's last several weeks, chronicling in minute detail what drugs he took, how much he paid for them, how much of them he snorted and shot up and who he did them with. His formative years are glossed over in about 20 pages, and insights into other facets of his personality are sparse; it's as if Woodward couldn't get to the darker episodes of Belushi's life quick enough, so he just decided to edit out the less controversial stories and sides of Belushi's person(a) in order to throw in a few more tales of John snorting cocaine.
What has made the memory of Belushi lasting and endearing, to me, was his talent, be it in the work he did on SNL, the several movies he made and the music he played with the Blues Brothers. Yes, Wired is an interesting read, but I will say if one is looking to find out more about Belushi...more beyond just the drug addictions and binges...one should seek out the book Samurai Widow, by Judy Jacklin. It will provide a tonic and counterpoint to the toxicity of Wired, and between the two one might find something closer to the truth other than the portrait of Belushi offscreen as a one-dimemsional character who cared about nothing other than getting stoned.