Behind Sad Eyes: The Life of George Harrison (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "George Harrison returned to the spotlight in 1997..." (more)
Key Phrases: backup vocals, backing vocals, George Harrison, Warner Bros, John Lennon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Books that capitalize on the grisly interest spawned by the death of a "star" are usually inferior. Not so this biography of Harrison, universally famed as the "quiet" Beatle. Biographer Shapiro (J.K. Rowling, Carlos Santana) creates a complex portrait that shies from melodrama. For instance, Shapiro does not wring heroic sentiment from Harrison's working-class roots, as others have been so inclined. Instead, Shapiro focuses on the unusual level of support Harrison received from his parents, who encouraged their imaginative young son to make a serious go at the seemingly dead-end vocation of rock guitarist. Roughly one-third of the biography is devoted to Harrison's career as a Beatle. Rather than analyze the group (territory covered countless times), Shapiro uses well-chosen anecdotes to describe Harrison's role in the band. The musician's frustrations as an underappreciated writing talent and his disappointment in both work and private life emerge as major contributors to the band's demise. Though Harrison appeared to be passive, Shapiro notes that this humble exterior was often more form than substance. When the Beatles made the unpopular decision to fire drummer Pete Best, Harrison played dumb, though he was the one who pushed to fire Best. Shapiro writes, "In what would become his typical response to uncomfortable situations, he denied any involvement in the firing of [drummer] Pete Best," when he in fact pushed for the unpopular decision. One of the first biographies fully devoted to Harrison, this volume brings keen perspective to both his great contributions and bland failures.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The best-selling biographer of J.K. Rowling and Carlos Santana hits the jackpot with this life of late Beatle George.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (May 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031230109X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312301095
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #682,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Run of the mill., April 27, 2002

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

George Harrison (1943-2001) was my favorite Beatle, and because he spent much of his life "trying to hide from us" (p. xi), few would disagree that he was also the most elusive Beatle. In the first biography published after Harrison's November 29, 2001 death, Marc Shapiro attempts to "discover the real George Harrison in all his varying shades of light and dark" (p. xi), but it don't come easy.

Shapiro's 205-page biography of "The Quiet Beatle" manages to follow Harrison's life from his birth in Wavertree, England during World War Two (p. 13), to his obsession with guitars at age twelve (p. 21), to his first encounter with Paul McCartney at the Liverpool Institute, where they were both students (p. 23), to joining the Quarrymen with Paul and John Lennon in 1958 (p. 28), to playing music to Hamburg audiences of "drunken sailors, street thugs, prostitutes, and college students" in strip clubs as the Beatles (pp. 37-8), to the Beatles' first visit to America in 1964 (p. 55), to his marriage to model Pattie Boyd in 1966 (p. 72), to his first LSD experience (pp. 69-70), to his search for spiritual enlightenment in India, to the "growing personal and legal entanglements" that brought the Beatles to an end in 1970 (p. 93), to losing his wife, Pattie, to his friend, Eric Clapton (p. 111), to the Concerts for Bangladesh in 1971, to his affair with Ringo's wife, Maureen, which led to the breakup of Ringo's marriage (p. 121), to Harrison's bouts with drugs and depression (p. 136), to his marriage to his "soulmate," Olivia Arias (pp. 147; 159) and the birth of their son, Dhani in 1978, to the 1999 knife attack that punctured his lung (p. 190), and to his unsuccessful fight with cancer. Ultimately, however, Shapiro not only fails to bring his subject to life in this book, but he also fails to reveal exactly what made Harrison tick, the two requirements for a good biography. Isn't it a pity.

To be fair, Shapiro's book is very readable. Although Harrison's fans will undoubtedly find this biography interesting, they won't find anything new here. My real criticism of Shapiro's biography, however, involves his inadequate research. He acknowledges that "no Beatle was . . . interviewed in the writing of this book." Nor did Shapiro interview either of Harrison's wives, his siblings, or friends in writing his book. In fact, the only person Shapiro interviewed was musician, Delaney Bramlett. "The real story," Harrison once said, "is the one that only we can tell from our point of view, and we know all the little intimate details" (pp. 179-80). Much to my disappointment, the "real story" of George Harrison isn't told here.

G. Merritt

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars George deserves better, July 20, 2003

By	Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a mindlessly bad book, I'm only giving it a generous 2 stars because of the chapters on George's solo career. Amazingly, George has yet to attract a quality biographer or someone who will put in diligent research to capture his essence and character. Shapiro conducted one (you read it correctly) interview and has no understanding whatsoever of the Beatles or their incomparable history together. The errors are contiunous throughout, some of the minor, some of the them not, but their collective weight dooms this travesty.

Everything in the book up until 1970 is merely re-hashed from previous, superior, Harrison biographies. There's nothing new, no novel analysis, nothing. The same trite stories we've heard since 1963 are repeated, with the mistakes intact. Shapiro does improve somewhat after the Beatles demise and George's solo career is not glossed over. Still, there is an absence of any depth throughout. What did George think of Lennon's assassination, how did that tragic event unfold in George's mind? You'll get no answers here, except to say George was paranoid about his security after 1980. What about George's relationship with Clapton after Eric married Harrison's ex-wife, Pattie? Again, nothing.

George Harrison was one-fourth of the greatest musical group in the history of man. That alone makes him a compelling subject, but you'd never know it from reading this dismal book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT buy this book, May 9, 2002

By	Ernesto Miguel Laspiur (New Rochelle, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This is one of the worst Beatle books I've ever read.
The inaccuracies are shameless.
The writing is poor and spotted with grammatical errors.
The vision is superficial and doesn't ad one bit to the Beatles story.
It is incredible that there is not one good biography of George Harrison.
Unfortunately I bought this without waiting for the Beatlefan review of the book. I could have saved the money.
If you are a Hard Beatle fan looking for something new and fresh, I recommend buying Beatles Gear here...