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John Lennon: The Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip Norman
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £25.00
Buy New: £14.10
You Save: £10.90 (44%)
New (22) Used (3) Collectible (1) from £14.10
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 2165
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 2.6
ISBN: 0007197411
EAN: 9780007197415
ASIN: 0007197411
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 A serviceable biography October 14, 2008
conjunction
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm not working just now and like one of the other reviewers I read it in three days. I really enjoyed it. I was 12 when Love Me Do came out and my sister and I bought all their albums on the day of release for several years.
I was also around in London in the late sixties so enjoyed reading the detail about that period.
There are several things about this book which really impressed me however. One is the carefully built up and three dimensional portrait of Lennon's childhood, particularly the portraits of his parents and aunt Mimi. They really come alive for me. So does the picture of Lennon as a 'Just William' character. Clearly for almost his whole life he was a relentless rebel, a continual thorn in the flesh to anyone in authority. I found the stuff about his interest in art and writing really interesting too, going back to his art school days and earlier.
The stuff on Hamburg is great too - that was a hard school, and made them as a band. There is of course a lot of detail on all the Beatles and the changing personnel and friendships. Many readers may be more familiar with this than I as I had never read a book about the Beatles before, but it is really good to get the lowdown on Stu Sutcliffe for example.
The nature of the Lennon McCartney relationship, the friendship with Jagger all add to the mix.
I was less interested in the Yoko Ono years as her work doesn't interest me but the book does bring out how Lennon's personality found his life in New York a new vehicle to express himself in a more explicitly radical way.
The section on the breakup with the Beatles seems to have as much to do with Paul's relationship with Linda as with John's with Yoko but armed with this support they both adopted different financial gurus and that was what really did it.
The is a comprehensive and disciplined book. It doesn't answer every question but for me really brought those years back.
Brilliant! October 5, 2008
Katie (London)
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
This has to be the best book about John Lennon ever written. I got hold of it late last week, and even though it's 800+ pages long I finished it in three days. Couldn't put it down.
Some of the best parts are about John's early childhood, his mother, Julia, and his famous Aunt Mimi, who brought him up. No wonder he was such a complicated human being when he had such a difficult childhood, and suffered so many losses early in life.
Philip Norman also reveals John's jealousy of Paul McCartney, and has someohow managed to get Yoko Ono to talk to him about their life together - quite a feat in itself.
Altogether, a great read, and a must-have for any self-respecting Beatles fan.
BEATLES JOHN LENNON November 9, 2008
Vaughan Davies (guernsey, channel isles United Kingdom)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Well I have just read what has been the most interesting book on John Lennon's life. I have a few books on the Beatles and John Lennon for me this was a wonderful time capsule of this life. I loved the letters that Aunt Mimi received from a fan at the time of the Beatles success which Mimi seemed happy to correspond with. She even tells her of the pending move to the South Coast, sharing all this with someone she never met. Ok, it was interesting for me to learn about John's grandparents and also that Julia gave birth to four children. It was also an eyeopener for me to learn about John's father Freddie and that he did try to keep in touch with John. The story did not end there for both of them because John did buy him a house and they kept in touch.
My only complaint is that the hardback version is heavy to hold up for a nightime read !! Joking aside - a publication well written and one I shall use as a reference to the life of John Lennon.
So moving October 6, 2008
Beatles fan (London)
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
As an admirer of Philip Norman's brilliant Beatles' book, Shout, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this and I have not been disappointed. This portrait of John moved me to tears. It made me see in a way no book has ever done before just how much the tragedies of his childhood affected his later life. I can't believe Yoko thinks this book has been "mean" to John. He emerges from it not just as a genius but a great - and real - human being.
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