For more than a quarter century, biographer Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom being a Beatle was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, Norman presents the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon ever published.
This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never seen before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.
“[A] haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work.” -New York Times
Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.
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"I'm probably the biggest Beatles fan you'll find who isn't over the age of thirty. So, as you can imagine (haha, pun intended!), I really had a good time reading this book, so much so that I brought it with me here, there, and everywhere. First of all, it was so detailed it was scary! (it was thicker than my bible and weighed as much as my cat.) But, what I liked about it most was that the author did not place any sort of opinion that would take away from the reader's experience of reading about this incredible man's life. The author told the story as it was, delving deep into Lennon's personal and professional life smoothly. If you're a fan, or just want to know more about this music legend, hurry up and read this book!"
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Harrison (5 out of 5 stars)