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thegreatmanda's Reviews (459)
This is a must-read for anyone interested in the general history of the Beatles or John Lennon in particular. Cynthia Lennon must be the most honest, open, and matter-of-fact ex-wife ever to survive having been tossed aside by her beloved husband. John is a valuable source of entertainment history written by a woman who knew the Beatles as "the boys" and who, in the midst of the biggest media frenzy of all time, only wanted the best of life for her only child.
I had only one expectation from this book - it had to keep me awake and distracted during work. It did that, more or less.
I make a habit of avoiding Nicholas Sparks because I generally find his work too cloying for my taste. (I very much enjoyed the film version of The Notebook, but from what I've heard the movie deviated drastically from the book, which I have not read and have no plans to read.) I picked this audiobook up out of desperation for something uncomplicated to listen to while at my job, and because my friend Kerry singled it out as less annoying than his usual stuff. I will give it that (hence the two stars instead of one). I enjoyed the mystery and the suggestion of supernatural phenomena, although I had hoped there would be more of that and less of Sparks's other usual nonsense.
Said nonsense in this case includes a formulaic and thoroughly boring romance, an overwhelming dose of Big City Meets Small Town mixed with Yankee Meets South, and then a second helping of the tired old city/townie and north/south cliches when the main character's buddy rides into town. Couch all of this non-fun in the author's need to spell out and explain every single detail of every single action and thought, in both narration and dialogue, and the result makes you want to stab yourself in the foot just for some excitement. Read Nicholas Sparks at the risk of your own brain cells. And feet.
I make a habit of avoiding Nicholas Sparks because I generally find his work too cloying for my taste. (I very much enjoyed the film version of The Notebook, but from what I've heard the movie deviated drastically from the book, which I have not read and have no plans to read.) I picked this audiobook up out of desperation for something uncomplicated to listen to while at my job, and because my friend Kerry singled it out as less annoying than his usual stuff. I will give it that (hence the two stars instead of one). I enjoyed the mystery and the suggestion of supernatural phenomena, although I had hoped there would be more of that and less of Sparks's other usual nonsense.
Said nonsense in this case includes a formulaic and thoroughly boring romance, an overwhelming dose of Big City Meets Small Town mixed with Yankee Meets South, and then a second helping of the tired old city/townie and north/south cliches when the main character's buddy rides into town. Couch all of this non-fun in the author's need to spell out and explain every single detail of every single action and thought, in both narration and dialogue, and the result makes you want to stab yourself in the foot just for some excitement. Read Nicholas Sparks at the risk of your own brain cells. And feet.
EVERYONE should read this book. Draw your own conclusions at the finish, but go read it once and give serious thought to what Pollan has to say.
I realize that this novel is based on a well-known tragic play, but even so, it just depressed the heck out of me.
