gemmapaynter's review against another edition
3.0
Not really a book so much as a bound, extended article. It works well as an accompaniment to the movie but overall didn't really go into enough detail about anything to be considered better than 3*, I'd say realistically it was a 2.5*.
Whilst its sparseness is a little frustrating, it also whets your appetite to seek out further stories about Frank, Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnston and particularly to find recordings and other interviews with The Shaggs. If you're interested in bands or artists that exist on the very fringes of the music industry, this is a fun, short read that will spark your journey down the rabbit hole.
Whilst its sparseness is a little frustrating, it also whets your appetite to seek out further stories about Frank, Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnston and particularly to find recordings and other interviews with The Shaggs. If you're interested in bands or artists that exist on the very fringes of the music industry, this is a fun, short read that will spark your journey down the rabbit hole.
kiah_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Reading what Jon Ronson writes is comforting. Like someone who's thoughts run the same way as yours. Even if we are so very different.
I want to watch Frank now.
I want to watch Frank now.
plants_and_bees's review against another edition
4.0
That was awesome!
I knew nothing about Frank and honestly just picked this up because it was written by Jon Ronson and it was at a discount books market esque place.
I started reading it right away because it was so short and was very pleasantly surprised! That was a lot of fun!
I knew nothing about Frank and honestly just picked this up because it was written by Jon Ronson and it was at a discount books market esque place.
I started reading it right away because it was so short and was very pleasantly surprised! That was a lot of fun!
stevepaget's review against another edition
3.0
I have loved Frank since I was a child, so I had to buy this on release. I was disappointed to find that it was effectively a newspaper article with some extras, bound in hardback cover. I think I had even read the original article.
Interesting, but I wish journalists wouldn't milk their content like this.
Interesting, but I wish journalists wouldn't milk their content like this.
no_rah_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
electraheart's review against another edition
3.0
This book is only 70-something pages, and I was expecting it to be jam packed with super cool stories about Frank/Chris. Instead, there was hardly any genuine interaction between Frank and Jon. It was more a brief summary of Jon's life with Frank as a passing acquaintance than anything else - you get stories about friends of Frank, other musicians who rose to fame, what city Jon was living in during a certain year - and the whole time, Frank is almost never present. You briefly learn he has a wife and two kids, but you never witness any interactions with them. You learn how Jon and Frank meet, and there's a subtle talk about why Frank disappeared for a while, but that's it. Maybe the problem is that this book is too short. I know it was written as an article first, and I know the movie is mostly fictional, but there was so much potential substance missing.
charissas_'s review against another edition
3.0
I didn't know anything about Frank Sidebottom or this movie going in, but this was pretty interesting!