obscuredbyclouds's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up at an Oxfam shop because it looked like Rolling Stones meets Charles Manson fanfiction. It turned out to be just that. It also features a lot of underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger and other figures from the 60s. I was fascinated just how fanfiction-y it got, including more than just a little homoeroticism.
I liked the writing style, although I found it a little overwritten at times (metaphors that, when you think about them for one moment, don't actually make any sense at all). I'm also not a big fan of novels that are so fragmented, with so many characters that never fully come together. I enjoyed the Rolling Stones parts the most. Although they were bizarre at points, they were very atmospheric and will stay with me. They also made me want to read more non-fiction about the band. I'm a big fan of 60s and 70s rock but I never really got into the Rolling Stones apart from a few songs, so there were times where I wondered how much was fact and what was fiction.
Overall, an uneven novel that could have done with more story, less fragmentation and few less 5 Dollar words. But I'd be interested in reading more by the author.
I liked the writing style, although I found it a little overwritten at times (metaphors that, when you think about them for one moment, don't actually make any sense at all). I'm also not a big fan of novels that are so fragmented, with so many characters that never fully come together. I enjoyed the Rolling Stones parts the most. Although they were bizarre at points, they were very atmospheric and will stay with me. They also made me want to read more non-fiction about the band. I'm a big fan of 60s and 70s rock but I never really got into the Rolling Stones apart from a few songs, so there were times where I wondered how much was fact and what was fiction.
Overall, an uneven novel that could have done with more story, less fragmentation and few less 5 Dollar words. But I'd be interested in reading more by the author.
valoriedalton's review
2.0
I honestly don’t know what to make of Sway by Zachary Lazar. On one hand it is a somewhat fictional telling of the early The Rolling Stones and the Charles Manson murders, based on real life and about real people. On the other hand, it’s a dreamlike sort of novel where every human emotion and action is given a significance that isn’t typically true to real life. Purposefully, I think, Lazar wove his words into chaotic (almost) anti-poetry- beautiful because it is raw and aggressive- in order to put this special significance to things. The entire book has a surreal quality that makes it even more difficult to accept the reality of what is happening.
Now, none of this is bad. I quite like a book that reads like a fractured and distorted fairytale. I said I didn’t know what to make of the book, not that I did not like it.
Sway, as I’ve said, takes two different stories and winds them together. Lazar recounts the rise of The Rolling Stones, some of his information falsified but some of it quite true (I‘ve seen the picture of Mick in the Uncle Sam top hat and the Omega t-shirt), and the Charles Manson murders. These two isolated groups and the events included are connected by a thin thread that goes by the name Kenneth Anger. Anger is a struggling film maker whose avant-garde styles of imagery and symbolism make him less than idea for the mainstream, which is just where he seems satisfied to be.
From the way the book describes itself, I was thinking that the two stories would intertwine on a deeper level then they did, and this was a bit disappointing. I guess it was meant to be this way. I gave me to see how things, even great things that seem so grand and therefore isolated within their own distinct worlds, can touch and brush and never impact. How sometimes you just manage to miss something larger than simple life allows without even knowing it.
There are moments, though, that the book is starkly real and you no longer feel the invader of a dream. The characters cease to be actors or players on a grand stage and become actual people, no longer characters but objects of existence just as we all are. Flawed, confused, prone to mistakes, and sometimes empty. Sometimes acting without excuse or reason. Sometimes just inflicting. Brian Jones is an abusive mess who is so out of touch with his own needs that he is self-destructive, Bobby just ambles along and thoughtlessly does whatever he decides to do for no good reason, and Anger doesn’t seem to fight for anything and only exists to make his films.
The anger and escalating chaos of the 60s and 70s is depicted nicely in Sway. Vietnam, militaristic groups, disenchantment with the government and society, and the rejection of the early 60s Summer of Love ideals brought about a new society and destroyed the former not with a whimper but a bang. In fact, many of them. There is a sense, even when reading nonfiction of the time, that America was ready to explode. Indeed, much of the world was. The Rolling Stones and Charles Manson both, in their own ways, embody this feeling. The Rolling Stones is the passion, the rebellion, the new face of youth and expression while Manson is just how bad it can get.
Though if Sway did anything, it made me like The Rolling Stones just a little more.
Now, none of this is bad. I quite like a book that reads like a fractured and distorted fairytale. I said I didn’t know what to make of the book, not that I did not like it.
Sway, as I’ve said, takes two different stories and winds them together. Lazar recounts the rise of The Rolling Stones, some of his information falsified but some of it quite true (I‘ve seen the picture of Mick in the Uncle Sam top hat and the Omega t-shirt), and the Charles Manson murders. These two isolated groups and the events included are connected by a thin thread that goes by the name Kenneth Anger. Anger is a struggling film maker whose avant-garde styles of imagery and symbolism make him less than idea for the mainstream, which is just where he seems satisfied to be.
From the way the book describes itself, I was thinking that the two stories would intertwine on a deeper level then they did, and this was a bit disappointing. I guess it was meant to be this way. I gave me to see how things, even great things that seem so grand and therefore isolated within their own distinct worlds, can touch and brush and never impact. How sometimes you just manage to miss something larger than simple life allows without even knowing it.
There are moments, though, that the book is starkly real and you no longer feel the invader of a dream. The characters cease to be actors or players on a grand stage and become actual people, no longer characters but objects of existence just as we all are. Flawed, confused, prone to mistakes, and sometimes empty. Sometimes acting without excuse or reason. Sometimes just inflicting. Brian Jones is an abusive mess who is so out of touch with his own needs that he is self-destructive, Bobby just ambles along and thoughtlessly does whatever he decides to do for no good reason, and Anger doesn’t seem to fight for anything and only exists to make his films.
The anger and escalating chaos of the 60s and 70s is depicted nicely in Sway. Vietnam, militaristic groups, disenchantment with the government and society, and the rejection of the early 60s Summer of Love ideals brought about a new society and destroyed the former not with a whimper but a bang. In fact, many of them. There is a sense, even when reading nonfiction of the time, that America was ready to explode. Indeed, much of the world was. The Rolling Stones and Charles Manson both, in their own ways, embody this feeling. The Rolling Stones is the passion, the rebellion, the new face of youth and expression while Manson is just how bad it can get.
Though if Sway did anything, it made me like The Rolling Stones just a little more.
jdsatori's review against another edition
4.0
There was a dark side to the 60s and this is where Sway digs in. It weaves three stories about real people into one:
Kenneth Anger, a visionary filmmaker, falls in love with Bobby Beausoleil and later makes a movie about the Rolling Stones
Bobby Beausoleil, a musician who started The Grass Roots and scored Anger's films, who later meets Charles Manson, becoming a family member and committing murder
The Rolling Stones--specifically, Mick, Keith, Brian, and the women between them, Anita and Marianne Faithful
Anger, Beausoleil, and the Stones all embodied a seething disgust with the as-is. The "peace and love" of the 60s constantly slipped their grasp. As Vietnam raged, so did they. Their drugs were an escape, not a tool for enlightenment. Behind it all, was a single-minded focus on their art.
Plus, Lazar writes the best descriptions of Mick Jagger's stage presence I think I've ever read: "A quick spasm that jerks his head upright and carries out into his back-stretched arms. A pause before he rights himself, turning his head and clapping, a sideways glance at no one, guarding his space."
Kenneth Anger, a visionary filmmaker, falls in love with Bobby Beausoleil and later makes a movie about the Rolling Stones
Bobby Beausoleil, a musician who started The Grass Roots and scored Anger's films, who later meets Charles Manson, becoming a family member and committing murder
The Rolling Stones--specifically, Mick, Keith, Brian, and the women between them, Anita and Marianne Faithful
Anger, Beausoleil, and the Stones all embodied a seething disgust with the as-is. The "peace and love" of the 60s constantly slipped their grasp. As Vietnam raged, so did they. Their drugs were an escape, not a tool for enlightenment. Behind it all, was a single-minded focus on their art.
Plus, Lazar writes the best descriptions of Mick Jagger's stage presence I think I've ever read: "A quick spasm that jerks his head upright and carries out into his back-stretched arms. A pause before he rights himself, turning his head and clapping, a sideways glance at no one, guarding his space."
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
The Manson murders, the Rolling Stones, and the death of the 1960s feature in this fictionalization that uses real people as its characters. Instead of the usual suspects of these groups, though we focus on people like the Stones' Brian Jones--the founder of the group, but the one who's not Keith Richards or Mick Jagger, and also of course the one who wound up dead in the pool under suspicious circumstances. For the Manson family we focus on Bobby Beausoleil, who was one of the killers, but not the notorious ones like Susan Atkins or Leslie Van Houten. I thought the Rolling Stones were an interesting choice, since of course the Manson family is usually more associated with the Beatles, but the author wanted to show the hard edge of the 1960s, and the Stones--especially the deadly Altamont concert--capture that spirit more. It got a bit over the top sometimes with its maudlin, but I think that was in homage to the end of the 1960s, when it must have truly felt as if the world were about to end.
coffeemaus's review against another edition
3.0
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14500846
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14500846
jessferg's review against another edition
3.0
I couldn't get past knowing this was a story about the Rolling Stones and, since I know next to nothing about them I felt like I was at a disadvantage. I would recommend with the caveat that it should be read strictly as story and not as historical fiction (assuming you're in the same situation as me.) Stones fans could go either way with this - the guys are not portrayed in the best light. The writing is very insightful and I found the Ken Auger storyline to be the better tale.
helentbower's review against another edition
4.0
I started this book assuming that I would return it to the library unfinished. Lucky for me the story grabbed me and I finished it very quickly. The chapters are long but the plot is shallow and easy to follow. I love the background information and the aspects of the story that just might be true legitimately sparked my interest. It's a very interesting kind of book: a fictional account of what maybe could have happened in history that connects the relatively young Rolling Stones and Charles Manson. All in all, it's a good quick summer read that is worth checking out.
stephaniecaye's review against another edition
3.0
I had trouble getting into it at first; the first chapter was a little too loose and hard to follow, but once I buckled down it got pretty ok.
cthorndike's review against another edition
2.0
As the first real "fun, but not light" book I picked up after years of dissertation reading, this was a little disappointing. It starts off very strongly, but quickly unravels and becomes disjointed. I had a hard time following the undulating timeline and remembering the tenuous connections between the characters. Possibly if I'd read this straight through in 1-2 sittings I would have liked it better; however, you should be able to put a novel down for a day or two and pick it up without having to go back and re-read too much.