eric_conrad's review against another edition
4.0
Bruce has always been inspiring to me and this book added to my admiration of the man.
reasie's review against another edition
5.0
The cheer and wry humor and joy in this book kept me reading with impatience, which is rare in a nonfiction book. Caveat: I am a huge Springsteen fan. I imagine people who aren't won't get the visceral punch of hearing the music as they read. They also won't be goin "OH so that's in that album" every time a track is listed.
I grew up poor, the kind of poor where I never even thought about buying records or going to concerts, although those had been two of my father's biggest passions. I was content to listen to the radio and thumb through the albums Dad had, which were mostly metal and prog rock with a few Tchaikovsky LPs slid in for class.
The first time I saw Bruce Springsteen live was when he played a rally on the Downtown Cleveland Mall for Barrack Obama's candidacy. I was all the way back on the other side of Lakeside, and he and Candidate Obama were tiny figures in the distance, but I was ecstatic to be there, to hear Bruce, to see the man I hoped would be America's salvation (that's Obama, not Bruce, but I understand there's some confusion.) Reading this book brought back some of that hope for me.
This book has some (thankfully brief) autobiographical passages by the author about his own journey of obsession with Bruce. I guess that's what's turning me autobiographical, too.
Music fandom connects people. That's a part of it. I've never really felt that connection, but I've never really been 'all in' on any musical act. The shows I've seen live were always moments of serendipity, of discount tickets, of a friend of a friend in an opening band.
More than that live music community, what resonates for me are the kinds of stories told in the lyrics. "Is a dream a lie that don't come true, or is it something worse?" Science Fiction was my escape as a kid, and I naively thought the wondrous future would be mine, if I could only wait long enough. Then slowly I grew and learned that those futures weren't written for people like me. I started to notice the lack of jobs, you know? So this book reminded me why I write, why I started.
I grew up poor, the kind of poor where I never even thought about buying records or going to concerts, although those had been two of my father's biggest passions. I was content to listen to the radio and thumb through the albums Dad had, which were mostly metal and prog rock with a few Tchaikovsky LPs slid in for class.
The first time I saw Bruce Springsteen live was when he played a rally on the Downtown Cleveland Mall for Barrack Obama's candidacy. I was all the way back on the other side of Lakeside, and he and Candidate Obama were tiny figures in the distance, but I was ecstatic to be there, to hear Bruce, to see the man I hoped would be America's salvation (that's Obama, not Bruce, but I understand there's some confusion.) Reading this book brought back some of that hope for me.
This book has some (thankfully brief) autobiographical passages by the author about his own journey of obsession with Bruce. I guess that's what's turning me autobiographical, too.
Music fandom connects people. That's a part of it. I've never really felt that connection, but I've never really been 'all in' on any musical act. The shows I've seen live were always moments of serendipity, of discount tickets, of a friend of a friend in an opening band.
More than that live music community, what resonates for me are the kinds of stories told in the lyrics. "Is a dream a lie that don't come true, or is it something worse?" Science Fiction was my escape as a kid, and I naively thought the wondrous future would be mine, if I could only wait long enough. Then slowly I grew and learned that those futures weren't written for people like me. I started to notice the lack of jobs, you know? So this book reminded me why I write, why I started.
whitneyborup's review against another edition
2.0
Little, obvious mistakes made me skeptical about any of the "facts" in the book. And I noticed most of the biographical information came from stories Bruce tells on stage (which are notoriously tall tales). I don't mind the author recounting those stories, but don't try to present them as facts about Bruce's childhood. As an example of the sloppiness, there was a part where he said Ford's Grapes of Wrath was released in 1932 (it was released in 1940). Not a huge deal, but a big enough mistake that I didn't trust the writer. BUT the interpretations of songs and the analysis of the overarching themes and waves of Springsteen's career were insightful and, I though, valuable.
princess_starr's review against another edition
2.0
As a Springsteen biography, Alterman delivers but doesn’t really get into the personal details. There were also parts that really seemed contradictory, and fell flat as I read it. An interesting read, but not one I’d return to.
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