jerzgrl626's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this so much! I thought it was very comprehensive and gave me a look at many sides of Bruce that I never would have expected of him. My favorite part was learning the meaning of all the songs- they have now taken on a totally different sound for me after reading this!
eroston's review against another edition
A passionate, thoughtful overview, with subject access, particularly for the probably nine other people like me who never knew anything about or listened to Bruce Springsteen.
princesszinza's review against another edition
2.0
Bruce Springsteen was the man who introduced me to rock music. I got Born to Run when I was 12 in 1975 and was the biggest Bruce fan ever until he disappointed me with Born in the U.S.A. in the early 1980's. I enjoyed reading about Bruce's early years. I learned a lot from this book that I didn't know before about Bruce's dysfunctional childhood. I didn't like the later part of the book as much. Peter Carlin's analysis of Bruce's lp's doesn't jive with my thoughts at all. He doesn't even mention "Lost in the Flood" off Greetings from Asbury Park, one of Bruce's most interesting early songs! His loving defense of Mike Appel's actions regarding Bruce's contracts also did not ring true to me. Overall his characterization of Bruce's personality and career was overly fawning (and this is from a huge fan) and felt flat. I would recommend the first chapters and would skip the rest.
hungryheart87's review against another edition
4.0
A brilliant book. Would've been 5 stars but I felt the mid-1980s to present day were rushed.
adamz24's review against another edition
4.0
Most rock bios I've read have a pretty simple formula: tell a bunch of outrageous rock n' roll stories, and add some element of reflection and personal epiphany along the way, with a cursory examination of the artist's/band's music. But you can't do that with Bruce, a guy who drinks little, has never smoked or done any drugs, whose most outrageous antics seem to have been limited to onstage anger at an ex-girlfriend's presence in the audience, controversial politicking, and some instances of Bruce being less jovial on stage than usual. So what emerges is something more like a literary biography, tracing Springsteen's development and changes from 'new Dylan' folkie to street/boardwalk poet clad in Converse sneakers to social commentator inspired in part by Woody Guthrie, Flannery O'Connor, and John Ford movies to rock n' roll superstar to folkie recluse again to the Springsteen rocking the world's stages right now, the guy who at present seems to finally be comfortable with every iteration of himself and his public persona, and unusually committed to his chosen role of rocker and poet committed to the values of empathy, connectedness, community, and belief it turns out he's been committed to all along. I don't know what I would've thought of Springsteen if I was my age in the 70s or 80s. I know that now I think he's genuinely one of the most inspiring and important popular artists around, and has developed a body of writing (in his song lyrics) as diverse and interesting as any of the important American novelists of the last thirty or forty years.
Carlin's bio reminds me more of Every Love Story is a Ghost Story, the recent David Foster Wallace bio, than any rock bio I've read. It's just a book that tries to understand the public and private person behind a non-ironized, totally sincere and committed approach to addressing serious cultural issues and what it means to be a human being in a world like ours. Both books necessarily tackle their subjects' depression and sadness and personal and relationship troubles, but still focus more heavily on the work. The difference is that Springsteen, unlike Wallace, is hard to even make into a tragic, romantic figure, and hard to find any surprising anecdotes on. Springsteen, for all his riches, really does seem to be a regular guy, or at least a guy who's managed to put on a convincing act, maybe, and so this book's personal aspect is of little gossipy interest to anyone who isn't already a Springsteen fan. Perhaps its greatest value in that respect is in demonstrating what many of us suspected to be Springsteen's nature: he is a pretty ordinary outsider who struggles with depression and loneliness, who sees an ugly real world and an ideal dream world, and tries to find a psychic compromise rooted in the real humanity and compassion he's seen in the everyday folk he never quite lost touch with, tries to point to a way out, while never taking any injustice lightly.
It's not the kind of book that'll make somebody who isn't interested in Bruce magically interested in his writing or his music, and it contains no surprises whatsoever, but it's a fine bio, a good summary of a guy whose role in our cultural world is far from done, whose simple but incredibly sincere and serious and honest message seems to find a new appreciation and audience every time it seems he might have become totally irrelevant and historical. That he matters, on such deep and personal levels, to as many people as he does forty years after his first album emerged surely is testament to his importance as an artist. That he continues to add new fans, to inspire present-day rockers' ethos, is testament to his being something more.
Carlin's bio reminds me more of Every Love Story is a Ghost Story, the recent David Foster Wallace bio, than any rock bio I've read. It's just a book that tries to understand the public and private person behind a non-ironized, totally sincere and committed approach to addressing serious cultural issues and what it means to be a human being in a world like ours. Both books necessarily tackle their subjects' depression and sadness and personal and relationship troubles, but still focus more heavily on the work. The difference is that Springsteen, unlike Wallace, is hard to even make into a tragic, romantic figure, and hard to find any surprising anecdotes on. Springsteen, for all his riches, really does seem to be a regular guy, or at least a guy who's managed to put on a convincing act, maybe, and so this book's personal aspect is of little gossipy interest to anyone who isn't already a Springsteen fan. Perhaps its greatest value in that respect is in demonstrating what many of us suspected to be Springsteen's nature: he is a pretty ordinary outsider who struggles with depression and loneliness, who sees an ugly real world and an ideal dream world, and tries to find a psychic compromise rooted in the real humanity and compassion he's seen in the everyday folk he never quite lost touch with, tries to point to a way out, while never taking any injustice lightly.
It's not the kind of book that'll make somebody who isn't interested in Bruce magically interested in his writing or his music, and it contains no surprises whatsoever, but it's a fine bio, a good summary of a guy whose role in our cultural world is far from done, whose simple but incredibly sincere and serious and honest message seems to find a new appreciation and audience every time it seems he might have become totally irrelevant and historical. That he matters, on such deep and personal levels, to as many people as he does forty years after his first album emerged surely is testament to his importance as an artist. That he continues to add new fans, to inspire present-day rockers' ethos, is testament to his being something more.
jessreads82's review
5.0
I didn't technically READ this book, but it was the first audiobook I've ever listened to. Only for real disciples of Bruce Springsteen, as there are a lot of details regarding his family history, his childhood, and the bands he was in before he went solo and formed the E Street Band. This is the Bruce book to end all Bruce books.
I loved that Bruce and the band actually gave interviews for the book, and I loved the honesty about it all. This is not a book that paints Bruce in the best of lights at all times. He has tantrums, gets moody, has control issues with his girlfriends, and gets pissed off at his fans. But the thing I love so much about him and his music is that he's just a real person with a passion for good music and human connections. The book also explored, in great detail, his music, both released and unreleased. The fact that Peter Carlin is a dedicated fan came through in each chapter.
Great book about a rock 'n' roll legend.
I loved that Bruce and the band actually gave interviews for the book, and I loved the honesty about it all. This is not a book that paints Bruce in the best of lights at all times. He has tantrums, gets moody, has control issues with his girlfriends, and gets pissed off at his fans. But the thing I love so much about him and his music is that he's just a real person with a passion for good music and human connections. The book also explored, in great detail, his music, both released and unreleased. The fact that Peter Carlin is a dedicated fan came through in each chapter.
Great book about a rock 'n' roll legend.
jerzgrl626's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this so much! I thought it was very comprehensive and gave me a look at many sides of Bruce that I never would have expected of him. My favorite part was learning the meaning of all the songs- they have now taken on a totally different sound for me after reading this!