Exhaustively researched and eminently readable: an indispensable book for those interested in Dylan, popular music, or the...
From longtime Dylan scholar Heylin, a meticulously detailed and engrossing account of the musician's work and life from 1961 to the present.
Bob Dylan is the singer-songwriter nonpareil of the last 30 years, but little has been written about his life after the notorious 1966 motorcycle accident. During this period, he has recorded 20 albums (and at least an equal amount of unreleased material), embarked on tours up to three years long, and worked on several movies. Here, Heylin fills in the record with a close-up narrative refreshingly free of either uncritical worship or parochial judgments. Heylin keeps his focus on the songs but examines closely the events in Dylan's life that shaped them: the motorcycle accident; his divorce from Sara and messy custody battle for their five children; his alleged hotel-room visitation from heaven, and his born-again evangelism. In numerous quotes, Dylan speaks for himself, while interviews with the important people in Dylan's life give his story considerable depth and complexity. Comments by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and studio musicians who have recorded and toured with Dylan provide a unique and fascinating view of the nuts and bolts of Dylan's working methods.
Exhaustively researched and eminently readable: an indispensable book for those interested in Dylan, popular music, or the fate of American icons.Pub Date: May 24, 1991
ISBN: 0-671-73894-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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