John by Cynthia Lennon
John by Cynthia
Lennon
When I
first heard that John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, had written a biography
about him I was extremely excited. I have always enjoyed The Beatles music and
been fascinated by John. What reason would someone have to kill a musician
outside of his home? It was all incredibly fascinating to me and this biography
seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about the man that was John
Lennon. I was not disappointed. John Lennon was a complicated man and his
relationship with his first wife was very revealing of his true nature.
John was well written, informative and
most of all, an extremely intimate look at John Lennon. Cynthia didn’t bash
him, drag his name through the mud or berate him. She was honest about the way
she felt about him, how their relationship came to be, how that same
relationship fell into shambles and detailed the relationship John had with his
son Julian. She expressed her pain, her joy, her love, their love and their
struggles. I was entranced by their story. Cynthia talked about his upbringing
as well as hers and how those basic differences would come to harm them later.
Where she was willing to hang on, he was willing to let go. Cynthia discussed
The Beatles and the friendship she had with differing members of the band and
their families. She discussed what it was like being in John’s life when fame
was right around the corner. She discussed Yoko Ono and how her presence
affected their relationship both before and after the divorce. Like I said it
was intimate and it was detailed but it was well done and classy.
There
was only one thing that was lacking in this biography and that’s a look at John
outside of his familial constraints. I was expecting to see quite a bit more of
what was going on with John outside of his family and outside of the music.
Cynthia’s biography doesn’t go into any detail about what was going on outside
of the relationship John had with her and Julian. It would have been
interesting to hear what her take on his political activities were. She only
commented on those things she felt were attempts to grab the media spotlight.
All in all though I really enjoyed this biography and give it 4.5 out of 5
stars. If you like The Beatles and are fascinated by John Lennon then this will
be an easy one to enjoy.
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