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andiekk's review
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Huge Connie fan and I love the reflection and honesty Fishman offers, this is the kind of biography where the speaker is a part of the story. I can’t imagine a biography of Connie being any different. So much of a story about loneliness and being an “I” in the world
hannah_arr's review
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
i met the author and he's a total music nerd. he has so much love and respect for Connie Converse, and his book is a brilliant homage to her.
casey_nichols's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
This book swept me away. It’s like Connie was too much for this world in her time. But what a gift Fishman and his sources have given us in this book. I can’t help but see parallels to Emily Dickinson in Connie.
lelia_t's review
5.0
A remarkable biography. Fishman invites us along with him as he follows the breadcrumb trail that leads from his first encounter with a Connie Converse song to a full-fledged biography, meeting people, following in Connie’s footsteps, discovering her music and her intellectual pursuits, her friendships and foibles until the trail suddenly stops. Fishman doesn’t explain the mystery. Instead, he explores it with us, describing anomalies and raising questions that ultimately can’t be answered. What we’re left with instead, is Converse’s incredible body of work and an understanding that people can touch each other - often through music or other art forms - across the void of time and space. I got chills several times as I read the book (and I read biographies while sweating and walking on the treadmill), because of the uncanny connection people feel with Connie and her music. As Fishman writes, "Music can infect and permeate consciousness in ways that seem to defy logic.”
Fishman is a musician and he takes time exploring Connie’s approach to music and explaining the music scene during the 50s and 60s. I’m not musically inclined, so I don’t know what Fishman means when he says “arpeggio,” but I found his explorations enlightening anyway and that may be because his language is fresh. Nothing reads like a textbook or stodgy analysis. His images have impact because they are unique and sincere rather than merely clever. Here is Fishman describing the first time he sees the filing cabinet where Converse’s “stuff” has been kept: “Had the moment of discovery been illustrated in a comic book, R. Crumb style, the cabinet would have been emanating undulating squiggly bands of energy like the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.” He’s excited, we’re excited and we get to share with him the thrill of discovery as we follow the trail Converse has left us.
Fishman is a musician and he takes time exploring Connie’s approach to music and explaining the music scene during the 50s and 60s. I’m not musically inclined, so I don’t know what Fishman means when he says “arpeggio,” but I found his explorations enlightening anyway and that may be because his language is fresh. Nothing reads like a textbook or stodgy analysis. His images have impact because they are unique and sincere rather than merely clever. Here is Fishman describing the first time he sees the filing cabinet where Converse’s “stuff” has been kept: “Had the moment of discovery been illustrated in a comic book, R. Crumb style, the cabinet would have been emanating undulating squiggly bands of energy like the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.” He’s excited, we’re excited and we get to share with him the thrill of discovery as we follow the trail Converse has left us.
phil_abernethy's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
paul_marv's review
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Didn't like hyperbole in early chapters but became increasingly engrossing as research element picked up.