Scan barcode
emma_ireland's review against another edition
5.0
Enjoyed this immensely. At almost 600 pages it can look a tad daunting on the bookshelf, but it's extremely readable. A couple of other reviews mentioned too much detail - personally I thought it struck the perfect balance, giving enough detail to give a good sense of time and place without leading to glazed eyes. It's not an easy read, there's a lot of tragedy and senseless death and mental destruction, but it gives a valuable, unvarnished view of the lives Ginsberg and the other Beat sorts - Kerouac comes out of it particularly badly (misogynistic/anti-semitic/ultra-conservative/cowardly/tight-fisted/major mummy's boy) which makes a refreshing change from a lot of the romanticised nonsense that gets written about him.
justabean_reads's review
4.0
Well laid out, accessible, not afraid to shy from controversy, and very connected to his poetry. Pretty much every thing I want in a biography.
More...