Contents:
Despite resistance from the singer's inner circle, numerous friends and colleagues are interviewed, including her notorious ex-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil, myths debunked and facts unearthed, including her final boyfriend's surprising claim that she'd been offered a role in Mad Men.
It's a painfully thorough tale of wasted potential: Winehouse's story is broken up by well-researched potted biographies of the other five musicians, connected only by generalisations that apply to hundreds of performers. Great pain can inspire great art.
Drug addicts are often self-loathing. Success doesn't make you happy. When Janis Joplin writes to a fellow heroin addict, "I want to be happy so fucking bad," Sounes adds: He quotes Al Alvarez's description of drug addiction as "gradual, chronic suicide" in a chapter on Brian Jones despite the example of many long-term drug-users, including Jones's bandmate Keith Richards , who proved themselves loth to die. For every possible pattern, you can concoct an equally convincing opposing theory; for every victim, there are countless survivors. It remains a mystery. If there is any scientific research to explain why it's a particularly volatile age, then it is not included here among all the broad-brush quotations from the likes of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard.
Sounes painstakingly demolishes conspiracy theories and other forms of magical thinking but offers no persuasive alternative. It simply seems that some gifted musicians are unhappy, some of the unhappy ones become addicts, some of the addicts die, and some of those do so at The longlist of 27 Club members in the appendix sinks the concept for good. Paperback , pages.
Published July 3rd by Hodder Paperbacks first published May 22nd To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Amy, 27 , please sign up. Lists with This Book.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Mar 19, Sharon added it.
Depression, drug addition, pressure of fame, dysfunctionality of nuclear family. All makes for difficult reading which is essentially about how society fails humanity. Aug 21, Dariana Atanasova rated it it was amazing. A truly phenomenal read. I would recommend this book to so many people, regardless of them knowing or liking the musicians mentioned in general, because of the eye opening storyline, interviews and images. Mar 03, Rosanna rated it it was amazing.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has interest in the 27 club or is a fan of one of the members of the 27 club. I'm a big fan of a few of the members and found this book very insightful. The author did a lot of research and it helped open my eyes to the lives of many of the musicians I'm a fan of. It talks about their struggle in life that ultimately lead to the death.
Aug 22, Anna Knutson rated it really liked it. Not mind blowing but full of interesting bits, a great read for music fans. Writing is a bit clunky at times but overall very enjoyable Dec 01, Raluca Sandu rated it really liked it Shelves: Before reading this book, I have only vaguely heard talking of The 27 Club, but I was curious to find out more. The amount of research that the author has carried out in order to write this book is impressive. Beautifully written, the book analyses in depth the reasons for the decline of six of the 27 Club members.
I Before reading this book, I have only vaguely heard talking of The 27 Club, but I was curious to find out more. I received this book via Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. Jan 23, Sue rated it really liked it Shelves: This book is so well researched. I had first heard of the 27 club when I went through a period where I got obsessed with Nirvana. I like the tempo of the book, how there is very little sensationalism, which seems to normally follow the 27 club.
All the stories just made me so sad. It shows that who you surround yourself with, matters. Jim King rated it liked it Feb 22, Ana Caballero rated it liked it Sep 03, Kelly rated it it was amazing Jun 30, Jill rated it it was amazing May 28, Tizz rated it liked it Feb 13, Ingrid Stroom rated it really liked it Mar 11,