Paul McCartney: A Life

Category: Books,Biographies & Memoirs,Arts & Literature

Paul McCartney: A Life Details

Review "The best thing about Peter Ames Carlin's book is the way he entangles the music and the life, so that we begin to understand them as what they are---inextricable." ---Dave Marsh, author of Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005 Read more About the Author Peter Ames Carlin has been a columnist for the Oregonian newspaper since 2000, and he is the author of Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.John Lee has read audiobooks in almost every conceivable genre, from Charles Dickens to Patrick O'Brian, and from the very real life of Napoleon to the entirely imagined lives of sorcerers and swashbucklers. An AudioFile Golden Voice narrator, he is the winner of numerous Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards. Read more From AudioFile The story of this young man from Liverpool cannot be separated from those of the other musicians who formed the Beatles. Together they drank, took drugs, shared sexual experiences, and sold a little music. Their prodigal talent in writing and performing brought them fame, wealth, and just a bit of strife. Because they didn't sound like Elvis Presley, some questioned whether their tunes were rock and roll. In his native British English, narrator John Lee employs the regional accents of England to bring this intimate biography to life. He imitates the famous voices and personalities with his nuanced renditions of how the boys composed, cavorted, and fought. Lee will convince listeners they've gone back in time to those halcyon days when a new musical era began. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine Read more

Reviews

Having read Carlin's previous and, for me, at least, revelatory biography on Brian Wilson, I was quite enthusiastic about this read. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Just a little, mind you. Obviously, the Beatles story has been told and retold--it's still the most perfect story arc in rock; I think that Carlin brings very little new to this part of the story. The rest of McCartney's life is reported with few flourishes...There is a glimpse, just a glimpse, of the stark loneliness that lies under the layers of diplomacy, show business acumen, crafty manipulations that make up McCartney and there are a few hints of inner conflicts. But McCartney's a slippery character who knows his business and seems to have known all his life there would be books written about him and has deliberately acted to confound biographers....Carlin tries. I enjoyed the book, and at times really like Carlin's writing but ultimately I'm left wondering who Paul McCartney really is..

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