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nickscoby's review
2.0
This is one of those books that make you feel like YOU, too, can write a book! From the cliched title to the weak thesis, this book could have been written for a senior assignment in college, i.e., choose one contemporary icon and explain how he or she reflects Generation X. For starters, no one is writing about Gen X, anymore, and secondly, who cares??? Apparently, Toure stopped caring about half-way through because he stopped discussing it. Prince deserves better.
trevoryan's review
4.0
A quick read that focuses heavily on Prince's religious messages in his music. He was raised Seventh Day Adventist and died a Jehovah's Witness, after all.
duparker's review
3.0
This book had some superficial moments, but was quick, decent and obviously written by someone interested in the life and impact Prince had on his strongest fan base, the Gen Xers. There are some really interesting reaches here about what that impact is, and how it transpired, but overall it all made sense, and was a quick and fun read.
elaineruss's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this. The book takes on the conflicting (and conflicted) reports of Prince’s life and tries to decipher just how (and why) he became, and remains, an icon for Generation X.
This wider, social approach to the biography was very appealing. There are a plethora of biographies out there about Prince, so to look at why society decided to embrace him as they did, is a clever move and Touré does it very well.
The book also takes on Prince’s seemingly odd juxtaposing of religion and sex in a lot of his music. Sex and religion on a par in Prince’s world and Touré does a great job examining both.
All in all an interesting, knowledgable, look at not only Prince, but Generation X as a whole.
Review here
This wider, social approach to the biography was very appealing. There are a plethora of biographies out there about Prince, so to look at why society decided to embrace him as they did, is a clever move and Touré does it very well.
The book also takes on Prince’s seemingly odd juxtaposing of religion and sex in a lot of his music. Sex and religion on a par in Prince’s world and Touré does a great job examining both.
All in all an interesting, knowledgable, look at not only Prince, but Generation X as a whole.
Review here
soulpopped's review
4.0
The front half is better than the back half, and even at just 150 pages it seems like this is a bit padded. Either way, all I want to do now is listen to Prince music and I'm okay with that.
girlonthecsaw's review
4.0
Anyone look for a tell-all biography will be disappointed by this book. Anyone who is interested in an analysis of Prince's contributions to pop culture will enjoy this book. As an avid admirer of Prince - he is my favorite musical artist of all time - I was pleased with Toure's approach. I applaud Toure's examination because it goes beyond the traditional focus on the sexuality of Prince's music and focuses more on the spiritual aspects. The only issue I have is that the book is fairly short.(I actually read it twice just to fully absorb everything.)When you consider the vast catalogue of music which Prince has...well, there could be VOLUMES written about it. I appreciate that Toure expanded the information from his series of Harvard lectures to provide a deeply thoughtful and well-researched reflection on the artist known as Prince. It really is a must-read for those of us who understand the musical genius of Prince and I think it would be equally entertaining for any person interested in pop culture.
marzinka's review
5.0
Observations on how the generations, personal history and beliefs allowed Prince to become the icon he became. As much about prince as it is about religion, motivation and being an outsider.
librarygirl55's review
2.0
Meh. I think the author could have done better. There was a lot of theorizing about why Prince became popular in the 80's, some were believable others not so much. He seemed to want to hear himself talk about pop culture history more than about the actual person of Prince. Most of the information on Prince's life could have been found in Wikipedia. Kinda disappointed in this one. Should have known, since it was an "Unauthorized" biography.