Reviews

Fever: Little Willie John: A Fast Life, Mysterious Death, and the Birth of Soul by Susan Whitall

jessferg's review

2.0

I was disappointed with how belabored this was. About five key points comprise the entirety of the first 140 pages: 1. John was short/tiny. 2. He always dressed well. 3. He could sing better than anyone and no one in their right mind would want to follow him on stage. 4. He was really sweet and generous. 5. But he had a devilish side (Maybe six, there's a good amount of "he came from nothing" worked in.)

After that, two people die in about 25 pages, and we finish the book reiterating the top five (six?) points.

There's an awful lot of effort here to absolve John of any wrong-doing and not a lot of actual reporting on the events that transpired. It seems at first that maybe there isn't much information available but then the author mentions an article from elsewhere that contains a detailed account of the party where the murder occurs - is it too much to ask that we get them in a book about John's life?

I think we can all agree to loving Willie John but I think this biography takes it to a truth-obscuring level.