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theextensivereader's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
If you’re a fan who wants to keep intact their fond memories of a musical genius, maybe avoid this book.
kaelino's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to love this, a biography on my very favorite musician of all time. Instead, I really had a hard time not shoving it away from me and picking up something else. The Goodreads bio for this author says, "Ghostwriter & celebrity biographer. She has also written books on love, sex & relationships." Well that explains it. Keyword here... sex. You may enjoy this book if you're interested in basically a listing of every sexual partner David Bowie ever had (male or female) and not in the man, his music, and his talent. Those things are pretty incidental in this book, unfortunately. Yes, David Bowie had a lot of relationships and a lot of sexual partners. That is part of his history, but is it really interesting enough to fill a whole book, especially when you consider someone as multi-faceted, enigmatic, and alluring as David Bowie? The sex, sex, sex quickly became tedious and, frankly, uncomfortable to read.
For someone with as much talent, innovation and intrigue in the music world as well as pop culture, it's a shame Leigh chooses to focus on something as superficial (and ultimately uninteresting) as Bowie's multiple sexual partners throughout three decades. Sure she touches on other things, his beginnings in Brixton, his first bands, his rise to fame and the characters he created (Ziggy, Thin White Duke), his struggles with his marriage and with drugs and alcohol, and the songs he wrote and albums he put out, but it seems obvious what the author's main interest is here, his life in the bedroom, and I believe this really does a disservice to a fascinating man. He was far from perfect. He was reckless and he used a lot of the relationships he had with other people to get ahead and to further his career. But he also wrote amazing music. He was a fashion icon. He was a committed and model husband to Iman for nearly 25 years.
I would have liked to have read more about David Bowie, the person, not David Bowie the "sex addict". How did he think of his lyrics? Why did he decide to sing? There is nothing in this book whatsoever about his singing voice, which I think is superb and worth at least noting in a sentence or two!
Overall, just a big miss for me. I wish the book had been more flattering to him.
For someone with as much talent, innovation and intrigue in the music world as well as pop culture, it's a shame Leigh chooses to focus on something as superficial (and ultimately uninteresting) as Bowie's multiple sexual partners throughout three decades. Sure she touches on other things, his beginnings in Brixton, his first bands, his rise to fame and the characters he created (Ziggy, Thin White Duke), his struggles with his marriage and with drugs and alcohol, and the songs he wrote and albums he put out, but it seems obvious what the author's main interest is here, his life in the bedroom, and I believe this really does a disservice to a fascinating man. He was far from perfect. He was reckless and he used a lot of the relationships he had with other people to get ahead and to further his career. But he also wrote amazing music. He was a fashion icon. He was a committed and model husband to Iman for nearly 25 years.
I would have liked to have read more about David Bowie, the person, not David Bowie the "sex addict". How did he think of his lyrics? Why did he decide to sing? There is nothing in this book whatsoever about his singing voice, which I think is superb and worth at least noting in a sentence or two!
Overall, just a big miss for me. I wish the book had been more flattering to him.
debbiemanning's review against another edition
3.0
I won this book from Goodreads. I've always enjoyed David Bowie's music and characterizations, and this book gave me more insight to him as a person. I learned some things I didn't know about him. And I was happy to see that he's finally found the happiness which eluded him in his younger years. I would have like to heard from the man himself.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Susie. Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbowie%20leigh__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
leonardocei's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
1.5
Il libro dovrebbe essere una biografia sul cantante ma in realtà parla sempre di eventi e anedotti da pettegolezzo. Si concentra molto di piú sulle esperienze sessuali che sulla sua arte e i suoi processi creativi, quasi assenti in tutto il libro
pituitaryn's review against another edition
1.0
If you're looking for a book with zero heart, to be told David Bowie had a lot of sex and did a lot of drugs (duh) and is basically the author picking the meat off the bones of tabloids and general gossip then this is the bio for you!
em_jay's review against another edition
2.0
Tabloid, gossipy and superficial. Some good quotes and nuggets of information. Overall, a very piecemeal effort.
mindsplinters's review against another edition
1.0
Meh. It was an ARC so I like to think some of the issues were fixed in the final book but, to be honest, it would have needed a lot more work to turn it into a deeper biography. As it stood, this was mostly about who Bowie slept with, how many drugs he did, who he had shitty/dismissive relationships with... and then circling back to how much sex and what kind of sex he had and, oh, he made music and movies and innovated presentation and distribution.