A review by howifeelaboutbooks
It's So Easy: And Other Lies by Duff McKagan

5.0

This book is why I love reading rock autobiographies. Duff comes across as intelligent and self-aware, but he doesn't act like he's always been that way. He admits to past mistakes and stupidity while he was living it up with Guns N Roses. He shares embarrassing stories about drugs and drinking, including throwing up, then consuming the vomit because there was alcohol in it. Instead of glorifying his former rock lifestyle, he focuses on how he overcame things. He fell in love, married, and now has two daughters; he enrolled in community college so he could go on to get a college degree; he took up exercising and bicycling to stay sober. He never comes off as holier-than-thou, but I love that the book focuses more on what he's doing now than idolizing how he used to be. While the stream-of-consciousness chapters from his drug induced times are incredibly gripping, it's even more impressive how he writes the rest of the narrative. Though he gives credit to a ghost writer, I believe the reader is actually hearing Duff's true voice, because he's an intelligent man (as demonstrated by his 4.0 GPA in college), and he's been writing his own columns for several years now. Highly recommended, regardless of how you feel about GNR.