A review by ocurtsinger
But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz by Geoff Dyer

3.0

Not my favorite Geoff Dyer book, but I learned a lot about some musicians that I have always been fond of but never curious enough about to look at their life history. What Dyer reveals is an often tragic and always hard wrought life for all of his subjects, whom many unwitting listeners like myself have elevated to a status of greatness without knowing the struggles they had to endure to get there or stay there. Some vignettes are more lyrical than others, and I imagine it could be argued how true to life Dyer 'gets it' for each of his subjects, but it's obvious that he's done his homework and has written the novel out of a desire to pay respects and create an homage rather than exploit his talented muses.