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A review by daisii
Bowie: The Biography by Wendy Leigh
1.0
Disappointing to say the least.
David Bowie is my icon. I have so much admiration and respect for this man, and when he passed away, I was truly devastated (and still am to this day). So the idea of reading a biography about him was awesome, and I was so excited. But this biography did no justice to the man I have so dearly loved since I was a child.
Let's start this off by saying I have NO problem with sex. I have no problem with reading things that are erotic. And I know that sex was quite a significant part of David's life, and I was expecting it to be talked about in this book. However, there was so much more to him as a person than just his sex life, and I got none of it while reading. When reading a biography, you're looking for a story about the person's life and upbringing, their inner circles, their creative processes, their struggle to success, etc. etc. What this biography brought to the table was nothing more than "who slept with whom... every person that met David fell in love with him... his romances with people are what helped him garner attention to his art... he had no real friendships, only rumoured affairs... oh, and in case you didn't catch the first 70 times it's been mentioned, Bowie had a big you-know-what...". It was exhausting, and if I'm being honest, quite insulting to David Bowie himself. I don't know if he ever read this particular book while he was alive, but I truly believe he would have hated it. And he also would have hated that even though he was alive when this was written, this author never bothered to look to him for an interview or any insight into the things she was writing. He would have hated how his entire life and career was boiled down to all of his rumoured love interests over the years. That all of his genuine relationships and friendships that he must have had with the people around him turned into "Were they sleeping together?" Did he have a very active sex life? Yes, everyone who knew him agrees with that. Is it possible that some of the rumours about him and certain people were actually true? Surely, there were so many rumours and so many people that it's nearly impossible that absolutely none of them really happened. But if these things are the only thing about him that you are inspired to write about, then you are a bad writer. As a reader, I'm telling you that I don't give two shits about how well endowed he was, I care about how his life influenced his art and how the people closest to him viewed him as a person. I care about who he was, not who he did. He was the embodiment of art and creativity and prosperity and hard work, so you cannot tell me that his love-life was more pressing and more interesting that you needed to write an entire book about it. And I would have no problem if that is what this book was marketed as: a tale and re-telling of his sexcapades and all of the rumours that surrounded him throughout his life. But that isn't what this book is marketed as. Yes, it says "an erotic journey" on the front, but as a whole, it's meant to be a biography of his life and career. The author skimmed over everything that didn't include a sexual interest and never went into detail about what makes him him. A better title would be "Bowie: A Bedroom Biography".
And the writing itself was just simply poor as well. It read to me as more of a tabloid article than a professional biography. It felt cheap, sleazy, incredibly shallow. There was no real content. I would rather believe that Wendy Leigh runs a gossip blog than writes actual books.
David Bowie is my icon. I have so much admiration and respect for this man, and when he passed away, I was truly devastated (and still am to this day). So the idea of reading a biography about him was awesome, and I was so excited. But this biography did no justice to the man I have so dearly loved since I was a child.
Let's start this off by saying I have NO problem with sex. I have no problem with reading things that are erotic. And I know that sex was quite a significant part of David's life, and I was expecting it to be talked about in this book. However, there was so much more to him as a person than just his sex life, and I got none of it while reading. When reading a biography, you're looking for a story about the person's life and upbringing, their inner circles, their creative processes, their struggle to success, etc. etc. What this biography brought to the table was nothing more than "who slept with whom... every person that met David fell in love with him... his romances with people are what helped him garner attention to his art... he had no real friendships, only rumoured affairs... oh, and in case you didn't catch the first 70 times it's been mentioned, Bowie had a big you-know-what...". It was exhausting, and if I'm being honest, quite insulting to David Bowie himself. I don't know if he ever read this particular book while he was alive, but I truly believe he would have hated it. And he also would have hated that even though he was alive when this was written, this author never bothered to look to him for an interview or any insight into the things she was writing. He would have hated how his entire life and career was boiled down to all of his rumoured love interests over the years. That all of his genuine relationships and friendships that he must have had with the people around him turned into "Were they sleeping together?" Did he have a very active sex life? Yes, everyone who knew him agrees with that. Is it possible that some of the rumours about him and certain people were actually true? Surely, there were so many rumours and so many people that it's nearly impossible that absolutely none of them really happened. But if these things are the only thing about him that you are inspired to write about, then you are a bad writer. As a reader, I'm telling you that I don't give two shits about how well endowed he was, I care about how his life influenced his art and how the people closest to him viewed him as a person. I care about who he was, not who he did. He was the embodiment of art and creativity and prosperity and hard work, so you cannot tell me that his love-life was more pressing and more interesting that you needed to write an entire book about it. And I would have no problem if that is what this book was marketed as: a tale and re-telling of his sexcapades and all of the rumours that surrounded him throughout his life. But that isn't what this book is marketed as. Yes, it says "an erotic journey" on the front, but as a whole, it's meant to be a biography of his life and career. The author skimmed over everything that didn't include a sexual interest and never went into detail about what makes him him. A better title would be "Bowie: A Bedroom Biography".
And the writing itself was just simply poor as well. It read to me as more of a tabloid article than a professional biography. It felt cheap, sleazy, incredibly shallow. There was no real content. I would rather believe that Wendy Leigh runs a gossip blog than writes actual books.