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ehays84 's review for:
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story
by Bono
This was another book club choice. While I would not consider myself a big U2 fan, I certainly have listened to them over the years, and many years I listen through their albums in chronological order while working. Ironically, their music from the 80s, when I was too young to listen to them, is my favorite. But anyway, we decided to read this because there are two serious U2 fans in our group, and enough others of us interested for various reasons that this seemed like a good choice.
I was really impressed with both Bono's writing as well as his narration. The audio of this was incredible with its infusion of music, various audio effects, and Bono's impressions of the voices of the many famous people he interacts with were quite good. I know that I missed out on his drawings in the physical book, but I am very glad with my choice to listen to it.
His writing was very thoughtful, and often poetic. His vulnerability and honesty is a hallmark of the book, and he pokes just enough fun of himself to leaven his campaigning. Bono also really gets paradox, which is essential to me, and why I have loved Chesterton and Lewis so much.
I would say that the most meaningful part of the book to me is how it felt like a walk back through my lifetime in a good kind of way. U2 has been around for just longer than I have been alive, and this was a great way to walk back through those 40 years, through a lens of hope rather than pessimism. And of course Bono's deep faith in and love for Jesus, although his idea of the Church is much different from mine, made it all the more meaningful for me.
The three parts of the book that I expected to be in there more that were hardly in there were 9-11, Trump, and Covid (and the last few albums during those later years get the least coverage). It makes me wonder how much he has been writing this book for a while and just didn't add in as much from the last 6 years or so.
I was hoping he would talk about U2 performing at the Super Bowl shortly after 9-11. I will never forget their performance of Where the Streets Have No Name and him opening his jacket and all of the names. It was profoundly moving to me. It is mentioned only briefly.
As for not tackling Trump (and the toxicity that everything associated with his era brings) and Covid much, on reflection, I think really Bono's life work and the story he tells in this book are really a perfect answer to both of those major challenges that our nation (and the world) has faced recently. Here is what I mean.
Bono's life and work stand for many things, but three that stand out are being brave enough to be wrong, being willing to inhabit the marginal places, and believing that compromise is always better than total (metaphorical or literal) warfare or complete inaction. These are all controversial stands to take. These all involve making serious efforts to connect with people very different from yourself in many different ways. I think unfortunately the world we have lived in since social media saturation, Trump (who I agree with Bono is more of a symptom than a cause), and Covid have all meant the opposite of those positions, to our great cost. Now, there certainly are times when we do have to say, no I am not willing to go along with that, and I know Bono would agree, but I think our world would be much better off if we erred on the side of Bono's perspective than the world we inhabit now.
I am sure I am not the only one for whom it is a daily struggle to code switch depending on what room you are in. It is so tiring to constantly be thinking, "wait, where are these people politically, and what do I have to be careful about saying." This book, and Bono's, and U2's life and work stand as a clarion call to a world who is only listening to the beat of their own, very loud, tribal drummer. I don't want to live in that world. I want to live in U2's world. I want to listen to Bono hitting that high note in Pride in the Name of Love. I want to hear Adam and Larry carrying a beat that makes me want to get up off my seat. I want to listen to the Edge's harmonics that make me feel like I am in a church service with thousands of other people. Their music represents a world that I wish we all would fight for. And this book makes me not want to give up on that myself. And for that I am very thankful.
I was really impressed with both Bono's writing as well as his narration. The audio of this was incredible with its infusion of music, various audio effects, and Bono's impressions of the voices of the many famous people he interacts with were quite good. I know that I missed out on his drawings in the physical book, but I am very glad with my choice to listen to it.
His writing was very thoughtful, and often poetic. His vulnerability and honesty is a hallmark of the book, and he pokes just enough fun of himself to leaven his campaigning. Bono also really gets paradox, which is essential to me, and why I have loved Chesterton and Lewis so much.
I would say that the most meaningful part of the book to me is how it felt like a walk back through my lifetime in a good kind of way. U2 has been around for just longer than I have been alive, and this was a great way to walk back through those 40 years, through a lens of hope rather than pessimism. And of course Bono's deep faith in and love for Jesus, although his idea of the Church is much different from mine, made it all the more meaningful for me.
The three parts of the book that I expected to be in there more that were hardly in there were 9-11, Trump, and Covid (and the last few albums during those later years get the least coverage). It makes me wonder how much he has been writing this book for a while and just didn't add in as much from the last 6 years or so.
I was hoping he would talk about U2 performing at the Super Bowl shortly after 9-11. I will never forget their performance of Where the Streets Have No Name and him opening his jacket and all of the names. It was profoundly moving to me. It is mentioned only briefly.
As for not tackling Trump (and the toxicity that everything associated with his era brings) and Covid much, on reflection, I think really Bono's life work and the story he tells in this book are really a perfect answer to both of those major challenges that our nation (and the world) has faced recently. Here is what I mean.
Bono's life and work stand for many things, but three that stand out are being brave enough to be wrong, being willing to inhabit the marginal places, and believing that compromise is always better than total (metaphorical or literal) warfare or complete inaction. These are all controversial stands to take. These all involve making serious efforts to connect with people very different from yourself in many different ways. I think unfortunately the world we have lived in since social media saturation, Trump (who I agree with Bono is more of a symptom than a cause), and Covid have all meant the opposite of those positions, to our great cost. Now, there certainly are times when we do have to say, no I am not willing to go along with that, and I know Bono would agree, but I think our world would be much better off if we erred on the side of Bono's perspective than the world we inhabit now.
I am sure I am not the only one for whom it is a daily struggle to code switch depending on what room you are in. It is so tiring to constantly be thinking, "wait, where are these people politically, and what do I have to be careful about saying." This book, and Bono's, and U2's life and work stand as a clarion call to a world who is only listening to the beat of their own, very loud, tribal drummer. I don't want to live in that world. I want to live in U2's world. I want to listen to Bono hitting that high note in Pride in the Name of Love. I want to hear Adam and Larry carrying a beat that makes me want to get up off my seat. I want to listen to the Edge's harmonics that make me feel like I am in a church service with thousands of other people. Their music represents a world that I wish we all would fight for. And this book makes me not want to give up on that myself. And for that I am very thankful.