offbalance80 's review for:

Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World by Rob Sheffield

3.0

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I finished this book a week ago and I've been walking around trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say about it. While I thought that Sheffield didn't exactly do what he set out to do (which was to explain the Beatles and why we love them), I certainly thought he made a decent attempt at conquering the maze. It's easy to get distracted in that labyrinth, certainly. For something as subjective as fandom, it's hard to make anything that's essentially an opinion be definitive. I agreed and disagreed with him through so much of this. I went back to re-read sections, and skimmed through certain others. I definitely listened to the Beatles on my ipod while he discussed them, paying attention to the albums and songs as he dissected them. Sheffield couldn't decide if he wanted to make this a memoir about how he felt about the Beatles (similar to his On Bowie) or something greater in scope(maybe along the lines of his karaoke treatise, Turn Around Bright Eyes). Still, no lack of focus can make his books any less charming to me. One thing is for certain - will definitely be reading this again, and will likely buy a copy once it comes out in paperback.