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tobin_elliott 's review for:
Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans
by Kenneth Womack
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
fast-paced
I'm giving the book four stars because it does deliver the information in Kenneth Womack's standard, workmanlike manner (with all his signature words and phrases like "calculus" and "bravura" and "for the ages" tossed in).
We're given an almost day-to-day chronicle of Mal Evans life from meeting the Beatles until his death in early 1976.
Unfortunately, along the way, there's a point where I decided it had been a mistake for me to read this book. I'd always smiled when I saw Mal in the movies and photos, but now that's always going to be coloured by the knowledge that he was not the person everyone made him out to be.
Yes, he was an excellent roadie, with an almost preternatural ability to anticipate the Beatles' needs and wants. Yes, he was mostly a gentle giant of a man who made friends easily and everyone seemed to adore.
But there's a far darker side, and it all seems to do with addictions. Addiction to drugs, to alcohol, to young women, to sex, to fame, to recognition, and to the Beatles. All at the expense of a family that didn't deserve his absence.
Honestly, the more I learned, the more I grew to hate Mal Evans.
So, four stars for the book itself. But Mal? Yeah, he gets none.
We're given an almost day-to-day chronicle of Mal Evans life from meeting the Beatles until his death in early 1976.
Unfortunately, along the way, there's a point where I decided it had been a mistake for me to read this book. I'd always smiled when I saw Mal in the movies and photos, but now that's always going to be coloured by the knowledge that he was not the person everyone made him out to be.
Yes, he was an excellent roadie, with an almost preternatural ability to anticipate the Beatles' needs and wants. Yes, he was mostly a gentle giant of a man who made friends easily and everyone seemed to adore.
But there's a far darker side, and it all seems to do with addictions. Addiction to drugs, to alcohol, to young women, to sex, to fame, to recognition, and to the Beatles. All at the expense of a family that didn't deserve his absence.
Honestly, the more I learned, the more I grew to hate Mal Evans.
So, four stars for the book itself. But Mal? Yeah, he gets none.