the book, what do you think

[Anonymous]

I've had serious mental health issues due to childhood events, but I've worked hard to overcome them.

Really?

We would never have noticed

 

[BrummieBoy]

Morrissey really adds to the reputation of David Bowie being a big-headed sod. Bowie isn't shown in a good light at all.

We are still pretty much in the dark about Marr and why he left too. He went to meet Morrissey and nothing seemed to be explained much. Whether it's Morrissey holding back or Marr skipped the subjects, heaven knows.

Bit saddened when Morrissey dissed "Roys Keen" in the autobiography too. I think it's quite funny and the music is really good.

Because Morrissey is SUCH a reliable witness to his own life, that we must take seriously what he has to write about Bowie? ahem!

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Even by your own low standards that is palpable/papabile nonsense.

No, it's entirely sensible as analysis. He's a plagiarist, but didn't have the guts to do what Sinead did for at least a decade. He was jumping on a bandwagon and is in his silly book by trying to make out a teacher who stroke his arm was a sex pervert. Pathetic.

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Overall I think the book is 'OK'. There is so much inconsistency with the amount of detail in major topics, there is so much more that I needed to read about. Big topics like what happened during the Smiths split, how he felt, what he tried to do but it all gets swept aside in a sentence or two. Compare that with the 140 or so pages where he talks about the stuff he did prior to meeting Johnny Marr it just doesn't add up to me. I did want to read about his upbringing and influences but 140 pages, jaysus. The court case is covered in massive detail, he also takes every opportunity to put his case across and he is right to do so, whether or not his arguments add up to fully justifying and unequal partnership you can make your own mind up - it is all there to read.

His arguments don't add up: legally or morally. He needs to move on, STFU, pay up to Joyce and, finally, get a life beyond his victim script.

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I agree with a lot of that also, just wanna say, I applaud the courage of "bagface" to let others see their vote, and one other who I don't recognize
why your overall opinion is in the negative, I'd be interested to know
also, my assumption is that the 1 vote, so far, of: have not read it, don't plan to
is by the author of the "Barking" blog, aka, "Brummie Boy" he strikes me more of a write without reading type
but I could be wrong, I don't put much thought into this shit folks

I havent' voted on your stupid poll, you emoticonically incontinent itinerant ugly fcuk. Now , go fry your face in a wok.

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One of the reviews I read says that the book "reproduces" a letter that Marr sent Moz years later explaining the reasons he left. Is that not the case?

Read the book and find out, eejit.

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No, I didn't get to see a list of why Marr left. Can someone else clarify this? Just in case I randomly skipped a part or a page.

Marr didn't write this book. Until he does, his reasons for leaving remain to be fully explained. Morrissey's absurd speculations hardly matter.

 

[realitybites]

One of the reviews I read says that the book "reproduces" a letter that Marr sent Moz years later explaining the reasons he left. Is that not the case?

No, I didn't get to see a list of why Marr left. Can someone else clarify this? Just in case I randomly skipped a part or a page.

"Dear Moz,

Sincere thanks for your letter last week and for your concern. I do realize that it must have taken a lot of brainache/heartache to have gotten in touch. The main thing that I want you to know is that I really regret us not being friends. I’ve only recently come to realize that you genuinely don’t know all the reasons for my leaving. To get into it would be horrible, but I will say that I honestly hated the sort of people we became. I have no ambitions to be a solo guitar player. I will never point the finger at anyone but myself, and I am glad I took a step towards making my life sane.
After getting your postcard I felt that the only way to explain things would be to come round and see you personally. I also felt bad that you were so unhappy and it’s only circumstances that made it possible.
I hope I see you soon.

Love, Johnny"

Only letter Marr sent to Moz in the book, that I can recall.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Really?

We would never have noticed

Who is "we"? Your voices which talk to you? Resume your medication. And relay those thoughts to Morrissey whilst stuffing your SISMS lyrics sheet up your arse. Everyone has mental health issues as a child: that is the nature of childhood. See? I can come up with better lines than Morrissey without even trying.

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"Dear Moz,

Sincere thanks for your letter last week and for your concern. I do realize that it must have taken a lot of brainache/heartache to have gotten in touch. The main thing that I want you to know is that I really regret us not being friends. I’ve only recently come to realize that you genuinely don’t know all the reasons for my leaving. To get into it would be horrible, but I will say that I honestly hated the sort of people we became. I have no ambitions to be a solo guitar player. I will never point the finger at anyone but myself, and I am glad I took a step towards making my life sane.
After getting your postcard I felt that the only way to explain things would be to come round and see you personally. I also felt bad that you were so unhappy and it’s only circumstances that made it possible.
I hope I see you soon.

Love, Johnny"

Of course, I'm sure he sought clearance and permission from Johnny to publish this..he needs to understand that there are other penpals out there who are watching all this closely..

 

[DAVIE]

"Dear Moz,

Sincere thanks for your letter last week and for your concern. I do realize that it must have taken a lot of brainache/heartache to have gotten in touch. The main thing that I want you to know is that I really regret us not being friends. I’ve only recently come to realize that you genuinely don’t know all the reasons for my leaving. To get into it would be horrible, but I will say that I honestly hated the sort of people we became. I have no ambitions to be a solo guitar player. I will never point the finger at anyone but myself, and I am glad I took a step towards making my life sane.
After getting your postcard I felt that the only way to explain things would be to come round and see you personally. I also felt bad that you were so unhappy and it’s only circumstances that made it possible.
I hope I see you soon.

Love, Johnny"

Only letter Marr sent to Moz in the book, that I can recall.

Oh I remember that. It's a shame he didn't actually explain to Morrissey. I suppose it's like asking an ex-girlfriend why she split. Don't rub salt in the wound!

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

so reading some other threads in the GD about people whining who Moz trolled in his book, some of it is funny stuff
& I gotta say, to me they are giving him exactly what he wants, I mean if he bad mouths you and it rolls off you like water off a duck's back
then you win, not Moz

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

hey people who voted "have not read it, but intend on doing so"
well, once you have done so, tell us what you think now

 

[Anonymous]

I'm giving this book the not so coveted TL;DR award.

 

[Girlmostlikely]

I love the book! I think it will stand up as a classic in the music memoir category for sure.

I love that the book is told in Morrissey's voice and it is so him, warts and all at times. I feel it is an honest take on his life because it is they way he has perceived the events in his life.

I loved the beginning. I enjoyed the further info about family, childhood stories and his influences. I wish he wrote more about his parents and sister. He seems to only skim the surface with the issues with his father, although I can understand if he didn't want to go there. Also Jackie is only mentioned from time to time in passing and only as being there. There is nothing about their relationship.

I enjoy when Morrissey speaks passionately about his influences, so I enjoyed his talking about the music and poetry. I admit I got a bit bored/lost when he was talking about his fave childhood shows, I had never heard of almost any of them.

I, like others, was disapointed by The Smiths part. I was hoping for some inside stories, background on songs and insight to his relationship/partnership with Johnny and of course the break up. The way Morrissey describes it, it just happened and he moved on. I at least expected a couple of pages about Moz's devastation and how he got back on his feet. My take away from The Smiths section was a lot of complaining about Rough Trade!

The section on Jake is very heartwarming. I felt that he writes about him with the most passion. Jake must have really liked him to follow him home after he stormed out of the restaurant disgusted at Jake's dinner.

This book is also very funny! There are so many priceless one-liners. I look forward to reading it again to soak in what I missed

 

[Drew a swallow]

Started off poetically, then it got interesting and juicy during Smithdom. I slept read through the court-case stuff, and I don't think it really recovered itself after that. He was a lot more open than I thought he'd be though. I found the Johnny Marr letter the most intriguing part of the whole book. Laughed out loud inwardly at a lot of it. Overall 8 on 10. Now let's make love!

 

[realitybites]

Started off poetically, then it got interesting and juicy during Smithdom. I slept read through the court-case stuff, and I don't think it really recovered itself after that. He was a lot more open than I thought he'd be though. I found the Johnny Marr letter the most intriguing part of the whole book. Laughed out loud inwardly at a lot of it. Overall 8 on 10. Now let's make love!

 

[Anaesthesine]

It was a much better read than I had expected, but much of the criticism is valid. On the plus side it is very well written; Morrissey comes at the language sideways - it's what makes him a great singer/lyricist, and it makes for a strong narrative voice. I felt at times like he was right there, recounting his exploits over tea (complete with catty asides). Those descriptions of his early years in brown-wallpaper England were particularly evocative. Yes, his purplish prose tends toward hyperbole, but the book feels like a mature continuation of those early, delightful letters of his - often quicksilver with an overlay of broad Vaudeville (or music hall) humor. At least when his wit fell flat he had the grace to wince on the page.

My chief complaint is that Morrissey devoted pages to subjects that deserved paragraphs and paragraphs to subjects that demanded pages. While the language was delightful, the narrative was terribly uneven. Like everyone else I craved a bit more detail on his creative process, but he kept it hidden. Perhaps it is beyond words. Yes, he was somewhat ungracious to many of his his musical collaborators (particularly Alain Whyte, a writing parter that he was very, very lucky to find), but in general he heaped musical praise on those who surrounded him while still grinding his many axes.

Regarding his intimate life Morrissey managed to be both revelatory and obscure. His sexuality has always been hidden in plain sight for those who were willing to see.

I found his constant hectoring of the record company and media types to be very amusing, but his tone throughout seemed to veer between fierce determination and a rather touching bewilderment, with more than a whiff of hysteria when things went inevitably wrong. His habit of casting blame on everyone but himself is a bit tiresome and my, how he does go on. One wonders exactly how much of this blame-throwing Morrissey actually believes, and how much is simply bluster. I suspect much more of the former than the latter.

I don't think that I know much more about Morrissey after finishing the book. We are all unreliable narrators for the most part, and we cannot see ourselves as others see us. This goes ten-thousand fold for the famous. Morrissey's character as revealed in the book seems to be every bit as irritating, cold-blooded, clever, obtuse, insightful, narcissistic, melancholy, pernicious, sensitive, outrageous and endearing as his music has led us to believe.

 

[Anonymous]

It was a much better read than I had expected, but much of the criticism is valid. On the plus side it is very well written; Morrissey comes at the language sideways - it's what makes him a great singer/lyricist, and it makes for a strong narrative voice. I felt at times like he was right there, recounting his exploits over tea (complete with catty asides). Those descriptions of his early years in brown-wallpaper England were particularly evocative. Yes, his purplish prose tends toward hyperbole, but the book feels like a mature continuation of those early, delightful letters of his - often quicksilver with an overlay of broad Vaudeville (or music hall) humor. At least when his wit fell flat he had the grace to wince on the page.

My chief complaint is that Morrissey devoted pages to subjects that deserved paragraphs and paragraphs to subjects that demanded pages. While the language was delightful, the narrative was terribly uneven. Like everyone else I craved a bit more detail on his creative process, but he kept it hidden. Perhaps it is beyond words. Yes, he was somewhat ungracious to many of his his musical collaborators (particularly Alain Whyte, a writing parter that he was very, very lucky to find), but in general he heaped musical praise on those who surrounded him while still grinding his many axes.

Regarding his intimate life Morrissey managed to be both revelatory and obscure. His sexuality has always been hidden in plain sight for those who were willing to see.

I found his constant hectoring of the record company and media types to be very amusing, but his tone throughout seemed to veer between fierce determination and a rather touching bewilderment, with more than a whiff of hysteria when things went inevitably wrong. His habit of casting blame on everyone but himself is a bit tiresome and my, how he does go on. One wonders exactly how much of this blame-throwing Morrissey actually believes, and how much is simply bluster. I suspect much more of the former than the latter.

I don't think that I know much more about Morrissey after finishing the book. We are all unreliable narrators for the most part, and we cannot see ourselves as others see us. This goes ten-thousand fold for the famous. Morrissey's character as revealed in the book seems to be every bit as irritating, cold-blooded, clever, obtuse, insightful, narcissistic, melancholy, pernicious, sensitive, outrageous and endearing as his music has led us to believe.

Hi. I'm new to all this, I liked what you said I haven't read this book or any of the books about The Smiths/Morrissey yet and don't know that much about him, Im only 18.
My friends cousin seems to know a lot him so I sent him a few emails finally before saying "Don't email me again, I'm not ask Jeeves".
He said this, I thought it went with the thread.

"It's worth remembering the classics have some awful titles under their brand and this is just Morrissey having a joke and flexing his muscle.
Also, if you consider The Naked Civil Servant (which I expect you have never heard of )is a Penguin Classic (which it should be) then this is its natural bed fellow - Morrissey in the early days was very much based on the Crisp prototype.
However "classic" is merely a title, just like those boring Beatles are considered "Classic" pop etc, it really is nothing to get ones boxers in a twist about.
As for the book, the haters will hate the lovers will love and those that aren't extremists will tap dance this way and that

I read it and I rather enjoyed it...The first third is poetic,touching and a pleasure...We then find ourselves reading what is no more than an amusing bitchy well written blog, before the OCD kicks in, with gusto, and the ghosts of the court case pull us into 50 pages of blah....
The final third is light on its feet and sullied only by silly talk of his famous friends, how big he is in Sweden and Turkey - Which is of no use to anyone, lots of people are big in those places and South America. His obsession with chart positions, name dropping and how many seats he can sell is the real tragic aspect of the book. After all the years, tears and triumphs to be fixated with such meaningless tripe is rather sad - even if one is stuck in the attention loop to have this fixation etched in history isn't helpful to his image. He could have talked of so many things beyond this, he can be interesting.
HOWEVER, Morrissey isn't stupid he knows what it would read like and he didn't care, he wrote with honesty (well as honestly as a dishonest man can) and covered what he wanted to and thats fair enough, its his book.

If thats true what you say and David Morrissey IS reading his book for the audio version then I feel (as good as David is) his lazy ways has deprived the fans of his main talent words, phrasing and voice BUT it could have been done to great effect, he could have dusted off his BBC sound effects LPs.
It may also have cost Penguin millions in sales.
There was of course nothing new to some of us who know a thing or two about the man BUT I think you will like the book. The trick with Morrissey (remember this when you read it, is his motivation (as is the case with anyone)...Why he mentions who he mentions, why he doesn't mention certain people or events..What isn't said is just as important as what is....The silence is its own story.
I feel very sorry for Tina, now she has become known...I expect there is a fandom search party tracking her foot steps. Poor thing, she is meant to be a lovely person. One of the best people in Morrisseys life for years, so I hear. Jake on the other hand is Jake and can handle himself and has been known for a while.
I like that he was nice to Kristeen as she has put up with quite enough, I think he knows this and thats why he said that which he said - mostly due to a certain site. This was his "up Yours" to them.
Being a Bowie fan (do you like Bowie?) I thought it was funny he didn't stick the boot in too much, Morrissey has already lost that battle and he knows it.
He has been spending the last few years trying to get in David's good books, as Bowie wont let this happen..Morrissey can't help but bitch BUT he was never to do that too much in this book.
Anyway, anyday enjoy the book"

 

[realitybites]

As for the book, the haters will hate, the lovers will love, and those that aren't extremists will tap dance this way and that.

I LOVE THIS!

(Added punctuation. I guess I am a little pedantic. )

 

[CrystalGeezer]

I've had serious mental health issues due to childhood events, but I've worked hard to overcome them.

 

[Anaesthesine]

"It's worth remembering the classics have some awful titles under their brand and this is just Morrissey having a joke and flexing his muscle.
Also, if you consider The Naked Civil Servant (which I expect you have never heard of )is a Penguin Classic (which it should be) then this is its natural bed fellow - Morrissey in the early days was very much based on the Crisp prototype.
However "classic" is merely a title, just like those boring Beatles are considered "Classic" pop etc, it really is nothing to get ones boxers in a twist about.
As for the book, the haters will hate the lovers will love and those that aren't extremists will tap dance this way and that

Why would you assume that I'm unfamiliar with The Naked Civil Servant? Because I'm American? Quentin Crisp lived in my neighborhood - I often saw him at brunch at a local greasy spoon; he was usually accompanied by a bright young thing or two with a tape recorder. I loved Quentin - he was a great inspiration, and I knew his story well from childhood. I read the book, saw the movie and had a nodding acquaintance with the man.

If thats true what you say and David Morrissey IS reading his book for the audio version then I feel (as good as David is) his lazy ways has deprived the fans of his main talent words, phrasing and voice BUT it could have been done to great effect, he could have dusted off his BBC sound effects LPs.
It may also have cost Penguin millions in sales.
There was of course nothing new to some of us who know a thing or two about the man BUT I think you will like the book. The trick with Morrissey (remember this when you read it, is his motivation (as is the case with anyone)...Why he mentions who he mentions, why he doesn't mention certain people or events..What isn't said is just as important as what is....The silence is its own story.
I feel very sorry for Tina, now she has become known...I expect there is a fandom search party tracking her foot steps. Poor thing, she is meant to be a lovely person. One of the best people in Morrisseys life for years, so I hear. Jake on the other hand is Jake and can handle himself and has been known for a while.
I like that he was nice to Kristeen as she has put up with quite enough, I think he knows this and thats why he said that which he said - mostly due to a certain site. This was his "up Yours" to them.
Being a Bowie fan (do you like Bowie?) I thought it was funny he didn't stick the boot in too much, Morrissey has already lost that battle and he knows it.
He has been spending the last few years trying to get in David's good books, as Bowie wont let this happen..Morrissey can't help but bitch BUT he was never to do that too much in this book.
Anyway, anyday enjoy the book"

Bowie did some work at a studio in my neighborhood for a while - he used to frequent a local Mexican eatery right around the corner (of which I'm very fond)...

 

[Anonymous]

Why would you assume that I'm unfamiliar with The Naked Civil Servant? Because I'm American? Quentin Crisp lived in my neighborhood - I often saw him at brunch at a local greasy spoon; he was usually accompanied by a bright young thing or two with a tape recorder. I loved Quentin - he was a great inspiration, and I knew his story well from childhood. I read the book, saw the movie and had a nodding acquaintance with the man.



Bowie did some work at a studio in my neighborhood for a while - he used to frequent a local Mexican eatery right around the corner (of which I'm very fond)...

Anaesthesine, this is an email to me, He was asking me if I knew about Quentin Crisp. He loves Crisp and Bowie.
Sorry if I didn't explain well.
I don't even know him. Im just friends with his cousin. She suggested I email him. As I hadn't read the book and is meant to have a very good understating of Moz.
She thinks he a lot like him, I don't fecking know though never met they guy.

Sorry about the misunderstanding

 

[Anonymous]

I LOVE THIS!

(Added punctuation. I guess I am a little pedantic. )

I know I like it, he writes well and writes some f***ing funny stuff, his FB page is hilarious at times, it was rich him calling morrissy Bitchy lets put it that way.
Don't know about you but its freezing her in Oxford, I can't sleep.

Where are you from realitybites?

 

[Anaesthesine]

Anaesthesine, this is an email to me, He was asking me if I knew about Quentin Crisp. He loves Crisp and Bowie.
Sorry if I didn't explain well.
I don't even know him. Im just friends with his cousin. She suggested I email him. As I hadn't read the book and is meant to have a very good understating of Moz.
She thinks he a lot like him, I don't fecking know though never met they guy.

Sorry about the misunderstanding

Ah - I see. It didn't really make any sense before.

Anyway: Bowie does like a nice flauta.

 

[realitybites]

I know I like it, he writes well and writes some f***ing funny stuff, his FB page is hilarious at times, it was rich him calling morrissy Bitchy lets put it that way.
Don't know about you but its freezing her in Oxford, I can't sleep.

Where are you from realitybites?

Hi. I live in Sedona, Arizona, USA... the Grand Canyon state. It was 39 degrees Celsius here today. Will be 50 C on Saturday.