David Bowie: A Life by Dylan Jones

Dylan Jones's engrossing, magisterial biography of David Bowie is unlike any Bowie story ever written. Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers, and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with Bowie, this oral history weaves a hypnotic spell as it unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie's life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin, and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra. By turns insightful and deliciously gossipy, DAVID BOWIE is as intimate a portrait as may ever be drawn. It sparks with admiration and grievances, lust and envy, as the speakers bring you into studios and bedrooms they shared with Bowie, and onto stages and film sets, opening corners of his mind and experience that transform our understanding of both artist and art. Including illuminating, never-before-seen material from Bowie himself, drawn from a series of Jones's interviews with him across two decades, DAVID BOWIE is an epic, unforgettable cocktail-party conversation about a man whose enigmatic shapeshifting and irrepressible creativity produced one of the most sprawling, fascinating lives of our time. @goodreads 

I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. I'm not saying it wasn't a good book. I just would have preferred a book written by the man himself. I wish he was able to write one before his death. 

This book is written by the author but he has taken words from tons of different people.

Some of these are words by David himself over the years. 

There are also so very personal and sweet letters from people about this death. 

Overall it was a pretty good book, but like I said before I would have liked it to have been written by David himself so it would have felt more personal. 

I will leave you with a few quotes: 

DAVID BOWIE: I had a very happy childhood, seriously nothing wrong with it. I was lonely but never really wanted and certainly never went hungry, but I obviously saw people deprived around me and kids going to school with their shoes falling apart and kids looking like urchins. It left an impression on me that I never ever wanted to be hungry, or at the wrong end of society. 

FRANCIS WHATELY: When I was filming people for the documentary I made after his death, I asked them all at the end what they would have said to him if they'd been able to say goodbye, and they all said, "I love you, thank you," but mostly thank you for being a part of their lives. 

* I would like to thank BloggingForBooks for a hardback of this book. *