I highly recommend this book. It's an important piece of John Lennon's history of which Yoko Ono attempts to erase anyone but herself. John's relationship with his first wife, Cynthia, was not merely one of obligation and this book chronicles their lives together. Although Cynthia became pregnant with John's child leading him to propose marriage, their relationship was a close one that started while they were both students in art school and it lasted for 10 years.
Cynthia dated John Lennon during the early days of The Beatles, waiting in Liverpool while the band honed their skills playing hours-long sets in Hamburg, Germany. She lived with John's aunt Mimi for a time. She became good friends with Maurine Starkey (before she married Ringo), Astrid Kirchherr (the German photographer who dated Stu Sutcliffe), Patti Boyd (eventual wife of George Harrison), and Dot Rhone (an early girlfriend of Paul McCartney's). She mentions these friendships in the context of the stories, rather than simply name dropping.
Compared to other books authored by friends & family members of The Beatles, this one is well written, told mostly in chronological order with very little meandering. You get a sense of John and "Cyn" as a unit - a true couple - which is not how John's first marriage has been portrayed with images of Cynthia as the clingy, conventional wife and John as the disinterested rocker forced into marriage by an unplanned pregnancy. However, the book sheds light on their relationship, showing that they truly loved one another. Unfortunately, fame, time apart, drugs, & adultery took a toll, leaving their son Julian as the biggest victim of John's insensitive & erratic behavior.
Cynthia dated John Lennon during the early days of The Beatles, waiting in Liverpool while the band honed their skills playing hours-long sets in Hamburg, Germany. She lived with John's aunt Mimi for a time. She became good friends with Maurine Starkey (before she married Ringo), Astrid Kirchherr (the German photographer who dated Stu Sutcliffe), Patti Boyd (eventual wife of George Harrison), and Dot Rhone (an early girlfriend of Paul McCartney's). She mentions these friendships in the context of the stories, rather than simply name dropping.
Compared to other books authored by friends & family members of The Beatles, this one is well written, told mostly in chronological order with very little meandering. You get a sense of John and "Cyn" as a unit - a true couple - which is not how John's first marriage has been portrayed with images of Cynthia as the clingy, conventional wife and John as the disinterested rocker forced into marriage by an unplanned pregnancy. However, the book sheds light on their relationship, showing that they truly loved one another. Unfortunately, fame, time apart, drugs, & adultery took a toll, leaving their son Julian as the biggest victim of John's insensitive & erratic behavior.
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