Foto dell'autore

Evelyn McDonnell

Autore di Rock She Wrote

9+ opere 234 membri 4 recensioni

Opere di Evelyn McDonnell

Opere correlate

Rent (1997) 447 copie
Best Music Writing 2011 (Da Capo Best Music Writing) (2011) — Collaboratore — 43 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Sesso
female
Nazionalità
USA
Luogo di residenza
Miami Beach, Florida, USA
Istruzione
Brown University (BA|American Studies)
Attività lavorative
Writer
journalist

Utenti

Recensioni

This book may be gossipy, trashy literary biography-cum-fan letter. It might bounce around and jump in time and place, whilst keeping to a loosely chronological framework. But once you accept this exuberant approach, it allows the author to make a very readable, accessible reminder of the humanity and beauty of Didion’s prose. Of course you are far better off just reading Didion’s writings, but it’s lovely (a guilty pleasure) to read Didion’s most memorable quotes again, and the gossip surrounding her life.
McDonnell tries to summarise her approach as:
What I wanted to do instead [of an exhaustive biography] was trace Didion's legacy in the wake of her death and map the narrative of her life by visiting the places she lived and wrote about.

I’ve read quite a few of Didion’s books and watched the documentary Joan Didion: The Centre will not Hold, but this book usefully illuminated and reminded me of Didion’s writings.
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
CarltonC | 1 altra recensione | Nov 5, 2023 |
The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonnell is a wonderful overview of Didion's work (and life mostly as it impacts her writing) that is less biography and more of a biographical assessment.

Like many people who have read (and reread) her work over the years, there were a lot of things I was aware of, though they are presented here with a different perspective, so it wasn't simply reading what I knew. Add in the stuff no one (except for all of these amazing readers who claim there was "nothing" new here because they apparently had psychic access to the unpublished writings and the hundreds of interviews McDonnell conducted) knew because it is newly presented here and this becomes a very insightful look at Didion as both writer and human being.

As is often the case, the more we know about figures we admire for their work the less we place them on some kind of pedestal. What we have to keep in mind is that everyone has their flaws, so these people are just that, people.

It seems like an area that gets mixed reactions for this book is how McDonnell puts her own anecdotes and stories in here as well. I tend to be one of those who liked that aspect. It makes it not simply a telling of the facts, or of some people's opinions, but how one person interacted with Didion's writing and how it gave perhaps some perspective on it. I found those to be opportunities for me to reflect on where in my own life some of her writing resonated, or didn't resonate.

I would recommend this to both fans of Didion's as well as those just coming to her. That said, if you prefer a case file rather than a personal assessment, you might prefer to read an encyclopedia entry or something.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
pomo58 | 1 altra recensione | Oct 30, 2023 |
Writing an unbiased and 100% accurate account of The Runaways would be an impossible task; the band was divided and fraught from its inception, and all subsequent mythology reflects that. McDonnell takes on the difficult task of telling "the real story" and does an admirable job.

Other available Runaways accounts (book and film) suffer from being from being told from a particular viewpoint of a band member(s). McDonnell was never enmeshed with the band, and that is to her benefit. She collects as much source material as possible, quotations from band members from the 70s and from the present (including material from founding member Sandy West, who was no longer living when this book was published). The result is a more even-handed treatment than memoirs and biopics can give, and McDonnell has really done her research. The more famous and more disputed stories are presented with multiple perspectives and memories in an attempt to arrive at what is closest to the truth. McDonnell is not afraid to admit that the truth of so much about The Runaways will never be known. She does not insist on a definitive version of events where none can be found.

McDonnell also avoids the pitfall of writing this story as tabloid journalism. It is entertaining but also analytic. She discusses what it meant to form a "girl band" in the 70s, the expectations and challenges The Runaways faced in the music industry, and presents a substantial number of reviews of albums and concerts that, overall, situate the band in its historical context. She discusses sexuality and gender politics without ever turning the book into an academic platform; again, it's educational while being entertaining. The book is thus also even-handed in balancing storytelling with discussions of the music industry. There's something here for anyone who is interested.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
ijustgetbored | 1 altra recensione | Mar 6, 2016 |
A bio of the ground-breaking all girl teenage rock band of the 70's. The Runaways were controversial in every way, from their formation by the Svengali weirdo Kim Fowley, to the way they dressed, to having to repeatedly prove that they did play their instruments, to the lawsuits over money more than a decade after breaking up. This is the band that spawned Joan Jett and Lita Ford, and made Fowley, a Hollywood fixture of decadence, into a world renown villain.
The book is written by a music critic who is also teaches journalism at Loyola, with interviews by nearly everyone involved who is still alive. Her researching is thorough. She even got the unpublished memoirs of drummer Sandy West, who died in 2006. I think McDonnell focuses too much on the sexuality of a couple of the girls, turning it into a platform for her personal feelings at times. The band had no political statements, and the members fought hard to be seen as musicians rather than being sexualized (they hated Cherie Currie's lingerie stage costumes). The Runaways did face a whole lot of 70's misogyny and battled through it, due to the fact that women weren't suppose to play hard rock, especially high school girls, so getting on stage made them targets. But this book does a really good job at untangling the mess and the rumors. It's a good choice if you want to read about a rock band.… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
mstrust | 1 altra recensione | Mar 16, 2014 |

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Statistiche

Opere
9
Opere correlate
3
Utenti
234
Popolarità
#96,591
Voto
4.1
Recensioni
4
ISBN
24
Lingue
3

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