This was the 50th book that we have read together as a bookclub, and so perhaps fitting that there was a surprising variation in our response to it. Personally it wasn’t a winner for me, partly because I listened to it and I have come to realise that I’m just not very good when it comes to listening to a narrative. To be honest I found the story a bit repetitive (and I wasn’t the only one). It’s said to be a good representation of life on the road and the music industry at the time, and it might well be, but I didn’t find it very engaging. That said it was easy to read and easy to pick up and put down which is always a good thing with a bookclub read. We were pretty split on the format too – it went down well with half our group as something a bit different and all the more enjoyable because of that. Then again there was the view that multiple comments on the same event didn’t really add anything and we didn’t really get any depth or character development. The retrospective interview format meant we didn’t really feel a strong sense of the fashion or music of the era so can very much see the appeal of the TV adaptation which presumably will bring all that detail. Anyway that’s why we have our bookclub discussions. It would be boring if we all thought the same every time we met. And it’s good to know that after 50 books we can still surprise each other with our reactions!
Overall Score: 6.6
Range: 4 – 9.5
