2008-06-08 Could have been so much better

This is Cynthia Lennon's second book about her ex-husband. The first (A Twist of Lennon) was short, pointless, and boring. This one is longer, contains lots of details, but is still boring in parts.

Cynthia describes her youth and love affair with fellow art student John in a monotone voice, with no emotional fervor whatever. Their long separations as John became famous and his growing drug use caused problems, but you don't feel it from her bland writing. It's only when the hated Yoko Ono enters the story that the narrative heats up, and even then it's fairly tepid. Ono is described as a conniving witch who cast a spell over John and made him abandon not only Cynthia, but their young son as well.

There are many candid photos of Cynthia and John but very little about the Beatles, so if you're looking for inside stuff about the Fab Four, keep looking. When Cynthia does write about Paul, George, or Ringo, it's like they weren't all that important to her. We get much more detail about her family and John's family, and the whole Beatles era is described with less passion than one would read in a newspaper account.

I was hoping for more, but the book is written with a oddly uninvolved voice and there are occasional awkward sentences. A better editor or a ghost writer might have brought more life to this story that should have been engrossing, but instead is just okay.