I Would Die 4 U

First and foremost, I am, have been and will always be a huge Prince fan. As I started reading this book, I wasn’t overly excited about it. It started a bit slow but I think it was in an effort to explain the state of the world that Prince grew up in. From there, the story grew and provided some great insight and perspective in the spiritual messages Prince had in his music. As a fan of his music, it better connected me to it and as I continue to listen to it, it’s amazing how much more content I am able to get from it. Great book and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to read it!

I rarely write reviews on here but I had to with this book. To me it was a waste of time and money. It reads like someone’s term research paper and really provides any real insight into Prince. There are some interesting bits about his family but the bulk of it is just boring theorizing about generations. I found myself skipping and skimming through a lot of the ramblings here. If you want a good book on Prince’s life this surely isn’t it.

This book was totally boring, I’d say about 70% of the book the author talks about things that has nothing to do with Prince, after awhile I started skipping ahead just to see. It got to the point that I couldn’t take anymore. If I were a teacher this guy would get a big fat “F”. This book was the pits. I wounded up donating to the goodwill, don’t buy this book unless you want to read about the author, because you sure won’t read about Prince.

Being a literature minor and geek, I truly love how Toure has pulled this book together. Clearly I am a Prince fan and have been for 25 plus years! I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Purple Highness but Toure has proven me wrong. Furthermore, there is analysis and critique of song lyrics and a bit of what I would call “psychoanalysis” of the man, his traumas and his music. LOVE IT!

This is a meandering book that often sounds as if it were adapted from the author’s academic thesis. Half the book is spent on Generation X, in reverential tones to make sure the reader knows how special that generation is and how their shared experience is unique in history. Occasionally, pages go by with little or no mention of Prince, ostensibly the book’s subject. The other half is about Prince’s religious side and how it informs his music. This is more interesting than the Gen X back-patting, but eventually ends up sounding preachier than any of the songs or lyrics it discusses.

It was a struggle to finish this book and I can only recommend it to readers wanting a discussion of either of the two topics mentioned above.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member