The Last Days of John Lennon

John Lennon was a true artist and and his murder was a heartbreaking chapter in music history. I have read multiple books about Lennon and the Beatles so I was coming to this book not with the expectation of new revelations, but with hope that it would be an interesting, thoughtful perspective to his story. I found this book to be so simplistically written and actually pretty dull. It just regurgitates Lennon’s story in a pseudo-fictional style to create a crime story related to the murder. Mark David Chapman isn’t deserving of the in-depth narration he gets in this book. The actual events of Lennon’s last days and his murder are well documented already. I recommend that readers look at other biographies (and film documentaries) of Lennon in order to get the thoughtful perspective on his life that he deserves.

James Patterson is certainly a prolific writer. He seems to have written about 70 books, either by himself or authored with another writer. Hes written books for adults, children, and teens. Ive never read a James Patterson book, until I read his latest, The Last Days of John Lennon. I mention the sheer number of books Patterson has written because sometimes its indicative of a books quality.

James Patterson mostly writes fiction, but his book about John Lennon is nonfiction. He traces the life – both musically and personally – of Lennon, bringing to the story of his life and death a workmanlike quality. Patterson – and his two collaborators – tell Johns story in relatively calm fashion, leaving the passion to those who mourn Lennons death in the streets of New York City and cities around the world.

But if Patterson writes about John Lennons death, he certainly doesnt leave out the man who pulled the trigger. Who was Mark David Chapman and what was his beef with John Lennon? James Patterson does a good job at looking at Chapman. This book is well-written enough to keep the readers interest.

In 1964, like many American families at the time, dinnertime was family time and distractions like television were not allowed. (Not long before, in 1943, the CEO of IBM, Thomas Watson, famously predicted that there would be a worldwide demand for about five computers and most people agreed with him. Steve Jobs himself was still in junior high.) The only exception to the dinnertime rule was Sunday night when we ate hamburgers and drank homemade milk shakes in the family room while watching the family fare that dominated Sunday night television at the time.

So at the age of nine I recall with vivid clarity the night the Beatles walked onto the stage of the Ed Sullivan show to be introduced to America. Their hair was long for the era but neatly trimmed and clean and they actually wore suits with ties. They were professional showmen, for sure, but the real show was the audience teenage girls, mostly, screaming, crying, jumping up and down, so overtaken with emotion that The Bard himself would have been hard pressed to describe the buzz.

What I didnt appreciate at the time was how young the four lads from Liverpool actually were or how much work and effort they had put into getting where they were. (Decca Records rejected them noting that Groups of four guitarists are on the way out.) I also didnt appreciate how many previous failures they had faced or how many people had played a role in getting them to where they were. (According to the book they were told to ditch the leather and buy the suits and to stop smoking on stage.)

They shaped a generation, for sure, but as this book so clearly and concisely points out, they created a bridge between two generations of people and musicians, from Little Richard to Led Zeppelin. And navigating a cultural and generational cusp like that is probably the hardest feat of all when it comes to the world of music and entertainment. Not many artists can pull it off.

They had the wind and the sun at their backs, and more than a little serendipity fell on their shoulders, but they clearly had talent and an incredible work ethic. And the one thing I did learn from this book is that while artistry takes creative talent, there is a science to it all that only the truly creative can master through a lot of hard work.

It is a fascinating personal story, very well written, that I thought did justice to all facets of the story. Its not a fluff piece. But its not a tell-all either. And while some may question giving Mark Chapman any print time at all I think the story would be incomplete without some background.

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Lennons story is how little security he surrounded himself with. That wouldnt happen today and NYC was a rough place at the time. And that, along with the reality of how many of the musical geniuses of the era knew each other and spent time together, says something about how far we have extended the limitations of fame inherent in fame itself. Even Lennon, I suspect, would be dismayed and disheartened at the life he would be forced to live today just 40 years after his death.

All told, a very pleasant and insightful read about a true musical genius.

As a Beatles fan, I’ve read a lot about John Lennon’s life and death. It looks as if Patterson hired a curator to skim other books to create his own. Not worth spending money on it.

No new information. Boring read.

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