The Beatles
- May 24, 2019
- 2 min read
★☆☆☆☆
It seems easy to give this book—really any book about The Beatles—a pass. Even the worst book about The Beatles is still a book about The Beatles, and the subject matter alone, if you’re a fan anyway, can make up for a lot. But this book does not deserve a pass. It doesn’t deserve a pass because at its price point and its length, IglooBooks’ The Beatles is clearly aimed at the uninitiated, the neophyte, the youngster who’s heard about the band, wants to learn more, and is hooked by the colorful cover’s promise of “All you ever wanted to know about the Fab Four.”
The problem is, this poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly structured book—equal parts junior high annual, teen beat magazine, and page six gossip fodder—is far from the first place anyone should be learning about John, Paul, George, and Ringo. And if, like me, you’re far beyond a casual fan, the book is little more than one eye-rolling, head-shaking what-the-fuck.
Some of my favorite moments: a photo of a smiling George captioned, “George Harrison burns the candle at both ends in 1967;” the illuminating one-sentence paragraph, “Culturally, The Beatles made waves;” and the last words the book has to say on its subject, a quote from Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker that is neither moving nor profound, “I love The Beatles. I haven’t named any kids after them but I still really love them. They were the first group that I was ever properly aware of. In my early teens I would sometimes stay in and listen to the radio all day in the hope that I would catch a song by them that I’d never heard before and be able to tape it on my radio-cassette player.”
Wow. More definitive words were never spoken. At least the pictures were good.
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