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Title: Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz ISBN: 0-306-81191-X Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply the Best
Comment: This book was awesome. As is consistent with other reviews, it was impossible to put the book down. After reading this book, you knew the total Marvin Gaye- he was made bare in front of the reader. This book also had the uncommon ability to touch, move, and affect every aspect of you. Everyday i read this book, i would look forward to know what happened in Marvin's life today. The places he went you wanted to go and the people that he knew you wanted to know. This book fostered a need to know more about Marvin and to feel connected to him (on one occassion i even drove by the house on Gramercy Pl. and that felt weird).
I was 16 years old when Marvin Gaye was killed and even to this day not a big fan of popular music, but reading this book you understand that Marvin Gaye transcended music. If music never existed, he would have shown greatness in another medium. One thing that is intriguing in this book, is the relationship he had with his father that would turn so tragic. I question if the father is getting a bad rap. The bottom line was that toward the end of Marvin's life he was doing majors drugs, abusive and uncontrollable. We probably should put oursevles in the father's position of a son coming in the house doing major drugs,fighting you,and most of the time delusional.
Finally i think that Marvin Gaye finally found the peace he craved. It was interesting to note that he always talked about Jesus. On the liner notes that were on his album "What's Going On" he mentioned that everyone should get to know JESUS. In the book he stated that he could not hate his father as much as he wanted to because his father had introduced him to JESUS. It is ironic that the father would be used to complete this introduction. Marvin never really came to terms with what he was doing to make a living (singing secular music), his battle was trying to rectify the inconstencies of life, and no one has ever been able to do that. It is what psychologist call cognitive dissonance. I am religious and reading this book it appears that Marvin Gaye was also. The Jesus that his father introduced him to, the Jesus that he yearned to know more about, the Jesus that he felt he disappointed everytime he took a snort or popped a pill, I am hopeful that he found rest and perfection in that Jesus' arms.
Rating: 5
Summary: Head and shoulders above most pop music bios
Comment: Marvin Gaye was blessed many times over. Blessed with a powerful creativity and an equally powerful voice with which to express it. He was likewise blessed in his biographer David Ritz. Mr. Ritz knew his subject well, getting personally involved in Marvin's life at a time many believed his career was waning. Ritz knew better and was one of the few who recognized the shimmering brilliance of Marvin's HERE MY DEAR. Ritz not only brings an insider's perspective on Marvin's complicated career and often troubled personal life, but is capable of seeing him as both fan and friend. The book, unlike many pop music bios, is written in a refreshingly graceful prose. It is a joy to read. I recommend it to anyone who has a copy of WHAT'S GOING ON.
Rating: 3
Summary: Troubled Prose
Comment: Marvin Gaye led a fascinating life. Any biographer is going to be at an advantage when dealing with a life like this: Gaye was probably one of the most conflicted, self-destructive, and influential artists of the past half century.
Unfortunately, Ritz isn't a particularly great writer. His writing style is blunt, unpolished, and often redundant. His amateur attempts to psychoanalyze Gaye are embarassing; you don't have to be a psych major like myself to be completely aware of the failed father figure and mother-lover achetype cliches that Ritz is constantly referencing. Besides, Gaye's life so obviously displays these conflicts that it strikes this reader as ridiculous to continually point them out, especially in such obvious fashion.
Now, having said that, let me just refer to the first two sentences of this review and praise the author for what he does have that makes up for his stilted writing style: an immense wealth of research. Ritz was Gaye's official biographer, and therefore the book is filled with quotes from personal interviews with all manner of characters involved in Gaye's life. Gaye's parents, siblings, managers, sidemen (and one woman), and a few others are interviewed for this book, and there's hardly a page in the book that doesn't feature Gaye's own thoughts. A few significant characters are not interviewed -- his two wives, Berry Gordy, or Motown's two other largest stars, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder -- but it is understandable that these people would not grant interviews (has anyone interviewed Gordy?) and given the numerous interviews Ritz did conduct, it seems logical that he would have tried to gain access to these people. Truthfully, you don't even notice these people's absence, since it's a biography of Gaye, and his voice is everywhere.
And, as I said earlier, it's a compelling story. Despite the poor writing style, I tore through the book. I love Gaye's music, and his story is so fascinating and heartbreaking, that hearing it through Gaye's own voice makes the book worth reading.
Another credit to the author for not dwelling on his role in writing "Sexual Healing." It would have been easy to detail how much credit he deserved, but he only briefly describes the conversation that led to the song's creation and focuses on it led to the "Midnight Love" album and the final phase of Gaye's career.
It's probably fair to call this the "definitive" biography. Ritz certainly did his homework, and it does pay off. Gaye's extensive musings on his life and career provide fascinating reading, and often allow the reader to forget the distractions of the writer's own contributions. There are plenty of other biographies on Gaye to read (none of which I have read), but my guess would be that, despite the awkward prose that fills it, this book should probably accompany every other biography of Marvin Gaye.
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Title: Marvin Gaye, My Brother by Frankie Gaye, Fred E. Basten ISBN: 0879307420 Publisher: Backbeat Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Marvin Gaye: What's Going On and the Last Days of the Motown Sound by Ben Edmonds, Ben Edmunds ISBN: 1841950831 Publisher: Canongate Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Trouble Man : The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye by Steve Turner ISBN: 0060198214 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye by Michael Eric Dyson ISBN: 046501769X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 30 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Temptations by Otis Williams, Patricia Romanowski, Patricia Romanowski Bashe ISBN: 0815412185 Publisher: Cooper Square Press Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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