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Title: Mercury and Me by Jim Hutton, Tim Waspshott ISBN: 0-7475-1922-6 Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd Pub. Date: November, 1994 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $37.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (20 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: its untouchable,addictive,and most compelling,well done mr.h
Comment: having read this title numerous times i believe it to be the best account of the late mercurys life.hutton tells all ;the good the bad and indifferant.surely hutton on writting this title had one thing in mind ...the truth before the hacks got in.in my mind hutton a private and sincere man wrote about his lover and best friend who happened to be a rock icon.from their first meeting in a gay bar to freddies untimely death and the repercussions of his death which sadly ousted him and others from the inner circle.its a must for all who like myself am a mercury fan.this title must be re printed i have given my own book out to over twenty people...the comments are mainly the same they want to own it but cant.hutton himself knows of the perils i have went to for another copy.if who ever gets this title read it and savour the content...you will several times .i promise.well done jim hutton......regards jim payne.

Rating: 5
Summary: Who wants to live forever?
Comment: I'm a Queen fan. I read this book after reading the other Amazon.com reviews which emphasized that this book was a "must-read" for Freddie Mercury fans. To be perfectly honest, I was a little intrigued because the book was out of print, and it took me months to find a copy that I considered reasonable enough to buy.

The book "Mercury and Me" is written by Tim Hutton, Mercury's former lover and companion until Freddie's death. Hutton was a barber working in London when he met Mercury in a gay bar. Their relationship was tempestuous and flawed, and Hutton chronicles the development of their relationship from the very first meeting, details the parties and the shopping, through the fights and infidelities, through Freddie's illness and death from AIDS, and the book ends with the survivors of the Mercury "family" scattered.

This is not a great work of literature. Hutton does not attempt to put any great meaning to the events he describes--rather this book is an attempt to give Hutton's account of the man he loved. The book is flawed--there can be no argument there--the writing is frequently choppy. Hutton often refers to newspaper articles, for example, without explaining the content of the articles, so I felt a little unclear in spots. This was most definitely NOT an exploitative show-and-tell book. Hutton obviously omitted a great deal of delicate information. Nonetheless, after finishing the book, I did wonder about some of the things Hutton and Mercury didn't talk about (or Hutton chose not to share with the reader). I did learn that Freddie was an extremely generous friend, and a great animal lover--particularly his cats, and I found it profoundly moving that both Hutton and Mercury found so much solace in their pets. I thought it extremely sad that both men felt constrained when showing emotion or affection towards each other in public, and their relationship is also shown in the context of the AIDS epidemic that swept through their lives, wiping out friends before they had a chance to act defensively.

However, in spite of the flaws, this book is still rated 5 stars, and I will explain why...

After about 20 pages, I knew where this book was taking me. Here we have the fabulously wealthy Freddie Mercury who was at the pinnacle of success when he met a humble barber, and they fell in love, and then Mercury dies. Now if we removed this book from the realm of reality and made the characters fictional, we would probably all guess the outcome. And this is my point--Hutton's story is about his relationship with Mercury, yes, but it is also about human nature, money, fame, and the roles we don't create or seek but the roles we are given in life anyway--whether or not we want them.

This is a book I won't forget.

Rating: 5
Summary: Freddie was the Greatest Performer the world has seen
Comment: I couldn't put this book down. It is revealing. It does share intimate details. It does show the faces of Freddie. It does chronicle his deteriorating condition due to AIDS. It does show the not too flattering behavior of Freddie's inner-circle after his death. Would Freddie have wanted seven years of his life spilled out to the public in printed words? Probably not. Yet, I believe he would have understood Mr. Hutton's need to share this most important and wonderful part of his life with the world. I, for one, appreciate the work he put into this book, including the beautiful candid pictures of Freddie. It must have taken great effort to recall some of the more trying times. It is obvious from reading Mr. Hutton's account of Mary's behavior why this book was criticized by some for its revelations. However, he was very flattering towards her character preceding Freddie's death. Therefore, I believe if his account was false or based on anger towards Freddie's Will, he would have painted a different picture of her throughout the entire book. A super book for those who want to know what Freddie was like and how his illness affected him and those close to him. It was written in a very warm, affectionate, and honest manner.