Title: Chronicles: Volume One
Author: Bob Dylan
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 296
Rating: 4*/5
Bob Dylan – Chronicles: Volume One
This book is an interesting little read, because it’s Bob Dylan’s autobiography and the man has an impressive writing style that communicates his voice just as well as his songs do. It puts an interesting spin on the whole ‘celebrity autobiography‘ thing, because Dylan’s words have literary merit in their own right. In fact, didn’t he get awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?
His writing style is reminiscent of (and inspired by) the Beat poets, who were active at the same time that Dylan was starting out. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a photo somewhere of Dylan hanging out with Allen Ginsberg. But Dylan’s voice is easier, more friendly – like listening to a friend as you sit around a fire drinking cans of beer.
It’s also interesting how he approached it. It’s a true memoir, jumping backwards and forwards through time as the author follows different trains of thought but maintaining a steady narrative throughout despite this. And I find it entertaining that it’s volume one, even though no volume two has been released to date. I wonder whether he’s still working on it, or whether this is the best that we’re going to get.
Overall, this probably won’t mean much to the average person, but if you’re a Bob Dylan fan – or a fan of music in general – then there are few better reads for getting such an intriguing insight. It’s fascinating to see behind the creative process and to learn more about what makes him tick. The Daily Telegraph went so far as to call it “the most extraordinarily intimate autobiography by a twentieth-century legend ever written”. I agree with them.
Bob Dylan
