PositiveThe Guardian (UK)Hermes expertly conjures the different scenes Reed inhabited, placing him amid a rich cast of collaborators, friends and lovers. There’s a sense that he’s updating Reed for a new generation, particularly as a prophet of queer liberation and gender nonconformity ... Hermes diligently recounts the creation of albums through the 80s, 90s and beyond, even as the cheques for use of his old songs in samples and ads started to roll in, making him a wealthy man.
Rachel Aviv
RaveThe Guardian (UK)... profoundly intelligent ... hat she avoids these easy positions is testament to the open, curious nature of her inquiry. If there is an argument she wants to advance, it is that the stories we tell about distress, and unusual, sometimes destructive behaviour, are just that – stories. They can be salvational, oppressive, or something in between; they can work primarily for our benefit, or for others. They can also, in the same person, change or intermingle ... superbly written portraits ... remarkable.
Jason Rezaian
PositiveThe GuardianAbsurdities come thick and fast in this powerful memoir ... Prisoner touches on...complex politics, but it is above all a personal story, told with admirable frankness, and a humor that sometimes belies the darkness of the experience. Rezaian’s time as, effectively, a hostage clearly changed him profoundly, but he doesn’t dwell on the mental anguish that must have filled his days ... The abiding sense is of an imaginative reporter, a joker, a lover of life and a devoted husband broken on the wheel of a vindictive system.
