RaveThe Irish Independent (IRE)Extraordinarily candid ... His words are likely to resonate intimately with anyone who lost a parent during childhood ... Honesty — along with self-deprecation and a remarkable recall of times past — that makes his lengthy autobiography such a riveting read ... A properly career-spanning book, tracking the rise of U2 into one of the world’s biggest bands, and it captures the changing face of the music industry too ... Surrender is far from a victory lap — Bono is ruthlessly analytical about U2’s many failures, and his own ... So much more than a music memoir. Bono’s childhood is marvellously evoked ... The book sags a little here and there. Bono is anxious to write about everyone and anyone who did a good turn for him ... Perhaps it’s a reflection of this reviewer, but some of the proselytising about all that campaigning work made my eyes glaze over ... It’s hard to imagine any U2 fan not being completely seduced by this book, but even those who get irritated by Bono — and, let’s face it, many of us have been there — might be surprised by how much they enjoy it ... Honest, witty, informative and beautifully written, Surrender will surely join the ranks of the great rock memoirs.
Bob Dylan
PositiveThe Irish Independent (IRE)... idiosyncratic and heavily illustrated but it is likely to be lapped my by most Dylanophiles ... This reader’s main gripe is the slightness of his appraisal of a handful of songs, including Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider. His thoughts on that song can be read in under a minute and they don’t leave much of an impression ... But when Dylan is sufficiently roused by his subject matter, he writes as only he can ... there are occasional passages where Dylan’s gnarly take seems badly out of kilter in the modern world ... Objectionable maybe, but it’s writing that grabs your attention — and even when he’s on autopilot, as he is here occasionally, you will want to read on.
