MixedIrish IndependentLeslie’s prose is neat and stylish, and he seems to know his stuff ... The problem, in the end, is that this book is neither one thing nor the other. Roughly half of it is basic Beatle history, featuring no original research or startling new insight, and the eye slides down these pages like a squirrel on a greasy pole. The rest is more interesting, but still we’re on familiar ground – most of these interpersonal issues have been covered previously ... John & Paul is too loose and discursive to function as biography, and too concerned with narrative to go as deep as it could ... John & Paul is a good book, nonetheless: thoughtful, articulate, occasionally rewarding. It’s just horribly frustrating, because you know there’s so much more (and sometimes less) to be said, and when it works, it works so well that the whole thing feels like a missed opportunity.
