PositiveLibrary JournalFascinating and frustrating ... Reveal[s] rare, personal insights into Dylan’s development in the 1960s before his legend took shape. That said, the raw interviews are disjointed and sometimes contradictory, and there is little effort to contextualize this expansive material, beyond brief biographical sketches by Trudeau. Without the presence of the final Scaduto text (the biography is currently available only digitally), casual readers may become confused ... Though not for newcomers to Dylan’s work, this is a valuable resource for Dylan experts and researchers producing content for future biographies and scholarship.
James Curtis
PositiveLibrary JournalThough there are few living who knew Keaton, Curtis has made deft use of alternative sources already published or circulating. In lesser hands, this might result in a book that treads little new ground, but Curtis breathes new life into the classic comic, exploring the richer context of Keaton’s entire career rather than merely hitting the highlights. Although ultimately celebrating Keaton, Curtis also explores, with admirable evenhandedness, the performer’s private struggles with depression, adultery, and alcoholism. Curtis does commendable work with the frustratingly necessary job of movie scene descriptions—a particularly daunting task with silent films, where one runs the risk of either bogging down the reader with superfluous detail or overlooking the qualities that endear Keaton to us in the present day ... This decade will mark the centenaries of Buster Keaton’s most celebrated features, and Curtis has assembled a biography that will be a go-to source for fans both old and new during the centenary celebration and beyond.
