...oscillates from riveting to boilerplate to dull and back again over the course of 400-plus pages ... Love attempts to live his truth and Good Vibrations is an intermittently fascinating read for those interested in both the minutiae surrounding the birth of 'California Girls' and the details of fractious family lawsuits ... for those interested in Love’s perspective, My Life as a Beach Boy is a generally solid read.
...[a] frequently bilious book ... Mr. Love’s book ranks high in gossip and readability, even if it’s stuffed with tedious chart positions for Beach Boys records ... bragging is something he knows a lot about. And you’ll find a lot of it in these pages ... more than a half-century’s worth of inside information about the Beach Boys, who were all the rage until they were ancient history, has undeniable appeal, especially from a new perspective.
Love sets out to settle more than a few scores. Perhaps it’s a hazard of the genre, but the entire effort is more than a little self-serving. Love is alternately defensive, angry, self-pitying and proud. It’s dizzying just trying to keep his grudges straight.
