John Lennon once described Yoko Ono as the world’s most famous unknown artist. She has only been important to history insofar as she impacted Lennon. Throughout her life, Yoko has been a caricature, curiosity, and, often, a villain—an inscrutable seductress, manipulating con artist, and caterwauling fraud. The Lennon/Beatles saga is one of the greatest stories ever told, but Yoko’s part has been missing—hidden in the Beatles’ formidable shadow, further obscured by flagrant misogyny and racism. This biography of Yoko Ono’s life will change that. In this book, Yoko Ono takes centerstage.
Sheff’s most important accomplishment may be taking this reframing a step further. By explaining Ono’s personal history and artistic path, he builds the case that she, not Lennon, was more damaged career-wise by their union ... The first significant biography ... The strength of Sheff’s book is simple journalism, connecting the dots that existed only vaguely before Yoko.
There have been other biographies of Ono... [but] Sheff’s is the closest to an authorized one the world will get ... The book is predictably sympathetic, but not fawning, mostly written in a straightforward prose ... I am not an Ono-phile who wants to wallow overmuch in this kind of art, but applaud Sheff’s book as an important corrective to years of bad P.R.
