The Beatles' Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club
by Pauline Sutcliffe, Douglas Thompson

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Book Reviews of The Beatles' Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club

Book Review: "The Beatles' Shadow"
Summary: 2 Stars

Written by his sister, it's advertised as a biography, but is clearly a memoir. To me, a biography is researched extensively with quotes from letters, interviews from friends and associates and whatnot. Not rememberances of how cool it was to have a Teddy boy ask you to dance at one of your brother's early gigs in Liverpool.

That's problem number one with the book. Problem number two is apparently Pauline Sutcliffe is a psychotherapist who is smitten with analyzing her brother and John's life based on 40 year old memories, clearly prejudiced by time and death. And to make it worse, she's Freudian. Witness this line she wrote about her brother's relationship (she, as well as other biographers, assume that there was a sexual relationship between John and Stuart):

"The origins of male homosexuality are supposed to be tied up with the relationship between boys and their fathers. Or the failure of that relationship in some way, or the boys picking up some ambivalence in their fathers and all sorts of messages. I am not convinced about such theories, but let's characterize John as a boy looking for a father's love.[...]"

Here's what I knew about Stu before reading this book:
- he gave the Beatles their name and look
- he was a talented artist
- he was friends with John
- he met a blonde German girl
- he died too young

After reading this book, here's what I knew about Stu:
- he was a momma's boy
- he gave the Beatles their name and look
- he was a talented artist
- he was friends with John
- he met a blonde German girl
- he died too young

One day, I hope, a talented biographer will pen an excellent biography about this interesting fellow. Unfortunately this book is nowhere near that goal.

History & Criticism Books

• Books > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Music
• Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Rock
• Humor & Entertainment > Pop Culture > Beatles