Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain

Rating:
Summary: Too much fiction
Review: This book read like a novel, not a biography. Too much guessing and errors make this a book to pass up for sure. I thought this would be a great read. It read more like a tabloid newspaper.

Rating:
Summary: Makes a "creative genius" seem like a drug addicted loser.
Review: "Heavier than Heaven" by Charles R. Cross has been promoted as "the definitive Kurt Cobain biography". However, after finishing the book, I felt let down.

Of the positive things going for this book, I must say it is extremely detailed, especially relating to Kurt's younger years. However, as the book progressed, I couldn't help but feel that Kurt was turning into a mean, negative person. By the end of the book, if I was an average Kurt fan, or really didn't know who he was, I probably would have really disliked him. I can't help but think that perhaps someone ordered this book written this way in order to make Kurt seem like a bad person. I don't know why. After his death, he was praised as a genius. People cried at his memorial service. Rolling Stone named him "Artist of the Decade". Nirvana's "Nevermind" album was named by many shows and magazines as the best music album of the 1990's. Wow, for such a horrible person, Kurt Cobain sure got a lot of positive comments about his life.

This book is just too negative. Now, I know Kurt's life had lots of negatives in it (drugs, divorce, death) but the author seems to focus more on the negatives than the positives. I'm sure there were so mamy good things that came out of Kurt Cobain. Not much of that is revealed in this book. It's too bad it all came out that way.

This book just doesn't do Kurt justice. For hardcore Cobain fans only.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe everything you hear........
Review: I first heard about this book back in 1998 when I read about it in Entertainment Weekly. I was excited then, and I was excited a few weeks ago when I bought the book. I had read no reviews on the book, as I wanted to have an unbiased opinion as I read it.

Well, I have just finished the book, and I must say.......I am disappointed.

First of all, too many things are ignored in this book. Over the last few years, there has been the "Kurt was murdered" theories. The author doesn't even discuss that. Kurt committed suicide, end of story. No mention of the different handwriting on the "suicide" note. And the enormous amount of heroin in Kurt's body? The author shakes that off as "an amazing feat". Now, there was a book written on all that a few years ago, and I'm sure the author didn't want another "Kurt Cobain was Murdered" book, but couldn't he at least talk about it? Nope. Kurt killed himself. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

At times this book is like a novel. Some of the descriptions seem more fiction than reality. I can recall the author taking up half a page talking about how when Courtney Love walked into a room, how everyone couldn't take their eyes off of her. Hello? Was the author there? No. But I'm sure Courtney told him it was like that. Uh huh.

And that's another thing. At times this book seems like a bio of Courtney, and not Kurt. And with all the negative attention that has surrounded Courtney in her career, is nonexistant in this book. In the book, Courtney is a wonderful person, a loving wife, a grieving widow. Oh, is it any coincidence that Courtney was one of the main people interviewed for this book? It troubles me that people will read this book and believe EVERY WORD. Like I mentioned above, this book at times is like a novel. How can you put trust and believe in a book that makes stuff up half the time? I had to stop reading for a while after reading the author's account of Kurt's final moments. All of it was completely fabricated. Stuff like "He took a sip of his root beer, and looked up into the morning sky. He knew the shotgun would be loud." WHAT? At times this book seems like one of those "fan fiction" things you read on a band's webpages. STICK TO THE FACTS!

Also, I didn't like how the image of Kurt was portrayed. And it makes me more upset that people are willing to accept that THAT was the way Kurt was. Remember, this isn't Kurt talking, it's the "people that knew him". And those people can make up any story and any kind of image they want, because they know Kurt can't speak for himself.

Now, am I saying Kurt Cobain was an angel? No. But I'm sure he wasn't as bad as he was portrayed in this book. "Come as you are" was positive in the final chapter, written after Kurt's death. People like Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have said numerous positive things about Kurt since his death. Oh wait. I forgot. There isn't a lot of interviews with them. But there is lots and lots of COURTNEY! It's kinda sad when Kurt's childhood friend (Novoselic) gets ousted from Kurt's "ultimate biography" in favor of his wife of TWO YEARS. But again, Courtney let the author read those diaries!

Like the title of my review says, don't believe every single word in this book. Don't let it change your image of Kurt Cobain.

Would I recommend this book? Nope. There's too much fiction, and too much Courtney. There could have been SO MUCH MORE. At times I wonder if Courtney wanted this book to portray her as a great person to further her career, and to further bury Kurt, when if it wasn't for Kurt, I doubt we would have ever heard of Courtney Love to begin with.

Forget this book. Go read "Come as you are".

Rating:
Summary: All the kids will eat it up if it's packaged properly...
Review: Charles Cross, who seems to believe he knows more about Kurt Cobain than his friends and family, writes: "This stuff about Kurt Cobain being an anti-corporate artist is complete and utter pooey...At every single turn of events he went the route to more popularity." Krist Novoselic, one of Kurt's best friends and co-founder of Nirvana has often spoken the exact opposite. "In Utero" as a step to further appeal to the masses? The idea is preposterous.

Cross goes out of his way to point out the most trivial and inane inconsistencies for the purpose of defaming Cobain's reliability. "Heavier Than Heaven" is hardly the definitive account of the life of Kurt Cobain. Rather, it is a polished version of Christopher Sandfords biography which has been widely disspelled by people who actually knew and worked with Cobain.

Cross's ferociously judgemental and too-often exaggerated book must only be read by Nirvana fans who know better than to believe everything they read. If "Come As You Are" and "Never Fade Away" are to be read with a slight grain of salt, "Heavier Than Heaven" requires several pounds.

Rating:
Summary: Well written, well researched, strong voice...
Review: *sigh*
Ultimately, biographies are difficult to read because you have to trust the biographer and the sources. Having read The Rocket and other pieces written by Cross, I do trust the biographer. The sources perhaps I did not trust quite as much however Cross has interviewed so many (over 400) and in doing so makes a concerted attempt to get past this thorny problem. Cross also addressed the closeness a biographer may have with his subject matter by taking four years thereby distancing himself. The book as a written piece is very well done and Cross does not attempt to cover up his voice in it which in his usual writings is quite strong (one of the reasons why I like him). For those of you not completely literary, by voice I mean how the piece reads not the standpoint of the writer or subject. Another reason why I like this biography is Cross focuses on Cobain's art and how it intertwined with his life not solely on his life in and of itself. Also a centerpiece is the music which in other biographies is often only given a secondary importance. The book keeps its feet on the ground by staying in the middle - not making Cobain out to be a hero nor a villain - but revealing him as human.
As stated in the first paragraph, ultimately, whether you really like the book depends on how much you trust Cross and his sources. Often, even autobiographies can have these problems as witnessed by the incredibly nearly unreadable Brian Wilson tome. In the end, when everything that can be written about Cobain has been written, Cross's attempt will be the closest we can hope to get to the "truth" about Kurt Cobain's life, music, and art.
One more note: Publisher's Weekly's review misses the point in three major areas. 1) "trawls the bottom for sources whose credibility and relevance are dubious at best". For us to have any idea what Cobain's last days and moments were like, there isnt any other sources to go to. 2) "unenlightening observations" When I read a biography, I would prefer to see the mundane truth as opposed to the biographer's observations. 3)"wholly ordinary, from boilerplate adolescent bitterness". Perhaps the fact that it has become ordinary to harbor bitterness and resentment into one's late 20's over one's parents divorce should cause boomer's to be alarmed at how they raised their children. Instead, it has them rolling their eyes. As Cobain's music remains steadfastly appealing to date, I guess we continue to hang onto our 'ordinary bitterness'. A perfect example of why the generation that came before cannot and will not ever grasp the meaning of this music.

Rating:
Summary: A Fly on the Wall
Review: What sets this biography apart from others on Kurt is the "fly on the wall" feeling Charles Cross' research has achieved. His work is so detailed that, as some other reviews here mention, it almost feels that in reading this book you are violating Kurt Cobain's privacy. It really breaks down the Cobain mythology. Maybe this is good, maybe it's a little sad.
The book is very detailed and extremely interesting. However, I wish Cross had explored Cobain's cultural impact a little more, rather than just listing record sales as a barometer of Nirvana's fame. It would also be more balanced to hear more from Grohl and Novoselic's perspective to create a picture of pivotal times in Cobain's life, not just from Courtney Love.
Overall, a strong read.

Rating:
Summary: Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
Review: I never followed the Nirvana craze, but became fascinated with the story of another creative person gone "bad". The story is fascinating and well-written. I highly recommend it for anyone, music fan or not.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book but a little intrusive
Review: Well done, but I couldn't help feeling that Cross told us too many intimate details. The book also had a little too much of the Courtney spin on it. I would have liked to have heard Dave Grohls opinion, guess we'll just have to wait for his book. But at the end, not only do you hurt for Courtey and Kurt, but you wonder what kind of person Frances will become if she ever reads any of these books. Hopefully she'll just look and the pictures of her and her dad and realize he loved her. It's a shame that Kurt was a living paradox, so sensitive. But aren't we all? Too bad he didn't realize his pain has helped a lot of us "X ers" ( who are now in our 20's and 30's) get through a lot of tough hours and days.

Rating:
Summary: The author points fingers where they don't belong
Review: The author's descriptions of Tobi Vail are wildly innacurate and flat out lies. Someone conducted interviews, maybe, but didn't understand the truth behind them.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent research, but somewhat of a letdown
Review: The author's meticulous research is admirable, and the reader gets a raw view of Kurt Cobain's life -- his troubled youth, his struggles to keep a roof over his head and eventually his drug problems. The sections detailing Cobain's relationship with Courtney Love (whom the author interviewed) was well-rounded and fair. This especially made the book worth reading, since Love gets so much flack for everything from her outspokenness to widely held beliefs that she led Cobain to heroin use (which the author proves is false) and that she married him because she wanted to tie her star to his (again, the author provides research that proves this false.) The author portrays the couple as being deeply in love -- and as being doting parents -- even though they both struggled with drug problems that caused problems in their marriage (as Love sought to get Cobain to deal with his increasingly frightening addiction to heroin.)
Still, I found the book ultimately more puzzling than satisfying. There were two main issues that would make me hesitate to recommend it to anyone else other than huge Nirvana fans. First, the author fails to explain the context of Nirvana's popularity. Why, in the early 90s, did this band with impenetrable lyrics and a repertoire totally outside of the general public's obsession with love songs suddenly reach into the hearts - and pocketbooks - of millions of teenagers and GenX-ers? The author makes the point that Cobain's lyrics were vague enough that anyone could make the lines mean whatever they wanted. But was that what hit a nerve with the public? Was it Nirvana's catchy melodies that attracted people, in spite of the lyrics? Or was it something else that the band represented that summed up the decade's ethos? The second problem I had with the book is that the author doesn't explain Cobain's music beyond a few cursory paragraphs or descriptions of lyrics. What made them different from any other band? Did they break new ground? How did Cobain craft his melodies and harmonies? The author admirably researches all of Cobain's influences, but never cohesively explains how Cobain drew on this to become a great songwriter. Aside from those two larger points, there are also a few puzzling questions, such as: Why didn't anyone think to get Cobain treatment for depression? The author seems to believe that Cobain suffered from the illness, but apparently never asked Love or any other relative or friend during interviews if they had sought to get Cobain into a psychiatric hospital rather than a drug treatment program, which apparently don't deal with issues such as severe depression. Maybe I misread this, but it seemed Love and others never told Cobain's doctors that his "OD" in Rome was actually a suicide attempt. This led to Cobain being shuttled to yet more "12-step" programs, while he never got serious medical attention for being suicidal. One wonders if the author asked Love or others close to Cobain why they didn't alert Cobain's doctors or have him get the psychiatric help he clearly needed.
When readers 100 years from now read this book - long after Nirvana's music is largely forgotten by the public - they'll wonder: Why should I care about reading this? Cobain was troubled by drug use, but the more interesting part of his life was his creativity and his impact during the 90s. Without the context, the book leaves little for non-Nirvana fans to enjoy, since in the end it boils down to a sordid list of drug scores and overdoses.