Layne Staley: Angry Chair

Rating:
Summary: Strange, Bizarre Life, But a helluva great story
Review: So that's what life was really like behind the giant walls for Layne STaley, cool. I had no idea that he wasn't this superfreaky, extravagant rock star who just did drugs all the time to get high. Wow, to him they were like insulin to a diabetic. I found out how normal he started out...and then what caused his life to get so extraordinarily weird and successful. This book is definitely loaded with true stories, right from Layne's own words and those of his two closest family members. The drawings and photographs really gave me an idea of who was on the inside too. I just wish he didn't have to suffer so much and die so young. We'll miss you Layne but at least now we know what you were really all about. I gotta give a couple thumbs up to the effort this reporter gave to fly back and forth from ARgentina to Seattle to get this story for all of us to enjoy. Too bad about Alice n Chains but at least now we know why.

Rating:
Summary: I JUST HAD TO KNOW WHAT REALLY WENT ON WITH LAYNE
Review: Layne has always been one of my favorite musicians. It seemed extraordinary to me to find out after he died that he had actually spoken with a writer during the last year and told her what really went on with him. This book puts his isolation and addiction into perspective for me after not knowing the truth for all those years. The author quotes layne and his mother and sister throughout the book, so to me this book seems quite inside and authentic. I will never listen to Alice In Chains music the same way. I found out layne wasn't just another rock star.

Rating:
Summary: PRETTY INSIDE STUFF, JUST TAKE A BIT OF PATIENCE
Review: The only question I had before I started reading this was something I had wondered for years: Who was Layne and what really happened to make him a hermit? The book took a little time and patience to get there but by the time I started to realize it was answering that question I couldn't put it down. Definitely sad ending but so was Layne's life. I just wish he didn't have to go that way. I will always remember Layne as one of my favorite musicians and I now I really understand why.
The author definitely seems to have poured her time and heart into this one and that became quite obvious to me after reading the first few chapters. I believe that is this work's strength. I don't think any rock journalist could have or would have had the determination to seek out and find the real Layne and his family. It's not the greatest rock and roll biography I ever read but it's close. I was tired of hearing "no comment" from Alice In Chains and Layne's managers for the last 7 years. It really angered me that they hid this from us for so long, hoping we would go away and forget about Layne, but I just couldn't. I wanted to know the sad truth and this book is full of information I never thought I would learn...mainly about Layne as an everyday, average guy who went through extraordinary triumph and then tragedy. You don't have to be a big fan to want to read this, just someone interested in what makes a successful singer tick.

Rating:
Summary: GO FOR IT...!!!
Review: I've read the whole book...and I must say the Author treats Layne and his family respectfully in all the chapters.We all know the media has treated him like a piece of nothing for years, and after reading this book I must confess it's the very first time a journalist wrote something cool on Layne Staley, although she wrote an extensive part on the Renaissance Era...I hate History...but I admit she did good research to show a different Layne. Go for it!!!

Rating:
Summary: Highly Suspect
Review: I was looking forward to finding out more about the formerly reclusive/now deceased Mr. Staley and this apparent 1st biography to come out after his passing sorely misses the mark. The author writes on about a 4th grade level it often appears that she stuggles to make noun and verb tenses agree. If you are looking for Layne in his own words, you will be disappointed. There are only several excerpts from alleged conversations with Staley which the author has claimed was his last interview. However these are few and really come off as Layne chastising the author. HEY! Maybe it was Staley's last interview... The tangents that the author goes on are ridiculous. From astrological fire goats to Cobain murder theory, from the Rennaisance to the diatribes on religion. Please. Even more laughable is the author's pride in her so called ability to interpret lyrics. ATTN: Mrs. Rubio, Cobain killed himself and Layne wrote and drugs and their destruction. Nobody needs your broken english interpretation as a guide. Actually I hate myself for spending [money on] this piece of tripe. My advice, hope another Staley biography comes out and buy it instead.

Rating:
Summary: It could have been great.........
Review: Well, as a huge AIC fan I have been waiting for this book since August of '01, when I pre-odered it from the books web site. And now that it is here after a few delays, I would be willing to wait a little longer for a more polished product. At times I couldnt determine if I was reading Layne Staley's biography or a essay on my humanities class from college. The author at times also had me confused on the timeline on events in Staleys life. What was nice is that the author was honestly in my opinion trying to tell Layne's tragic story without giving us fans the yellow tabliod crap we are used to regarding stories about Staley. A quick read, and if your a fan I would say go ahead and buy the book. Dont expect a masterpiece, just a decent story about a very talented man who destroyed himself slowly over the last 8 years.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting details, mediocre writing (2.5 stars)
Review: I appluase the author for taking on this task of writing a book on Layne Staley. While her heart was in the right place, I don't think her writing abilities backed up the book. She sidetracked too often and wrote some things that seemed unrelated to or rather insignificant to Layne's story, such as things about Kurt Cobain (if I wanted to read about him, I would've bought another book), her physical condition, how she put the book together or some lyrics from some other journalist that wrote songs about AIC. The interviews with Layne's mom and sister were very good on the other hand. They seemd truly heartfelt and authentic. I also enjoyed all the pictures from early on and some writings, drawings and other cool snippets (like ads Layne put up looking for work or promoting his band) in the book. Overall it's got some good info, I just hope the author does a better job on her next project and improves her style!

Rating:
Summary: Really bad
Review: This was the only Layne book out so I bought it hoping to find out more about the interesting and mysterious Layne Staley, instead I found out about the writer and her life story. It sucked. Don't buy it unless you want to hear about the writer.

Rating:
Summary: pretty weak
Review: i love layne, as well as the rest of aic, jerry, mike, sean..the book barely talks about layne at all. the author talked about colombia and drug markets, mike starr's book, and other useless stuff that is irrelevant to learning more about laynes "heart and soul" as said in the title. the material on layne is good, and i like the dialogues from the recordings of layne's family the author use. also, the author repeated a lot of stuff such as a certain quote from layne about "don't they hear the words..," calling demri layne's "one and only love" a thousand times..and other junk like that that makes it boring

Rating:
Summary: poorly written
Review: I feel that this book is inadequately written she places herself too much in the lime light and writes as if she was a member of layne's family. I feel that it was written under delusional connection to the 'soul' of layne. After a while her tone gets to be irritating paralleling his work to the renascence era and going into detail of the drug culture drawing a parallel to her anorexia and layne's heroin addiction. I can say from the standpoint of being a writer, singer and artist myself that if someone were to write a book about me in this fashion I would be greatly upset. I feel that it has done a disservice to layne and his family to be written in such a presumptuous tone. However, the book does contain good information, artwork, and quotes and must be read with a massive grain of salt.