Nirvana : The Chosen Rejects

Rating:
Summary: The Rome story, straight from the horse's mouth
Review: Mary Ann, you're making up things. Kurt Cobain was suicidal, and tried to end his life in Rome. There's no disputing these facts. Dr. Osvaldo Galletta, the actual doctor who pumped Kurt's stomach in Rome and saved his life, knew Cobain was flight risk, and gave him a hospital room with no windows because of it. He knew Cobain was nothing more than a charming junkie from the moment he spotted his veins and heard Cobain speak after he was saved from his coma. Dr. Galletta also said that saving Cobain's life was a waste, which was so funny yet so true. Now THERE'S some brutal honesty for ya.

And here's the link, Mary Ann. Lose the denial:
http://www.charlesrollins.com/music/kurtod.htm


Rating:
Summary: The True Story
Review: Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects is a book about the life of the band Nirvana. It starts out with the life of lead singer and lead guitar Kurt Cobain. The book takes you through his childhood growing up in Aberdeen, Washington. Next it shows you how Kurt and Krist Novoselic (bass) met and became friends. Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects goes through the trials of the band was put through. Looking for the drummer that fit there style and Kurt's problem with drugs. The book goes all the way through the existence of Nirvana and after Kurt's death. It talks about Kurt's marriage to Courtney Love and the birth of his child Frances Bean.
One thing that I like that sticks out in the book are all the quotes that were gathered and placed in it. It gives almost like it was written by the band. There is plenty of evidence that supports the author's words and the quotes the give Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects its credibility. At the beginning of each chapter it has a quote that makes you think.
The thing that I disliked about the book is that it didn't give to much information about the life of drummer Dave Grohl. It just talked about when he was apart of the band from Nevermind and on. The authors didn't give much incite in to his childhood or anything he did pervious to Nirvana.

Rating:
Summary: not as good as it could have been
Review: When I first started reading this book, I thought it was good but lacked a little in detail. It skimmed over some parts when discussing various events the band experienced. At first, I thought this was because so much has been written about these before. But as I read on, it appears more that the author either didn't do his research, or didn't do enough of it. When it comes to Kurt's experiences with Courtney, no mention is made of Courtney's actions, leaving the reader to believe Kurt was always at fault. Also, it glossed over the heartbreak Kurt suffered when Frances was taken away and what they both went through to get her back. Considering what an impact this had on all three of them, the lack of information is questionable, at best. He also never mentions the fact that the doctor who treated Kurt during the Rome incident said there was no evidence Kurt had swallowed ANY, let alone 50, Rohynols. He simply goes by Courtney's comments around this event. When it comes down to Kurt's death, not only does the author always refer to it as a suicide, which has not been 100% proven to many people, but he gets his 'facts' wrong. Kurt was not disfigured so badly that he could only be identified by his fingerprints. He did not barricade himself in the greenhouse; the stool in front of the back door - where there was no way of gaining entry as it was a balcony - was a small barstool that couldn't block anything even if someone could scale the balcony. Kurt's wallet wasn't lying open next to his body; a policeman stated HE had opened the wallet and put it there when they were taking pictures. Also, Wendy didn't make the missing person's police report; Courtney has admitted that she called the police pretending to be Wendy. The author states that Wendy, Courtney, and Krist decided where Kurt's ashes would be spread. As far as anyone knows, besides Courtney, some of Kurt's ashes were made into several tsatsas by monks in Ithaca, NY, some were buried under a tree at the Lake Washington house (both of these according to Courtney), and some were allegedly spread on the Wishkah River. No one really knows what happened to Kurt's ashes, except for Courtney. When one looks at these items the author either didn't include, or made major mistakes about, it makes it hard to take any of the rest of the book as truth. While it's a good read - at least the first part of it - there are many other books out there about Kurt that are much better.