Wonderful Tonight Harrison Clapton ebook
As a woman of the same age as Pattie Boyd, I was quite excited to read her story. I think most of us in the Beatle Generation have had some questions about her life. She answers these quite well, and kindly, especially considering the difficulties of fame, along with relational problems associated with substance abuse. Of course, in common with folks in other substance abusing families, she really was less in control of things than she later realized she needed to be. She also inspired two of the most acclaimed musicians of our times. I sense her extraordinary strengths, and her resiliency, partly due to her upbringing in Africa. However, she also shares her vulnerabilities with us, which is courageous. I was especially intrigued by the way she explained why she ended up leaving George, and how with the wisdom gained by time and experience, she actually realized later how she might have handled their problems in a better way and they might have grown together as a couple. Despite the problems in their marriage, he is the one she remembers with the most love. For those who are disappointed in some aspect of the story, either the writing style, or what she chose to report, remember, she didn't need to write this book. It is a personal perspective on some of the charm and tragedy in the lives of several extraordinary, famous people, as well as a journal about one woman's journey of self-discovery while surviving relationships which included substance and domestic abuse. This woman clearly has a knack for making and keeping friends, and she surely has some interesting stories to tell. I think I would like knowing her in person. Best wishes to you, Ms. Boyd, and I hope you make even more of your dreams come true.
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Not the deepest book but a fast and interesting read and skim-over of the London 60s scene. Don't understand the bad reviews - seems like people hate this woman personally. This inspired me to want to read Clapton's book and a book on the Beatles now, and maybe delve more into the "Mod" era, so it can't be that bad. I did feel a bit sorry for her - yes she was an accomplice to her fate, but didn't have much of a chance to learn better, seeing as she fell into the rock star wife role so very early in life. Good on her for making it out with some dignity. Enjoyed reading about all her travels too.
BalasHapusAll of you armchair critics need to get a grip. This is not great literature, it is Pattie's story the way she wants to tell it. She is obviously a sweet person who feels deeply. She lived in amazing times, and she loved two high profile world class musicians. She didn't tell her story for many years and we are lucky to get her story at all. The book isn't bad. It is a guilty pleasure read that goes down real easy.
BalasHapusPattie Boyd married two of my very favorite musicians and I always thought she led a charmed life. Wow, was I wrong... I try to never read biographies of my favorite people just for this very reason - reality never lives up to my dreams. Although I am reading slow hands' autobiography just to get his perspective.
BalasHapusI thought the book was very understated and found myself wondering what were the truly awful things she wasn't telling us. One thing I did learn is Pattie Boyd is a survivor and I wish her well.
I gobbled this book up in one sitting, as well read Eric Clapton's book a month past. Pattie is a sweet vulnerable victim of the mores of the era and consequences of the 60's rock/ drug revolution; as well as a unglamorous and cunning disease.In my opinion she was as discreet as could be and tread very lightly on Eric Clapton who by his own confession was , because of an inherited disorder and his own abuse of privledge. a self absorbed cruel and abusive beast.When Pattie was married to her first husband she expected, or rather hoped, that she would be respected and cherished. Notwithstanding George Harrison's gentle and kind qualities, the situation, including infidelities, isolation and cruelty, cannot be described even minimally as good husband behavior ( that is if you aren't a rock star), even if she lived in a castle.The socipathic and romantically twisted Clapton uses every manipulative trick in the book to wrestle Pattie away, promising that he will, bingo, cherish her. Once the deal was minted the horror show begins , and we get to peek through a crack at a sanitized version of copdependant hell.Once Pattie is through with all of this, (living for years with an out of control maniac who has blackouts and accidents mutiple affairs ,all over the place, and pleads begs threatens and sends dozens of roses to Pattie every time she even leaves for a week or two, fathers two children out of wedlock while she struggles with childlessness)she gets tossed out of her home by Eric. We see her as a woman in her prime who gave up her best years being a "muse" running a houseold alone, cooking gourmet meals and being tread upon, cheated upon , berated, critised and finally thrown out and then harrased because she "left". Her divorce settlement(s) were paltry by ANY comparison, and she was finally a woman on the verge of, or rather actually having a nervous breakdown in the end. Give her a break; that she actually has a gratitude and sense of poignancy about the whole thing speaks to her natural feminine grace which is what made her so appealing to these men in the first place,(there were many pretty faces around then)I give the book five stars and I thank the authors for putting it out there, it is a very important story.
BalasHapusWhat I enjoyed most about this book is its tone: delicate, feminine, modest, and a bit spiritual. Reading it I could easily see why Pattie Boyd became a muse to two of the most successful rock stars of all time.
BalasHapusFor years I have heard of Pattie Boyd. She's left a trail of glamour, what with her famous marriages, modeling career, and fabulous looks. Being American and a bit too young to have followed the Beatles (aside from buying their 45s when I was in elementary school), I knew very little about Ms. Boyd except snippets here and there, which were always intriguing and somehow made her out to be the most fabulous of the Beatles' wives. But then I saw her promoting her autobiography in an interview and was struck by her aura of spirituality. I made a point to nab that book.
The book was a quick and enjoyable read, really detailing so much of the '60s social movements that I wanted to understand. What struck me though was that Ms. Boyd was almost cursed by her relationships to rock stars who, while affording her some of the most extraordinary experiences on earth, also stole a bit of her soul and confidence in the process.
I appreciate the author's honesty and feel that her true magic, her appeal for powerful and creative men, has shone through in WONDERFUL TONIGHT. I also have a better understanding that a seemingly glamorous life also has its painfully dark side. Bravo, Ms. Boyd!
BalasHapusAs a woman of the same age as Pattie Boyd, I was quite excited to read her story. I think most of us in the Beatle Generation have had some questions about her life. She answers these quite well, and kindly, especially considering the difficulties of fame, along with relational problems associated with substance abuse. Of course, in common with folks in other substance abusing families, she really was less in control of things than she later realized she needed to be. She also inspired two of the most acclaimed musicians of our times. I sense her extraordinary strengths, and her resiliency, partly due to her upbringing in Africa. However, she also shares her vulnerabilities with us, which is courageous. I was especially intrigued by the way she explained why she ended up leaving George, and how with the wisdom gained by time and experience, she actually realized later how she might have handled their problems in a better way and they might have grown together as a couple. Despite the problems in their marriage, he is the one she remembers with the most love. For those who are disappointed in some aspect of the story, either the writing style, or what she chose to report, remember, she didn't need to write this book. It is a personal perspective on some of the charm and tragedy in the lives of several extraordinary, famous people, as well as a journal about one woman's journey of self-discovery while surviving relationships which included substance and domestic abuse. This woman clearly has a knack for making and keeping friends, and she surely has some interesting stories to tell. I think I would like knowing her in person. Best wishes to you, Ms. Boyd, and I hope you make even more of your dreams come true.
BalasHapusI fully expected Pattie Boyd to be utterly charming and I wasn't disappointed. She's a sweet woman with a classically British, understated, whimsical sense of humor that balances the more melodramatic events in her memoir.
BalasHapusBoyd's recounting of her childhood in Africa is mesmerizing, but the surreal (growing up with giraffes roaming through the backyard) is juxtaposed by grim reality: an emotionally unavailable mother, a ne'r-do- well father, and an abusive stepfather. If you skip these early chapters, you won't understand Boyd's passivity as a wife, or how Boyd's life seemed fated to always veer between fairy tale and soap opera.
I, and friends who were devouring the book at the same time I was, often became angry at Boyd for being so maddeningly submissive during her marriages to controlling, unfaithful men. We had to pull back and realize Boyd, now age 63, was raised in an era in which wives had little say, and like so many women her age, Boyd was left in limbo somewhere between that upbringing and modern feminism.
The story gains steam with Boyd's descriptions of the 1960s cultural revolution in London. She escapes her dismal home and is transformed into a free-spirited, glamorous model, landing on the set of A Hard Day's Night. The rest is pop culture history extraordinaire.
Boyd and Harrison's early years were magical. After India, Harrison withdrew from the world and Boyd's self-confidence disintegrated. The final straw was, famously, provided by Eric Clapton. Clapton gave Boyd permission to quote from love letters he'd sent her over the course of three decades, and I admit I swooned when I read them!
A frequent complaint has been Boyd's lack of insight into her husbands' art. Boyd admired her husbands' genius, but she describes them in strictly human terms because that's how she related to them, as husbands, not as rock stars. She was genuinely interested in her relationships with her husbands, not their fame. As for Boyd being a blamer or whiner, I don't get that. She freely admits to her own drinking and drugging and examines the eventual toll of that lifestyle. Even when things are going horribly wrong, she maintains her sly sense of humor.
The hardest part of the book for me to read was her 14 hellacious years with Clapton. Boyd quickly realizes Clapton's "terrifying" booze consumption and the bizarre competition between Clapton's mother and grandmother. But Boyd is too caught up in "overwhelming passion" with Eric to heed the early storm warnings, so is stunned when her formerly ardent suitor turns into an alternately indifferent and nasty drunk.
I really felt for Pattie as she flailed around trying to get her husband help at a time when alcoholism wasn't understood as a disease. After rehab, Clapton went to AA and Boyd joined Al-Anon. But Clapton quickly fell off the wagon and resumed his philandering. Boyd finally snapped to her senses and divorced him.
This is when Boyd becomes most relatable: when she hits the skids in midlife, nearly destitute and painfully aware she's achieved nothing for the past 20 years. She's tempted by Clapton's continued pleas to come home, but this time, she resists him.
Boyd finally accepts she can never be the perfect woman immortalized in all those great love songs and you can feel her sense of relief even as she struggles to start her life all over again.
Pattie Boyd deserved a happy ending and she got one.
I couldn't wait to read this book as I grew up in my teens with the Beatles and the whole London mod scene. It certainly brought back my teenage years. I always thought of Pattie Boyd as a beautiful woman who had everything. Looks, beautiful clothes, famous husbands. After reading this book, which was hard to put down, if nothing else it made me appreciate more my husband and the wonderful blessed life I have had. Her book should have be titled "Incredibly Stupid Tonight". Thank god I am just a normal nobody. What hell she went through. And to end up with only a $300,000.00 cottage after her divorce from Eric Clapton. Her lawyer should be sued for misrepresentation. Unfortunatley, I will never be able to hear the songs of George Harrison and especially Eric Clatpton again without thinking what self-centered, hateful and emotionally abusive men they were.It is a page turner.
BalasHapusI found this book to be very insightful on the lives of Pattie Boyd's husbands. I personally didn't know much about Eric Clapton till reading this book. You could really relate to her situations in life even though they were so far out there. I've read many books about the Beatles and Pattie Boyd's book really opened my eyes to another side to George Harrison. I had no idea how strong a personality George had since he seemed shadowed by Paul McCartney and John Lennon during the Beatle days. I would totally recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning a different side of Eric Clapton or George Harrison. Pattie did an excellent job of setting the moods throughtout every chapter. Great book!
BalasHapus