WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE The celebrated first memoir from arguably the most influential singer-songwriter in the country, Bob Dylan. “I’d come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else.” So writes Bob Dylan in Chronicles: Volume One, his remarkable book exploring … Volume One, his remarkable book exploring critical junctures in his life and career. Through Dylan’s eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan’s New York is a magical city of possibilities–smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With the book’s side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota, and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.
By turns revealing, poetical, passionate, and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan’s thoughts and influences. Dylan’s voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful, and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.more
“I thought of mainstream culture as lame as hell and a big trick.”
This book is fantastic. I’m ready for Volume Two now.
As nearly as possible, Bob Dylan gives us a glimpse into his creative process and evolution as an artist and a man; not that any of these things can ever be understood in a linear way or accurately and specifically …
I find it hard to believe that anyone who appreciates Bob Dylan’s contribution to music would not find this autobiography fascinating, notwithstanding its shortcomings. Bob Dylan traveled to New York City with little more than a guitar and soon became the most influential singer of his generation. I really enjoyed his description of his first …
This may be the worst book I’ve ever read.
As with many (perhaps even most) people, I’m a huge fan of his music. In his music, his lyricism and simple style are compelling and, though he has his missteps, the good bits more than make up for it.
Chronicles, however, is a mess. It jumps between places and times, not for poetic effect but from a …