Critics Rave Over Bob Dylan's Memoirs

[DudeAsInCool]

The Essential Bob Dylan Read

Critics rave about his new memoir.

By Ben Williams

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004, at 1:47 PM PT

Chronicles, Vol. 1, by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster). The early word on Bob Dylan's memoirs is ecstatic. Janet Maslin findsChronicles, Vol. 1 "flabbergasting," the AP says it's "chockfull of entertaining anecdotes," and theBoston Globe calls the singer "a great reporter with a talent for vivid detail." The first volume of three, which focuses on the early and late stages of his career, contains few revelations—Dylan unfortunately devotes little space to his legendary 1966 motorcycle accident but offers plenty of poker tips. Yet critics are charmed by the "disarmingly raconteurial" style: He loves "hanging independent clauses at the end of his sentences, decorating them like he would a song with a guitar lick," says the San Francisco Chronicle. With key dates and names often missing, "sometimes you need to be a Dylanologist to know which direction the story goes," admits the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But Dylan is mining "a different kind of memory," says Maslin: He's "lucid without being linear," "both straight-shooting and deeply fanciful."

http://www.slate.com/id/2107780/