JOHN LENNON: THE LIFE

From his childhood to his untimely death, John Lennon's life was momentous enough to easily support the 1,000 pages Philip Norman devotes to it. Norman, who wrote what many consider to be the definitive account of the Beatles—SHOUT!—delves into every nook and cranny of the musician's life, revealing a sometimes-tortured soul who never stopped changing throughout his tragically interrupted life. This abridgment is choppy in places but never less than gripping, partly due to Norman's typically English turns-of-phrase, partly due to narrator Graeme Malcolm's quintessentially British delivery, not to mention his ability to perfectly reproduce Lennon's Liverpool accent. J.S.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]