BRUCE - Peter Ames Carlin

They say you shouldn't meet your heroes, and that's one of the reasons I put off reading this Bruce Springsteen biography for a while. At the time it was printed in 2012, it was one of the first semi-authorised biographies about "the Boss". While it makes it clear that it isn't authorised in the sense of being commissioned by Bruce and co., it features comments and details from Bruce, most of his family members (except wife, Patti) all of the E Street Band, many former band member and all key management and production staff. Bruce's advice to the author is to write the truth... and that appears to be what he has done.

The book definitely doesn't fudge or hide Springsteen's flaws. At times he is shown to be selfish, brooding, self absorbed and controlling... it even has accounts of times when he raises not only his voice, but a hand to a former girlfriend. But the book also recounts tails of Bruce's generosity, loyalty, idealism and self-doubt. We hear about the people he has stood by through thick and thin, and some that he parted with seemingly at a whim (and then frequently re-invited them into his circle).

Is it warts and all? Who knows... maybe it skipped a few warts. But with multiple views provided of most events and incidents in the book it seems like a thorough attempt at triangualting the truth. The Bruce shown in this book is one who was emotionally stalled by the almost loveless relationship with his dad in his youth through to his early 20s (spoiler alert... it gets better) and who finds a way to deal with the many binary contradictions inside of him through therapy in later adulthood.

The author has built the story around key moments with more detail of the first half of Bruce's career than the latter, but functionally that works. It's where the most of the dramatic developments lie. Bruce's own autobiographt comes out in September this year, and this book (one of MANY Bruce biographies) is a pretty good ounterpoint to compare and contrast with. Personally I would have called it "Darkness on the edge of Bruce"... but it's a great read, especially if you're a fan boy like me, and discovering his flaws didn't in the end change my status as a fan.