Changeling: The Autobiography of Mike Oldfield
by Mike Oldfield
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mike OldfieldEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Published: 2007-05-10
ISBN: 185227381X
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Virgin Books
Book Reviews of Changeling: The Autobiography of Mike Oldfield
Book Review: As A Writer, Mike Makes A Great Musician
Summary: 3 Stars
Oldfield's music has been a big part of my life since 1973, and although I've been vaguely aware of his various psychological difficulties -- shyness, panic attacks, borderline autism -- I never thought much about them. His autobiography deals frankly with them in illuminating detail, more than it deals with his music or musical inspiration. He is a singular artist and these insights into his psyche make for fascinating reading.
Unfortunately (as another reviewer noted) Michael has chosen to write without a ghost writer. Surprisingly for someone so capable of weaving musical lines together, his writing is scattershot and ill-organized. Incidents from his childhood and adulthood collide, without common themes, and he frequently takes off on tangents which interrupt the flow. It's a stream-of-consciousness style with odd weight given to minor incidents and major sections of his life -- wives, kids, music -- barely mentioned. Understandably prose is not his area of expertise, but he has done everything else he's attempted so extremely, extremely well that the bar was higher here. Even Mick Fleetwood's autobiography was better written than Changeling.
Oh well, it's still nice to add it to my Oldfield library.
Summary of Changeling: The Autobiography of Mike Oldfield
Born without social instincts many people take for granted, brought up in an environment that was beyond his ability to deal with and possessed with an extraordinary musical talent, Mike was thrust into the spotlight at the tender age of nineteen. His first album "Tubular Bells" went on to sell fifteen million copies worldwide and catapulted him into a stardom he was ill equipped to cope with. From growing up with an alcoholic mother, to his feelings of alienation and struggles with depression, this book takes Mike from his early years, through his staggering fame, his broken marriages, years as a recluse and to his rebirth experience at a controversial Exegesis seminar. Mike Oldfield has been on a journey few of us could ever imagine, and offers a message of hope to anybody who feels they live on the edge of society.Arts & Literature Books
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