Beatles Book:

		List Price: $14.99		Publisher: Macmillan UK Salesrank: 1139318
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		Media: Paperback

Editorial Review:

The Beatles' Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club Reviews:
A Piece of the Puzzle
2009-06-27 - Want a better understanding of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "If I Fell"? Then read this book. If you are capable of inference, you should get there.

Vital info
2005-07-13 - Well I totally disagree with the previous reviewer. I think it is interesting to know, for instance, about John and Stuart's intimate relationship, and all the historical factual material that is in the book, including photographs. I also think it is vital to know about the uncertainty and bouts of aggression that John had, also in relation to his feelings for Stuart. And the suggested relationship between this and Stu's untimely death is interesting, to say the least.
I'm not a big reader, who is these days, but this is one of the rare books I read in one go. Because of the suspense, the verifiable facts, the background, and the human factor that shimmers through the story between the lines, as it does in good work.

"The Beatles' Shadow"
2003-08-12 - I became interested in Sutcliffe several years ago when some documentary on PBS was aired, around the time Backbeat was in theatres. His art, his looks, immediately captivated me, and I had wanted to learn more about him. There weren't any books, and the only way you could read about him was through Beatles books rather than a stand-alone, and I wasn't interested in that. So, my interest in Sutcliffe's life fell to the backburner. Until recently, when I saw this book was going to be published in paperback.

Written by his sister, it's advertised as a biography, but is clearly a memoir. To me, a biography is researched extensively with quotes from letters, interviews from friends and associates and whatnot. Not rememberances of how cool it was to have a Teddy boy ask you to dance at one of your brother's early gigs in Liverpool.

That's problem number one with the book. Problem number two is apparently Pauline Sutcliffe is a psychotherapist who is smitten with analyzing her brother and John's life based on 40 year old memories, clearly prejudiced by time and death. And to make it worse, she's Freudian. Witness this line she wrote about her brother's relationship (she, as well as other biographers, assume that there was a sexual relationship between John and Stuart):

"The origins of male homosexuality are supposed to be tied up with the relationship between boys and their fathers. Or the failure of that relationship in some way, or the boys picking up some ambivalence in their fathers and all sorts of messages. I am not convinced about such theories, but let's characterize John as a boy looking for a father's love.[...]"

Here's what I knew about Stu before reading this book:
- he gave the Beatles their name and look
- he was a talented artist
- he was friends with John
- he met a blonde German girl
- he died too young

After reading this book, here's what I knew about Stu:
- he was a momma's boy
- he gave the Beatles their name and look
- he was a talented artist
- he was friends with John
- he met a blonde German girl
- he died too young

One day, I hope, a talented biographer will pen an excellent biography about this interesting fellow. Unfortunately this book is nowhere near that goal.