John - Cynthia Lennon

...most fatefully of these being John Lennon. Both students at the Liverpool College of Art, her tweed wearing ways against John's rebellious 'teddy boy' streak soon made them a couple of contradictions, leading to a facinating life story for both partners...

THE BASICS OF THE BOOK
The novel starts off with a rather earth shattering event that did have a profound effect on both Cynthia, and her and John's teenage son, Julian's ...
...clear that Cynthia's feelings for John were genuine, in spite of what it may seem a little later on in the book.

Whilst the story did start off to be all about Lennon, it did quickly degenerate into a bit of an autobiography of Cynthia Powell in places. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting it, after all, it's important to get to know the biographer as much as the subject in question. Yet, sometimes, it did dominate a bit too much of ... more

CYNTHIA LENNON: JOHN

WHERE THIS FITS INTO MY BEATLEMANIA MONTH OF MAY:
A truly interesting account of the Late Lennon in which tales of triumph, despair and anger are told but perhaps not for the first time...

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Whether you are seeing a celebrity on TV, stage or listening to one of their albums, the chances are that you are more than often not bearing witness to a persona or alter ego; someone that is either a completely different character to what they would normally be recognised as or even a magnification of their personality as a way to turn heads and make people buy into their act.

With that being said, that is one of the many reasons why I like reading both autobiographies and biographies; it is a great opportunity to see past the blurry stage lights and hopefully get into the real minds and lives of an admired performer.

When I saw that my Dad had a copy of Cynthia Lennon's biography, aptly entitled 'John', I was intrigued on a number of levels. It was at the time when I knew very little about the individual band members of the Beatles personalities, away from their music of course. Even then, depending on how you interpret a song, your ideas about that person could never be fully conclusive.

But when I scrolled across internet articles, I learnt that actually, the most cynical of the Fab Four may have been entirely different to what many people may have perceived him to be. Some saw him as angry and bitter against the success of sidekick Paul McCartney's more mainstream sound, others told tales of a somewhat insecure young man, stemming from the tragic death of his Mother at a crucial time in their healing relationship.

I expected his first wife's account of the man she'd once greatly loved to be an in depth, gripping insight into the man that truly captured the imagination of the British media, through his music, his collection of bizarre poetry and artwork, called 'In His Own Write', to even his appearance in the critically panned movie, 'How I Won The War'.

However, I was also expecting a rather sordid and sour story, heightened by the musician's dubious affair with a woman not greatly received by the general public, to their hasty, unsanctimonious circumstances surrounding their seemingly unfulfilling and melancholic marriage.

But, would Cynthia meet or defy my expectations?

ABOUT CYNTHIA
Born Cynthia Lillian Powell on September 10th 1939, in Blackpool, the blonde, 'model student' apparently turned the heads of many in her early years, most fatefully of these being John Lennon. Both students at the Liverpool College of Art, her tweed wearing ways against John's rebellious 'teddy boy' streak soon made them a couple of contradictions, leading to a facinating life story for both partners...

THE BASICS OF THE BOOK
The novel starts off with a rather earth shattering event that did have a profound effect on both Cynthia, and her and John's teenage son, Julian's lives; the night she received the dreaded phone call from Beatles band mate, Ringo Starr. He broke the news of her former spouse's untimely death, which lead to a lot of questions still unanswered to Cynthia, as a woman who clearly did love her man, even in death.

I liked the start of the book because it really hit home about John's legacy; whilst many fans - like myself - will always remember the fantastic music he created, you have to wonder whether some will merely tut and reminisce about where they were when they heard the news. From that moment, I think it was clear that Cynthia's feelings for John were genuine, in spite of what it may seem a little later on in the book.

Whilst the story did start off to be all about Lennon, it did quickly degenerate into a bit of an autobiography of Cynthia Powell in places. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting it, after all, it's important to get to know the biographer as much as the subject in question. Yet, sometimes, it did dominate a bit too much of the storyline but it did give you a better feel about the authors personality as a whole and allowed me to make good judgements about her accounts of their lives together.

Through the phases of her story, you do draw a bit of a bond with Cyn, as she was affectionately called by the leading Beatle. She did in fact remind me of my Grandma; caring and loving but with issues of saying 'no' or being up front about issues. There are many occasions throughout the book where I thought that her handling of certain scenarios were not effective enough in order to try and really retain her marriage.

Then again, it is distinctly obvious throughout that she is a compassionate woman but very much a product of the oppressive times before women were really in a position to speak out. This undeniably stems from her tough upbringing which she describes in a moderate amount of detail; being the youngest and the girl of the family, she was often left to pick meat of the bones no matter what meal they were having, the ideology being that the men of the household needed the meat to build up their strength before a hard days night (ha ha) at work.

Whilst this might seem of little relevance in terms of the story being based around the life and times of her relationship with Mr. Lennon, it is many ways subconsciously reinforces many incidents surrounding their marriage. For example, after the group became really big and were all starting to feel the pressure in a big time way, many of the members began to experiment with drugs. John's poison was LSD and on three separate occasions, we learn how he lured Cynthia into trying acid for herself, in spite of some of the diabolical effects it had on here body since the first session.

From this chapter in the book alone, you really get into the mind of the first Beatle wife; whilst she never forwardly admits it, it does seem that she was desperate to stay 'popular' with her husband, even at parties where he was ogling other women and even another band mates babe. I think in hindsight, these were the moments in which she herself could see her marriage crumbling and, by the time all of that is revealed in the novel, you really do feel sorry for her and a distinct disliking for the somewhat unfairly portrayed Yoko Ono.

This strong disliking is something that lingers in the book, even after the death of the man in question. To be fair though, on the incidences discussed, it is truly easy to sympathise with Cyn; It did appear that John's second other half was doing her best to completely alienate her away from any notion of John's name which is both tragic and slightly pathetic considering the singer's first son, Julian, had to tolerate a large brunt of this through one form or another.

There are several tales that took place after John's untimely death in which disputes over money issues hit an all time high for the family. After their separation, Cynthia reports how difficult it was to persuade John to help with their son's finances, mainly a product of his laziness. However, after his demise, his second wife's domination really took a hold, and you can really allow yourself to feel sympathy for Cynthia and of course her son, Julian.

Of course I do realise that all of the stories surrounding Yoko could be very much exaggerated; there is a lot of bad blood on the part of Cynthia because of the bitter way in which her marriage officially came to a very public end. However, her feelings towards her do seem to be justified and well written, so that when sympathy is needed - especially when Ono's series of miscarriages were raised - Powell managed to construct her work in a very impartial way.

Yet, the final paragraph does seemingly amount to a great level of maturity and personal cleansing that Cynthia must have gone through during the writing of this biography. Whilst you could tell through out that she was still crazy for John, even after the end of their forlorn marriage, the last few sentences were really conclusive in quite a negative and realistic way. In fact, it made up for the entire hesitance that came previously in the novel and made for an interesting end chapter.

WRITING STYLE AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Consisting of twenty chapters and 404 pages, this book is a fairly short read when you consider the size of the font used here. As she uses fairly easy, colloquial language, I would say that it would be a good novel for anybody to read, whether you are properly affiliated with the bands - in particular, John's - history or not.

Whilst her writing style is for the most part friendly and warm, some of the topics might be difficult for some people to read; the monologue about the use of drugs does go into quite a good amount of detail, so it may not be suitable for everyone in that sense but for anyone who is slightly curious, when these moments are mentioned, it's a very good insight into LSD.

However, I did really like the way that the novel did begin and end with the death of John. To me, in spite of some of her more own personal memories that for the most part were unrelated to him, it really started and ended the novel in a very precise and well organized way. Although many of these thoughts and feelings must have been difficult to pinpoint on page, particularly concerning John's somewhat turbulent relationship with their son, I do think Cynthia did a good job in trying to convey those messages to readers of all understanding of the past of the Late Lennon.

PRESENTATION AND PICTORIAL
Although the copy of the book that I read looks very different than the main picture registered on Ciao, I actually think that the cover version my Dad owns is more in sync with the story itself; the black and white image of John is very striking, especially when you consider that the title is in a fresh minty green colour.

The inside covers include handwritten notes created by John very early on in his relationship to Cynthia. It does seem though, in reflection to the rest of the book once you have completed reading it, that their relationship was very much based around the premise of opposites attract but don't always stay together; by Cynthia's own admittance, he was definitely 'not her type' when they first me and he teased her continuously for her posh accent and dress sense. However, these notes do seem to be a bit of a puppy love type thing and does show a more slushy, Paul McCartney-esque side to the seemingly most cynical and edgiest Beatle.

All in all, there were four sections of pictures in the book, each fitting in fairly well with the sections themes and stories.

There was a moderately good balance between the well known pictures and some more private, exclusive images. I feel sure that many fans would recognise a scene with all four band members and their band manager, the Late Brian Epstein, clutching cigarettes at the premier for 'A Hard Days Night' as well as the one where Cynthia is staring lovingly at John as they jetted off to America.

Some of the pictures of Julian as a young boy are adorable - they really show him to be a sweeter spitting image of his Dad! I was surprised at how many pictures of John and Yoko Ono's son, Sean, there were included but I think in many ways this is good as, in spite of her more than chaotic feelings towards Lennon's second wife, it shows that she doesn't hold a grudge against their child and remembers that he is still Julian's baby brother.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
As I don't know how much this book was originally purchased for, I can't comment here on the recommended retail price of £20. However, here is how much you can purchase the book for currently on the internet:

Amazon.co.uk: £6.99 (eligible for super saver delivery)
Play.com: £6.99 (free delivery)
Bon Bon Books: £4.00
Samedaybooks.com: £6.94 (free delivery)

OVERALL
Although I did enjoy reading 'John', my reaction come the end of the book was actually very mixed.

I did enjoy Cynthia's personal narrative about a man that many people like to think they knew. Some of the stories got very personal and deep, especially where the two lovers son was concerned. You could tell that at some moments throughout that some painful memories were resurfacing and definitely added a different spin onto the life and times of one of Britain's best loved musicians.

However, I did feel at times that the book was a bit too exploitative. Moments where Cynthia made reference to her and John's 'love making' was more than often not unnecessary and left me wondering why she'd included it at all! Moments like this came across to me as if she was almost looking for justification of the love they once had together, rather than trying to tell the reader the story of their short lived lives together.

Also, to some people who are very up to date on their Beatles reading, many of the stories mentioned here may be very much 'old news'. Yet, I think that this is grossly unfair as Cynthia does at all times throughout try and provide her own unique retrospective on her opinions and tales that she shared with John.

However, these could be easily seen as marred by her own hero like worship of the Late Lennon. Whilst I was not even thought about when the group first showed up on the music scene, from the sound of things here and from other accounts I had read, John did seem to be the first ringleader of the group, and in Cynthia's own works, the band member that the media were 'fascinated' with.

Her awe for John was really apparent and almost naff in places. It was as if she was doing her upmost to prove his worth against that of his band members in the beginning anyway. I think she did capture a very large part of the 'fan girl' type atmosphere that co-existed with audiences of the Beatles of the time. Yet, moments like this really did blur the overall perception I got of her account in quite a big way.

I think that if you do have a good knowledge of the band's history, than it will be easy for you to decipher these moments of mild exaggeration. If not, it may be slightly difficult for you to do so.

Then again, if you are familiar with the life and times of John Lennon, this book might seem a little pointless to add to your collection unless you are really intent on reading an account by a woman that was one of a handful of people to truly know the legend that he was both in life and now in death. It is though a very interesting, if not slightly sorrowful, read that many fans of the Fab Four should be proud to own.

I would recommend 'John' to anyone as an insightful, if not slightly shadowy collection of tales about one of Britain's most talented singer/songwriters ever by someone that was clearly in love and subjected to testing times by the former Beatle front man. 

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