snoopy
Trying to change the whole wide world
[M:200]
Posts: 213
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Post by snoopy on Sept 20, 2011 20:02:22 GMT 1
Wow, you read it very quickly... Well, I think that Julia remembers John mainly from his childhood. When John moved to America they were not so much in touch anymore. Towards the end John had more contact with his family; he probably got kind of homesick. Yes, the house he bought for his sisters were not secured, but I mean, how could he know that he would die so young and sudden ? Aunt Mimi was certainly a strong-minded woman, but she cared very much for John, although she seemed to have been cold and severe. I wouldn't say she was bad, she really wanted the best for John. I understand that this book can be half joy and half sad, as Julia's relationship with John could have been closer and it's a pity that they didn't have the chance to catch up time. But overall, I learnt really a lot about John's childhood I didn't know before. Don't you feel the same about it ? Snoopy
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3coolcats
Nowhere is the place to be
Posts: 7
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Post by 3coolcats on Sept 20, 2011 23:18:51 GMT 1
Hi Snoopy I think I "saw" you on the Beatles Fab Forum I guess I learned a lot in this book if it is true that John was so doggedly kept from his mom on purpose, in such a mean way. There is really no way of knowing if that is true. John has always indicated that his trips to Scotland were happy times, in other books I have read, not that he felt he was being removed from reach of his mother, for example. I think John's sister may be a little bit biased against Mimi and wants, of course, to think the best of her mother. I think in a way that John stopped maturing emotionally when his mom died. He grew artistically, and in other ways, but he seems (to me) to have remained that 17-year old who lost his mother for his entire (too short) life. Otherwise he would never have let Yoko dictate who he could have contact with, etc... I feel bad for the whole family for the way John's childhood was handled, but it was not that unusual for the time. Everyone was so prudish, And yet John was not born out of wedlock though they sometimes acted like he was. Also, John promoted his own story about how he wasn't wanted by his parents...that version came from him, in interviews and songs, so it wasn't just the media making it up, as Julia kind of inferred. And yet John also admitted to having had a secure childhood for the most part, so he was as always a mass of contradictions. Such a shame we can't see what kind of "old" man he would have become. Hope we have not derailed this thread Sorry, if so...
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snoopy
Trying to change the whole wide world
[M:200]
Posts: 213
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Post by snoopy on Sept 22, 2011 10:33:51 GMT 1
Hi As you say, it's difficult to know what really the truth is all about John's childhood. On the one side he often claimed publicly that he had a happy childhood, but on the other side, the lyrics of some of his songs tell another story There is no doubt that John suffered all his life from the early loss of his mother and his difficult relationship with his father didn't make things easier. He indeed was emotionally rather imature, certainly a reason why he let himself being manipulated by Yoko (unfortunately ). I'd say that the book of Julia is quite defensive and she tries to put her mother in the best light possible. Snoopy
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