Julie 's Reviews > Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon

Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon by Peter Ames Carlin is a 2016 Henry Holt and Co. Publication.

I read Peter Ames Carlin’s book about the life of Brian Wilson and found it was solid enough for a rock biography. So, when I saw this book on LibraryThing's early review program, I requested it.

Sadly, this book is really disappointing. It has been my experience that rock bios, (not autobiographical), can go one of several ways- They can be stuffed with minutia, detailing every single album or song, or recording, who played what instruments, sang backup and so on, without giving the reader much insight into the artist’s personal life - or- the personal aspects and whining and drama is the main focus and the music is not examined too closely , -or- the author really does their homework and combines musical highlights in with the artist's life story.

I have listened to, and very much enjoyed, the work of Simon & Garfunkel as well as most of Paul’s solo material for most of my life. Yet, Paul Simon remained an enigma for me. Oh, sure, I knew there had been epic squabbles between Paul and Art, and of course I was aware that Paul had been married to Carrie Fisher and is now married to Edie Brickell.

Other than that, I really didn’t know much about Paul's temperament, or how he and Art got together musically, or how they ended up going in separate directions. This book has answered a few of those basic questions, but by the end of the book, I didn't feel as though I ever really got a feel for whom Paul really was in private life, as the insights were far and few between.

There are very few quotes from Paul or Art, and the ones that do pop up here or there are most likely gleaned from other sources, articles, interview etc.

The book edition I received is text only, without the obligatory photos, most of these books toss in. However, this is a nice trade size book, with high quality printing and binding.

While this is a thick book, with lots of information, it’s not the sort of reading that held my attention. It was rather dull, except in certain spots, and I admit to zoning out quite a few times. It took me a long time to read through this book, and I often found myself thinking of it as ‘homework’, because if I win a book, I feel obligated to read and review it.

So, when I say this bio is anemic, I’m referring to the absence of a personal presence, and the portrait of this artist, is far from flattering, in my opinion.

I’m not insinuating the author did not do a fair amount of research, because I think he did put some energy into the book, but I'm wondering if he was deliberately coloring inside the lines by glossing over a lot of the personal junk.

Either way, despite its bulk the book doesn’t have a lot soul, or depth, didn’t encourage me to add Simon’s music to one of my playlists or hunger for more information on the artist. If fact, it left feeling rather apathetic towards Simon and as though, in good conscience, I could not recommend this book, even to the most diehard fan.

1.5 stars