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| A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties | 
 enlarge | Author: Suze Rotolo
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $13.66
You Save: $9.29 (40%)
New (43) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $13.66
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 10880
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.4
ISBN: 0767926870
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164092
EAN: 9780767926874
ASIN: 0767926870
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A new perspective on an often told tale July 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've been a Dylan fan since the early seventies and have followed his career through all of its many ups and downs, the good albums and the bad (yes, there have been more than a few clunkers), and along the way I've also read many of the books that have been written about the man. Most have been utterly forgettable; some have been insightful; and a rare few have truly been enlightening.
Suze Rotolo's A Freewheelin' Time is, to say the least, enlightening. More than just the story of a life -- or in this case two lives, Rotolo's and Dylan's -- it is an insider's account of an America imbued with an innocence and an optimism that had yet to be undone by assassinations, war, and the nexus of corporate and government greed. For Rotolo, it turns out, was more than just Dylan's teenage girlfriend, featured on one of the most iconic album covers of the 1960s; raised by radical, working-class parents, she was also a young woman who was thoroughly steeped in the counterculture ethos of the early Civil Rights and Anti-War movements that Dylan ultimately gave voice to. In fact, fascinating though her insights into young Bob Dylan are, this book is often at its best when Rotolo focuses on her own efforts to define herself as a woman in pre-feminist America, and with her struggle to remain a non-conformist in a country that even then valued conformity above all else.
Finally, I don't know why Publishers Weekly took Rotolo to task for having described Dylan as a genius who at heart is less than honest--as if it isn't possible for someone to be both brilliant and dishonest. Give me a break. This isn't the first book to suggest that Dylan has often been less than decent (to say the least) in dealing with others. Stories about him putting people (often old friends) down in public are both ubiquitous and legendary. And you only have to listen to some of his more caustic songs -- Positively 4th Street for example!!! -- to know that the man can wield a song like an ax when he really wants to hurt somebody. But that's all part of what makes Dylan -- the man of many masks -- so fascinating. Right? I guess some people (the reviewer from Publishers Weekly for instance) just prefer having their heroes depicted cookie-cutter neat and minus any defects.
Bottom line: This is a fine book that will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about Bob Dylan, about American on the verge of social and political upheval in the early 60's, or who might simply enjoy reading about a young girl who survived a prolonged encounter with greatness and came out all the stronger for having experienced it.
Somewhat interesting, but get to the part about Dylan August 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got this book because of my interest in Bob Dylan and his involvement in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 60's. I enjoyed the parts of Dylan's recent book devoted to this subject. Rotolo really captures the time and place well. I felt I was there. A lot of personnal information about her relationship with Dylan is also revealed, but I felt that she was also holding back a lot. In 1962 she leaves Dylan in the Village to go to Italy for 8 months, He writes to her several times and she reveals that these were excellent letters "full of pain, humor, and storytelling." The book shows photos of a few envelopes. She excerpts a few paragraphs in the book. BUT I WANT MORE OF THOSE LETTERS!!! I WANT EVERY WORD OF THOSE LETTERS!!! Why tease us by saying the letters are incredible but then not reveal the contents??? I felt there were many instances were she starts an interesting episode and then drops it right before we get to the juicy part.
The parts of the book about her life outside of Dylan I found to be boring, not because the facts were not interesting, but because she does not develop them well and often repeats herself.
Rotolo has said she has not spoken before out of deference to Dylan and her own reticence at becoming involved in celebrity. I can't help but wonder what she could reveal if she were willing.
 Goodbye is too good a word, babe June 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
So you're a Bob Dylan fan, and you've read his Chronicles, and you've seen No Direction Home, and you're on the lookout for more intel on the pride of Hibbing, Minnesota. Fair enough. But Freewheelin' Time isn't just 300 pages of "Bob did this" and "Bob said that" and "Bob wrote this song about me" and "One night Bob and I had sex on the fire escape and the neighbors complained about the noise."
Bob's there, all right, illuminated by telling anecdotes and snippets from love letters past. You'll get an impressionist portrait but one that helps you see him clearly all the same. Even better, Suze Rotolo manages to convey a sense of Sixties bohemian innocence without coming across like one of those smug Berkeley Baby Boomers waxing nostalgic over a pair of blue jeans that somehow doesn't fit any more.
No, Rotolo turns out to be charmingly self-deprecating, even playing down her iconic image on the famous Bob Dylan LP by saying she thought the coat made her look like an Italian sausage. And her memoir is fascinating on its own merit, the story of a red-diaper baby trying to navigate adulthood with her ideals intact while confronting some of the more unpleasant aspects of Communism here and abroad. It's a tale told with disarming wit and grace, aided by 'DVD Extra' type photos, postcards, and press clippings, including one that refers to the author as a "Blonde artist" storming the shores of Castro's Cuba. Worth the price of admission alone, that.
Fabulous! June 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great book! Fabulous! The author really catches the time, the move from a black/white world to one of color and an array of choices. Her own story intertwined with that of Dylan's is well written. Her writting style, vocabulary and personal insight make this a must read.
 INTERESTING SOCIAL HISTORY BUT NOT ENOUGH DYLAN July 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A bit repetitive and poorly edited, but still a fun social history reaffirming a great time in American musical development...
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