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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: $13.68
You Save: $9.27 (40%)
New (43) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $13.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 10341
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:
Intruiging look back at the early Dylan/NY Sixties June 10, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I have to say that I was quite sceptical when I saw that Suze Rotolo came out with this book, bringing us her story of what it was like to be around in the early sixties in Greenwhich Village, and of course being Bob Dylan's flame for about 2 years (1961-1963), I mean, why now? why at all? Then I started reading the book, and my fears/suspicions subsided.
In "A Freewealing' Time: A Memoir of Greenwhich Village in the Sixties" (380 pages), Rotolo brings back vivid images of what the lower NY side was like in those days, and oh yes, she was Bobby's girlfriend. Rotolo retells the now-famous stories of Gerde's and the Gaslight but with a unique and never before seen/read perspective and it makes for great reading. As the years go on, in particular after her 8 month stay in Italy, seperated from Dylan, it becomes clear as daylight how more and more uncomfortable Rotolo is becoming of the whole scene, in particular as Dylan rises in fame and more hangers-on appear out of the woodwork. Retolo's details on the famous "Freewhealin' Bob Dylan" album cover are a delight to read. Her insights on Dylan, in particular as it became clear that they were breaking up, are kinda heartbreaking. Even as it is clear that she thinks mightly highly of Dylan, she also makes clear he was not the easiest person to be around (has that changed since then? I'm guessing not, but of course I'm just speculating).
In all, this was a much better book than I expected, and even though there are a lot of sections that deal with non-Dylan passages, in the end this is why were are reading this, and I'd say this is a valuable contribution to the mirrads of Dylan books out there.
 A State of Mind June 10, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Most people will probably be drawn to this book because they are fans of Bob Dylan. Others will be drawn to it out of an interest in, or nostalgia for, Greenwich Village in the sixties. Those were certainly the reasons that I purchased it. And I certainly wasn't disappointed. Like other reviewers I journeyed to the Village in search of freedom from suburbia, first as a commuter and later as a resident, albeit half a decade after Ms. Rotolo left it. Time and again as I was reading it I recalled places and feelings from those times, made alive once again by Ms. Rotolo's splendid prose. And there was plenty of Dylan, as seen through Ms. Rotolo's eyes, as well as many of the other figures, some famous, some not, that played a role in shaping the those times.
But what I was not prepared for was how intrigued I was by Ms. Rotolo's own story. And even more by her reflections on the events of those years. Through these pages she has transformed herself from "the girl on the cover" to an individual of profound insight and feeling. From her memories of growing up in a communist household during the McCarthy era to her days as a "slum goddess" she has her own fascinating story to tell.
Ms. Rotolo ends her book by noting that the Greenwich Village of which she writes is no longer physically there. But she goes on to remind us that the real Village is a state of mind where "A compelling and necessary idea will always find a place to plant itself. The creative spirit finds a way."
That creative spirit reveals itself in this book. If you are nostalgic for the past or hopeful for the future I urge you to read this book.
 For Interested Parties Only June 17, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've always had a fascination with the folk movement centered in Greenwich Village in the early 60s, especially the incredible rise of Bob Dylan in that milieu. So, when I heard that Suze Rotolo, Dylan's girlfriend from that era, had written a book about her experiences during that time, I quickly placed my order. My feeling on completing it was that she is too guarded and careful here. She admits she doesn't want to upset Mr. Dylan and I also think that she doesn't wish to reveal too much of herself. Not that I wanted more dirt. I just wanted to know more things like what it felt like to have your famous boyfriend write and record a song lambasting your mother and sister (Ballad in Plain D). Yes, we do learn she had "mixed feelings" about the occurrence but I kinda coulda guessed that. She is too understanding when she hears from a third party about Bob's career-enhancing affair with Joan Baez. Come on Suze, go ahead and call him a two-timing [...]! Ms. Rotollo is careful to focus mostly on her life and not Bob's. Even though she has not achieved anywhere near the kind of things Dylan has, this could have worked if she had bared her soul. She describes some wacky dead ends she's taken (e.g. macrobiotic diet) but she does it with out tying it back to any flaws of her own. Suze seems like a lovely person, reminiscent of many of my best friends over the years. Fanatic that I am, I'm not at all sorry for having read her book and would suggest the same to like-minded folks. Just don't expect too much. Not to compare, but Dylan's own memoir "Chronicles Part I" stands on its own for anyone to read. Suze's book is for interested parties only.
life looked at sideways May 24, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found this to be a priceless document of a magical period in time- from my perceptions of it. It firmly establishes that Suze Rotolo has her tale to tell and her approach to biography is way way away from the 'received truths.' While Bob looms large in the story as her first love, she talks generously of the people she met who were Bob's contemporaries when he was one of the many folksingers (like Dave Van Ronk and Phil Ochs). She makes clear that a man who has an extraordinary inventive 'inner directed' personality need not necessarily be a genius in other areas. Her views are assuredly proto feminist and she emphasises that it was not her life's goal to be someone else's muse and that her own intellect and enthusiasms were a creative influence on Dylan. Above all else, she has the invaluable advantage of having been there.PS - it is nicely illustrated.
A Long-Missing Voice Is Finally Heard June 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Unless (like me) you are more than a casual fan of the music of Bob Dylan, the name Suze Rotolo is unlikely to mean anything to you. Yet there she is, striding next to Dylan on a cold winter's day on the cover of his second, brilliant album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, not a model hired by the record company but someone closely connected with Dylan at the time. A native of Queens, Rotolo was only 17 years old when she met Dylan shortly after his arrival in New York City in 1961, but her own recent migration to the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village was the result of a precocious, independent and artistic spirit and a maturity stimulated in no small part by her unusual childhood.
As Rotolo explains in "A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties," she grew up as a "red diaper baby," the daughter of parents who were both active in the Communist Party and the labor movement from the 1930s through the 1950s, when her father died. Rotolo offers fond memories of her father, who did some work as a commercial artist and clearly served as an inspiration to his daughter with his overall commitment to a kind of cultural radicalism (including an affinity for music), even in the darkest days of the postwar Red Scare. The youngest of two daughters, Susan - who adopted the name Suze after migrating to the Village - found her home life increasingly stressful after her father's death as she was subjected to her mother's depressed mood swings and a somewhat bossy older sister. Striking out on her own, Rotolo carried with her an innate and strongly-held commitment to social justice and a proto-feminist consciousness that would grow stronger as time went on.
Until now, most of what we knew about Rotolo was the result of the work of Dylan biographers seeking insights into the nature of their relationship during Dylan's first two years in New York. The most common interpretation has assigned Rotolo the role of Dylan's most important early "muse," a woman who inspired his great political songs through her own passionate commitments to justice and peace and who also frustrated Dylan through her unwillingness to stay with him, a story Dylan told in his bitter "Ballad in Plain D," a song released in 1964. The key missing element in this research, however, was Rotolo's own voice. Until recently a very reluctant interview subject, Rotolo tells us she has always been an intensely private person and also wanted to protect Dylan's privacy, especially as his fame escalated far beyond the neighborhoods of downtown New York and became oppressive to both of them.
Rotolo's narrative takes us through her childhood, her education, her move to New York City and her relationship with Dylan, and her life after splitting with Dylan to the end of the 1960s when she left the Village for Italy. Along the way we learn about her efforts to forge an identity as an artist, working in the areas of illustration, theatre production and jewelry design while supporting herself in more mundane jobs. Once she relocated from Queens to Greenwich Village she adopted a bohemian lifestyle and became fast-acquainted with the people and places that made up the folk music scene, a process much-accelerated after she began her relationship with Dylan in 1961.
Rotolo confronts the "muse" interpretation both directly (by dismissing it) and indirectly, telling several stories about people in the New York folk music scene who viewed her in such terms and who demanded she continue to serve so their increasingly popular goose would continue to lay golden eggs. To her credit, Rotolo does not pretend to understand the mysteries of the songwriting process and refuses to cite herself as an influence on Dylan's songs during his early years. Yet simply by telling the story of their life together from 1961 to 1963 and of her own interests and activities it is clear Rotolo was a critical source for Dylan's work; and by refusing to subordinate herself to Dylan as his fame grew and as pressures to do so increased around her, she emerges as the kind of heroic outsider that Dylan has always tried to be while at the same time rejecting the sexist strictures of her time.
Rotolo is at her best when telling her own story, and she has a real flair for the economical use of detail when describing a scene or an event. Her several accounts of time spent with the musician Dave Van Ronk and his wife Terri Thal are among the most interesting sections of the book, providing new insights into these well-known figures of the Village. As the narrative reaches the dissolution of her relationship with Dylan, she exercises much restraint in recounting a painful time, which included Dylan's open affair with Joan Baez and an unwanted pregnancy that Rotolo ended by abortion. In an effort to provide some context for her story, Rotolo frequently inserts passages to give us a capsule history of the era but these are the weakest parts of the book: cluttered with cliches, they distract from the central narrative.
Without a doubt, "A Freewheelin' Time" is an important contribution to the already massive amount of material on Bob Dylan, having the special advantage of Rotolo's unique firsthand perspective on Dylan's early career. More than that, however, it's a plain-spoken, compelling memoir of a time and place too often obscured by mythology and media hype. It's good to have Suze's story in her own words.
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