My Thoughts on The Uncool by Cameron Crowe...

As I mentioned when I first began reading this book, I enjoy reading biographies/autobiographies/memoirs that focus on a specific time or event in the subject's life. Crowe, here, focused on his later teenage years, when he graduated early from high school and became a rock and roll journalist.

Many of the chapters and events in this memoir, including following bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band, The Who, and profiling artists like David Bowie, seemed episodic, with no inherent crescendo in the events that would lead up to a satisfying ending. Indeed, Crowe's time as the most sought-after Rolling Stone journalist peters out, leaving him with ideas of writing books and making films.

That's not to say that this wasn't an enjoyable read. It was. Mostly, it was Crowe's down-to-earth, easygoing-yet-insightful narration that coaxed me along until the end. It was as if rock stars like David Bowie, Gregg Allman, and Jimmy Page were in the room with me during the recounts of their interviews. This was clearly a bildungsroman, chronicling a teenager who has missed out on so much yet experienced a lifetime within a decade.

I highly recommend this book.