This is why I love book cub, because you end up reading a book that you would not have
picked. And bam – you just love it. One of our members suggested “Born to Run,” by Bruce Springsteen. Although I like memoirs, I haven’t read one in quite a while, and certainly not about a rock and roll superstar. But I like Bruce Springsteen and I ended up loving his memoir.
According to the summary on Amazon, Springsteen took seven years to write his story. The book is interesting, thoughtful, and soul-searching. Honest. Like having a drink with the man at the bar before one of his gigs.
Springsteen accounts of his childhood are vivid. I’m not sure how he remembers so many details. I loved the fact that his mother had him take dance lessons so she had someone to dance with at weddings and other functions. Mom sure knew best and gave her son a step up with the girls in high school. He didn’t stand on the sidelines during school dances. He felt confident enough to ask girls to dance.
His aha moment came early in his life when he saw Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show. He became unrelenting in quest to become a musician. Springsteen worked all sorts of odd jobs to get a guitar, eventually also lessons. He had found his passion and desire.
It’s not just the passion and drive that makes a success story interesting, rather it’s everything that gets in the way. All the crap that rains down washing out your planned route. It’s getting up that matters to me, and what direction your feet are going in when you do. Those are stories that inspire me and other readers. For example, during his youth, Springsteen had to cope with an alcoholic father and one of the ramifications of that was he became so nervous he blinked all the time.
“I was 22 and I’d never had a drink, ever. I played in bars and had been around booze my whole life and never been tempted to even taste the stuff. My experience with my father’s drinking had been enough. The terrifying, all-engulfing presence he became when he drank convinced me to never go there. He lost who he was. The goodness and kindness in his heart, of which there was plenty, were erased in a flood of self-pitying rage and a ferocity that turned our home into a minefield of fear and anxiety. You never knew when he was going to go off. As a child, my nervousness became so great I began to blink uncontrollably, hundreds of times a minute…I was called Blinky.”
Becoming “The Boss” and losing “Blinky” along the way should be inspirational to anyone who has suffered from addiction. It took Springsteen decades, tons of hard work, a little luck and timing, but look how far he flew in a tough industry.
Just like the rest of us, Springteen has lived a full life – plenty of ups and downs and that led to some wonderful discussions at our book club meeting. How someone overcomes their life situations and struggles has always given us hope that we’ll find a way to persevere also. An enjoyable read that prompted some good book club discussions.
Rolling Stone Magazine’s article provides more information on The Boss at http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bruce-springsteen-goes-deep-on-revelations-in-new-memoir-w443387. Happy reading.
Rating: 7.5