Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison - Hardcover

Kennealy, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525934197 ISBN 13: 9780525934196

Publisher: Dutton Adult, 1992

Synopsis

The wife of Jim Morrison offers a thorough portrait of the enigmatic leader of the Doors, discussing the shy, private, complex man he was, plus Woodstock, the Miami obscenity trial, and other rock celebrities. 75,000 first printing. Major ad/promo. Tour.

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Reviews

Science fiction and fantasy writer Kennealy ( The Hawk's Gray Feather ), who exchanged wedding vows with Jim Morrison in 1970, gives an overwritten but essentially revealing account of her two-year relationship with the Doors' lead singer. This chronicle of an intense, unstable bond between two highly independent people presents sides of Morrison rarely glimpsed by the public: his shyness, intellect and complexity. Conversely the book also shows his petulant, selfish and erratic aspects, which were much more familiar to the Doors' fans. Unfortunately, Kennealy's descriptions tend to be outlandish--a dinner is comprised of "Hellenistic conglomerations of lamb and foliage and Zeus-knows-what," and Morrison "dwelled in Morrisonia, in Jimworld, in Lizard Kingdom; he dwelled there alone and he liked it best that way." Still, in recalling her time with Morrison and discussing her belief in Irish witchcraft, she displays a knowledge of herself and her subjects which is well thought-out and eminently satisfying. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Narcissistic memoir of, mostly, a love affair with Jim Morrison. When Kennealy met the rock star in the third-to-last year of his life, they shook hands and there was a ``visible shower of bright blue sparks.'' ``What are you?'' Morrison asked. Kennealy replied that she was a witch--a Celtic high priestess (recently, Kennealy has written several Celtic-themed sword-and-sorcery sagas: The Silver Branch, 1988, etc.). Then, she says, she and Morrison were married by her Celtic coven--and, in a ``blaze of love and passion ignited,'' they consummated their union six times in two hours. Morrison (who never lived with Kennealy during their year of wedlock) is a nebulous presence here, impossible to visualize by manner or by the romance-novel speeches supplied for him, and appears mostly as a foil to the Kennealy ego--which is queen-sized. It is also imperious (``[the Woodstock crowd was] some Third World country--one with no food, pidgin speech patterns, indifferent latrine habits, even native handicrafts...if one more person says to me `Good vibes, huh?' I am going to punch him/her in the mouth''); disingenuous (despite taking acid, pot, cocaine, codeine, Valium, and numerous other drugs, Kennealy claims that she was ``not an addict''); vehement (her rival for Morrison's affections was a ``slut, a junkie, a whore, and possibly a murderess''); and bombastic (at book's end, Kennealy interviews herself ``because nobody else ever asks me the right fucking questions, okay?''). Much ado about the high priestess, not enough about the Lizard King. (Eight pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Seekers of revelatory tales, insights, and experiences that enhance rather than obscure the Lizard King mosaic will relish this account. Kennealy, a practicing witch and author ( The Hawk's Gray Feather , LJ 3/15/90), met Morrison during her stint as editor of Jazz and Pop in 1969. Until his death in 1971, Kennealy and Morrison pursued a physically, emotionally, and spiritually intense relationship, the symbolic culmination of which was their exchange of Celtic wedding vows. Kennealy is brutally honest about everything: her witchcraft; her pregnancy by Morrison and subsequent abortion; the codependent, convoluted relationship between Morrison and Pamela Courson; Courson's significant role in Morrison's heroin-induced death; and the cinematic travesty perpetrated by Oliver Stone in his recent movie The Doors (1991). Throughout, Kennealy vents her Celtic spleen, rages, weeps, and exalts in her love for and by Morrison, while weaving a beautiful tapestry of their short but seemingly eternal spiritual bond. In the process, she illuminates Morrison the lover, poet, and artist. The recent flock of Morrison biographies and picture books are pretenders to the insights and perspectives offered here.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525934197
• ISBN 13: 9780525934196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464