A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties | Suze Rotolo

A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties | Suze Rotolo | life looked at sideways

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A Freewheelin' Tim...

	A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties Suze Rotolo Broadway, 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Honest, truthful, sweet, generous, loaded with information and insight

Like almost all the reviewers so far I loved this book, and like some I was also in the same neighborhood as the events recorded in this wonderful book. In every instance where I knew someone or hung out at a place mentioned, the version here coincides exactly with what I remember but there is so much more I didn't know and so many people I only knew about second hand. This is a generous and kind book but also a starkly honest one. If you want to know what it was like then in Greenwich village in the 60s, then this is the best source I know of. Bob Dylan's persona in various documentaries comes off to many as arrogant but you will gain a new appreciation for him both as an artist and as a person from one who was closer to him than any other in his first years as an artist (1961 to 1964), when most of the events in the book take place. You will also understand what attracted him to Suze Rotolo. My memory of her was of a radiant smile and personality, but you will understand clearly from this book, as did Bob Dylan, that there was solid substance behind her wonderful smile.

I also want to recommend this book to today's generation, those under the age of 25 or so. There is a new spirit of idealism and creativity and I think you would find it profitable to read an account of an earlier era that also was pregnant with that kind of promise that had yet to come to fruition. As Suze Rotolo makes clear, it was a time when the exploding creativity and freedom of the sixties was still living within the husk of an older and much darker world. The old ways affected everyone, even the most bohemian denizens of Greenwich Village. There is great wisdom here about the conflicts and struggles that come when a young woman instinctively knows that conventional ways are limiting and stunting her as a person but there is no vocabulary and not yet the support of the nascent women's movement to help her.

If you have any interest at all in Bob Dylan, in Greenwich Village in the sixties, in the folkmusic revival of that period, in the struggles of politically and socially conscious young women in the immediate pre-feminist period or if you just want to enjoy yourself or learn some lessons for the present from experiences of the past you owe it to yourself to read this terrific book.

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life looked at sideways

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.

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A terrific memoir!

Being a big fan of Dylan and particularly the Freewheelin' album, I waited with much anticipation when I heard this book was coming out. I am about 3/4 the way through it and I have very high marks for it. It is a very entertaining book esp. if you are familiar with the era. I like Suze's writing style and this book is chock full of interesting tidbits and inside information. It was very interesting to read how this photo came about and anecdotes about the various clubs in Greenwich village. I recommend it for all fans of Bob Dylan, esp. 1961-1965. Great job Suze!

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Goodbye is too good a word, babe

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.

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Loved it

This was a fun and interesting read. Suze Rotolo writes well and simply and doesn't spout B.S. She's the real deal. No gossiping and defensive posturing, just the interesting stuff about her life in the Village in the '60s. She totally honors the people involved in the folk music scene and who contributed to Dylan's success. Don't expect a whole bunch of time spent on Dylan. This is really more about the scene and her history leading up to it - which is all really interesting. This is a major piece of American cultural history. It sure would be cool to go back in time and experience the music and talk and enthusiasm of the time. This gives a taste and I guess the rest we'll have to imagine..

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7

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