Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story
by John D. Luerssen
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Book Reviews of Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story
Book Review: Half Japanese Girls, Megalomania And Other Fetishes
Summary: 4 Stars
Whether it be his fetish for half-Japanese girls, his monkish vows of silence, abstinence and segregration or his self-described "socially retarded" ways, there's no doubting Weezer mainman Rivers Cuomo is a strange character. Born to a soccer-mad father and Buddhist mother who almost named him Apple, perhaps it was his rearing in a hippy commune where music and childhood games were contraband that ensured Rivers grew to be so odd. What this book ensures is that his musical legacy (incredibly prolific despite only five official studio albums in over a decade), devout fanbase and impact on American rock isn't overshadowed by his megalomania and mystery. Strong on details of Weezer's unreleased mountain of songs and unusual scraps such as Rivers' befriending Will Ferrell, writing songs for Enrique Iglesias and loving nu-metal cocks such as Limp Bizkit and Crazy Town, Rivers' Edge is a strong Weezer biography only let down by a dribbling finale that closes before the release of 2005's Make Believe.Book Review: More a patchwork than a real bio
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first heard of a Weezer biography, I was really stoked, 'cause clearly there is a lot of interesting stuff to be told about that band. But I was a bit deceived by that biography. It's kind of poorly written, with grammar mistakes and word repetitions at a couple of places. The information contained in the book is accurate and complete, but the author's way of writing is not fluent at all, which makes the reading a little less enjoyable. Hardcore Weezer fans should read it though, because there is a lot of information in there, but it's mostly about Rivers Cuomo's behaviour with the others. The book could have been called "Rivers'trial". It's more a patchwork of quotes than a real biography, in the end, but there is some very funny and interesting parts. Only for diehard fans.Book Review: Adequately written tale of a marvelous band
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a quintessential fan of the weez, and I am enjoying this book, but I don't think this is well-written rock writing. Luerssen is pedantic and amateurish. He researches reviews well, but misses a lot of the big stories and cops out of the big questions. This is far from the definitive book on this great band, but it'll do for now.
He nails some of the story about Rivers time(s) at Harvard, but sputters out when it comes to Cropper's and Welsh's exits. Most of the time he is casually and ineffectually dropping song titles. He suffers from moiety of sources. Karl, the weez's best documentarian, is only present in fleeting moments.
We'll have to wait for a better book to learn the unadulterated truth about the band. Still, this is a good whetter of my appetite
Book Review: Informative, but poorly written and often boring...
Summary: 2 Stars
This entire book reads like an 8th-Grade Research paper. From an uncountable amount of grammatical and spelling errors to numerous repeated sentences (literally quotes retyped word for word, pages apart), it's difficult not to get irritated while reading this. The information on Weezer is great, but often times the author veers away from focusing on the band and gives too much information on things that even the most obsessed fan won't care about. Unfortunately, this appears to be the only book on Weezer out right now, so if you want to learn more about the band in book form this is all you've got. I suggest just browsing around their official website, because it's obvious that's where the author got quite a bit of his information. Don't waste your money.Book Review: I couldn't put down this book. Great sources.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had done many research projects on Rivers Cuomo, Matt Sharp, and Weezer. This book had many answers to questions I had been trying to answer. What happened to Mikey? Are Matt Sharp and Rivers on good or bad terms now? Was Jason Cropper the original guitarist of Weezer? Was Maya Rudolph really in The Rentals? Etc, etc. I give it five stars just for that.
I was very amazed with how many legitimate sources Luerssen was able to aquire. A great book for true Weezer fans.