Boy George

Boy George is flamboyant, eccentric, talented and unique! His personality comes out in this memoir and I was hooked from the very first sentence.

Being a GenXer, this book brought back tons of memories. I love how honest and truthful Boy George is. From his arrest, to his drug use and beyond, he tells it like it is…or was!

I love when the author narrates their own book. And Boy George is amazing. I love when he laughs at his own jokes and at himself. This always put a grin on my face!

Need a show more good, honest memoir…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less

This is a well written book although sufficiently bizarre that I would not recommend it to everyone. There is a lot of drug use, adult situational descriptions, and sexual innuendo. This is the second autobiography Boy George has written; the first is “Take it Like a Man” which I also have but not read as of yet. George’s real name is George Alan O’Dowd. It is not unusual for someone nowadays to have several autobiographies. I can think of Rob Lowe, Michael J Fox, Barack Obama, and show more Hillary & Bill Clinton are still wasting forests on the paper for their cherished thoughts. This book is not super critical of other famous people although it is catty enough to sell lots of copies. Sadly, this is how books are marketed nowadays. This book makes full use of George’s therapy sessions. Many celebrities will do this as well and disguise their psychological breakthroughs as a memoir with a story to tell. This is par for the course in the celebrity tell-all genre. It’s a good genre and makes people a lot of money. I like memoirs of people whom I have followed over the years: musicians, actors, and historical figures. Karma, the book, focuses on George as a creative artist. Which he is. He is a writer, singer, fashion & music promoter, and lyricist. George has some complaints against Janet Jackson, Prince, and Madonna. Maybe not Prince since he’s deceased, but the story he tells of Mayte and Prince is pretty funny. He wants them to call him and make up. George sees himself as Morrissey sees himself. English heart, Irish blood. George is a practicing Buddhist (practice meaning utilizing the three principles of mind, thought, and consciousness) but still regards himself as Catholic. He used the term Catholic loosely, but it’s good that he does because it shows that he sees the church as not able to ultimately reject him. George still references zodiac signs as generally indicative of possible friend material. George is a Gemini. George says that the Culture Club song, “It’s a Miracle” is about his first trip to Los Angeles which made him feel that he fit right in with iconic LA. He says he was in a stretch limo driving down Sunset Blvd. and saw Telly Savalas in the next lane and yelled, “Look, it’s Kojak!” George loves Joan Collins and Joan Rivers. He talks about Pete Burns from Dead or Alive who is a musical performer who gave George some stylistic competition. Burns has a few great songs which are more dance oriented compared to George’s pop songs. He also talks about Steve Strange at the club The Blitz where Bowie came and stole some club attendees to go straight over and film the video for “Ashes to Ashes”.
There is a lot in the book to skim since he covers “lost friendships” whose names mean nothing to me. They seem like these people are acquaintances which didn’t work out but George wants to free himself in print form and let go of any lasting negative attachment. He makes one quip about his relationship with MC Kinky AKA Special K (who has a good rap on Erasure’s “Take A Chance on Me”) saying, “Like a love affair, minus the love and without sex or real affection. Is that called a marriage?” George says he always wanted to be Siouxie Sioux (of the Banshees). George talks about his place in music’s continuum. He was after/during Michael Jackson and before George Michael. A good place to wind up overall.
This 358 page book has color and B&W photos, and a Preface by George. This relatively larger sized edition has large font and hard paper pages so it’s a joy to read. show less

His teachers disliked him for his insults, laziness, truancy and disruptiveness, and no doubt the police and his victims felt the same way about his petty thieving, violence and trashing of other peoples property. He's quite open about all these things, along with his gay conquests and drug use.

From his early days he was an extroverted big mouth showboat (like his father), who only got encouragment from the London club/gay scene into going for more extreme costumes and obsessive show more relationships. When he launched into music it all came together on Culture Club's 3rd single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" that went to a U.K. Nº 1chart position after their appearance on Top of the Pops.

He shows the inspiration for his successful songs coming out his fear of rejection (by band member Jon Moss) and he describes the downward spiral of his heroin addiction and excruciating recovery after being shocked by the drug deaths of his friends Michael Rudestsky and Mark Vaultier.

There's a mass of egoistic jostling and name calling but this seems to have been the London punk scene of the early 1980's and its all here in this very frank and entertaining autobiography. show less

It was a sad book. People say it was funny but I did not laugh once. Maybe because it all came close to home. Really enjoyed it though.
Wondering how George is doing now. I checked the Internet and discovered pictures of him having to work on the streets as punishment while loads of photographers were making pictures. He did look horrible.