Mark Rozzo

Everybody Thought We Were Crazy by Mark Rozzo is an example, for me, of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. And the parts are quite good to begin with.

Make no mistake, you will be frustrated with Hopper and almost everyone else in their circle, even those you probably like as artists. Such is the nature of nonfiction; these aren't characters that the author can make more likeable as the story goes on. During this particular period these people made some less than wonderful decisions but also made immense contributions to LA society and society as a whole.

As a biography, albeit one of a specific portion of the subject's lives, the book is quite good. If I only thought of this as a biography I probably would have been happy with it but given it a slightly lower rating. But as a cultural history and documentation of this period it moves from being just a biography to being the story of the 1960s through a focus on a pivotal couple of the period. Together, as a biography and a cultural history, this book moves beyond either one alone.

Rozzo weaves the personal story of Hopper and Hayward with the other stories they touched to create a biography of the time and place rather than just of these two individuals. I so enjoyed this book that I am looking forward to reading it again. I have a feeling another reading will have me following a slightly different thread through the book.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy hybrid biographical works that highlight a place and time as much as it does the people at the center of the narrative. This will be of particular interest to those with an interest in the United States in the 1960s, and if you lived in the LA area as I did during some of these years, you may have a few moments of nostalgia, though admittedly many steps removed from their experiences.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mais)