From the beginning, the flow of the text was enjoyable and Cross' description of Kurt was dead on. Cross also summed up Generation X's love affair with Cobain in saying that it was a relationship that was "destined from the start to break our hearts." He referred to Cobain as a "complimentary contradictory misanthrope." I have never heard the anomaly of Cobain described in such an accurate way. It's hard to describe someone that refuses to be described (like nailing jello to a wall) but Cross has definitely fleshed him out.
The first chapter presents a thorough glimpse of Cobain's early life as you learn of the family dynamic he grew up in. I am a family counselor so these important developmental years are particularly interesting to me. The subsequent chapters continue with Kurt's teen years and you see his downward spiral from a jubilant child to a withdrawn pothead. Much of what would be his adult personality begins here. Kurt's psychological pattern of someone who is abandoned by his family and the behavior that would follow is laid out succinctly by Cross. Kurt's pattern of family life was intimacy, conflict, banishment and then isolation. This information is both tragic and insightful.
While Kurt's life wasn't easy, he would exaggerate his experiences for no other reason than it made a good story; this showed the writer and performer in Kurt. Cross, through his investigations, discovers the truth behind Kurt's stories. His first concert, how he got his first guitar, and the infamous Young Street Bridge story where Kurt said he lived for a time. Novoselic said no one could have lived under that bridge, especially someone who was as big a whiner as Kurt.
Cross continues with the early days of the band before they were Nirvana and describes the shows in great detail. Through these days you understand Kurt's suicidal, tormented spirit as Cross shows him to be a mixture of self-destruction and self-preservation.
Cross said Kurt learned early on that punk rock, which was billed as a liberating genre of music, came with its own social guidelines which were often more constricting than the ideals they were supposedly rebelling against. "There was a dress code" for the anti-dress code scene. Never have I heard a truer definition of the punk/alternative sub-culture of the early 90s. Kurt wanted people to think he didn't care about being famous but really he did which means he was a part of the very corporate system that he loathed. The truth is, he wanted to be famous so he did what it took even if it meant selling out to his demographic. Yet another example of Kurt's irony. As rebelious as Jim Morrison but as much a showman as Steve Tyler.
After Kurt meets Courtney, the books is pretty much a wash as the obvious occurs and what went on with the Cobain's was by this time all over the news. However, we learn much more than what was in the tabloids since Cross' level of interviewing goes very deep. With all that was going on, you wonder how they ever made more albums after Nevermind but they did and I enjoyed the stories behind these.
Cross said he wanted to write the book without judgement, which I appreciate, but he also does not minimize the train wreck of a life Kurt led. I have read other works about Nirvana and they are touted almost as gods. Cross' book is more objectively level-headed and presents the facts, opinions, and mysteries very well.
