I've been a Libertines fan for nearly two decades now, and I regularly see them and their associated bands, and buy merch and stuff. Peter Doherty's memoir has just come out so I ordered it, and then realised that I've never read Carl's memoir, which came out in 2010. So I bought a copy on eBay and took it on holiday with me at the end of June to read. I really enjoyed it, but I feel like Carl would write a totally different memoir if he did it now. A lot of time has passed both professionally and personally and The Libertines got back together in 2014 and recorded a new album, and even now are talking about recording again and tour pretty often. Carl seems like a different person now, too, having mellowed quite a lot as he's got older. So I'd be interested in an update!
But I did enjoy this, there were a lot of stories that I didn't know beforehand, even though I do know a lot about the history of the band. There isn't a lot about the end of The Libertines, which was obviously painful for all concerned, but there was quite a lot about the end of Dirty Pretty Things, Carl's next band. I felt quite sad that he was sad about how they ended, it felt like Carl feels like they never got a fair shot at the cherry which isn't something I'd considered.
The book is in quite a non linear fashion which didn't annoy me, but which I think reflects Carl's stream of consciousness way of writing. I could hear his voice in it a lot, which I liked. I'm giving this four out of five, I liked it!
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