Pun Salad

I'm not a huge Bob Dylan fan, but I picked up this book at the library and was instantly captivated. Calling it "rambling" is an understatement; it bounces around in time and space like a ping-pong ball. Example: Bob describes his friend Ray, who owns a bunch of guns. This reminds him of his first girlfriend's father, who owned guns too. After discussing her father a bit, he mentions that she went out to California to seek her fortune; he would go out there someday, too. He would play the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and meet the folks who had made his songs famous: the Turtles, Sonny and Cher, and Johnny Rivers; and, by the way, Johnny's version of "Positively 4th Street" was Bob's favorite version of the song. And then we go back to Ray's apartment

All this in two or three pages. And this kind of thing happens throughout.

A lot of interesting people are met and described: Gorgeous George, the pro wrestler; Frank Sinatra, Jr; John Wayne; Tiny Tim; Bobby Vee; and bunches more. So many, I'm wondering if I ever met Bob.

Update: Forgot to mention one other thing. At one point, Bob is wandering the streets; a car goes by "playing a Paula Abdul song". Whoa. Bob Dylan can identify a Paula Abdul song. Somehow that really shocked me.

Good stuff: A decent number of genuinely funny lines, and some sly references to classic movies. A cameo by Laurence Olivier from beyond the grave. The DVD has the story of the making of the movie, which you shouldn't miss; it's a great story of a creative kid plucked from obscurity to make his first movie with the likes of Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Not so good stuff: the plot is aimed at a 13-year-old mentality. Somehow the special effects, while impressive, seemed to keep me at a distance from the main characters.