56 in 76.....not bad, but forgotten now

[petrusha]

First on the Shindler book - yes, the Mercer family were very unhappy about it. Total misrepresentation of Joe in their eyes and - this must be remembered - it was a piece of fiction not fact. My biography of Joe tells the truth and is based on interviews I personally performed (including indepth interviews with Allison about the relationship). My biog came out in 1993 originally and when I updated it (with more detail and content, not simply a republish) one reviewer suggested I'd only written it to cash in on Shindler's work! Hmm! Who did the research into Mercer's life in the first place? I took the unusual step of writing to the reviewer to explain and he accepted he was incorrect (no correction in print though!).

I had the original of your biography of Mercer and bought the Kindle text when it came out. I also read David Tossell's biography of Malcolm Allison. I bought a Kindle version of Shindler's 'The Worst of Friends' the other day and will get round to reading it soon, I guess. It was available relatively cheap and I'm curious to see what it's like. I want to see how he actually handles the material, and judge to what extent I think their surviving loved ones can feel aggrieved at the portrayal of the protagonists. I'll come back to this thread and post about it once I've read it.

 

[pace89]

I had the original of your biography of Mercer and bought the Kindle text when it came out. I also read David Tossell's biography of Malcolm Allison. I bought a Kindle version of Shindler's 'The Worst of Friends' the other day and will get round to reading it soon, I guess. It was available relatively cheap and I'm curious to see what it's like. I want to see how he actually handles the material, and judge to what extent I think their surviving loved ones can feel aggrieved at the portrayal of the protagonists. I'll come back to this thread and post about it once I've read it.

It’s a few years since I read Worst of Friends but my recollection is that it wasn’t great. Shindler has taken the idea of the Dammed United but to say it’s in the same style would be like saying Macclesfield Town play in the same style as Barcelona. David Peace created a sense of claustrophobia, paranoia and ambition, Schindler hangs on to a few 60s clichés.

The depiction of the Mercer / Allison relationship didn’t seem quite right and I wondered about the care and attention given to some of the details.