Book Reviews

Elliott Smith has had a permanent spot in my CD collection since the ’90s, back when people had CD collections. His dark, deeply personal lyrics revealed a sensitive but deeply troubled soul. Smith has been gone 10 years now, dead from a (likely) self-inflicted knife wound to the heart. Fans have had little in the way of closure until now. The first proper biography of Elliot Smith is Torment Saint. This book shares intimate details of Smith’s life and downward spiral. Shultz writes in a caring, respectful way of the late singer/songwriter. Beginning with Smith’s tragic childhood and ending with his surrender to addiction: alcohol, heroin, crack and a “man purse” of prescription drugs he carried around. Schultz attempts to shed light on the life of one of the most poignant and delicate talents of the ’90s. Torment Saint is an emotional book and often hard to read. Smith’s empathy, compassion and humor only made the sad parts worse. The book left me with closure and a deeper understanding of where Smith’s music originated. It’s like listening to his songs again for the first time. –Amanda Rock

This book is a fantastic read about self-discovery in an environment where it is normal to be abnormal. It takes you on the journey of a man who finds himself after he had religion forced down his throat and how he learned to live healthily again without it. A beautiful love story starts out with a couple falling in love and offering their home to three children in need, but that is very short-lived. As time passes, Matt faces a tangled web of deceit and infidelity. During the first few chapters, I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out if his wife, Jessica, was truly a CIA agent or was completely bat-shit crazy—her elaborate stories of being an agent, having cancer and her house being destroyed by a natural disaster revealed that there were no boundaries she would not cross to do as she pleased. Whether it was insanity or manipulation, she betrayed a man who was blinded by his love for her. I was delighted that Matt found his ground and provided a stable environment for his adopted son, Manny, while he dealt with the trials of a clearly emotionally unstable woman. –Mistress Nancy