Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

A Lot Of Nothing…For Some People…

Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, by Benjamin Nugent, might appeal to some, but I doubt it will do much for those who are not big fans of Elliot Smith. It’s not exactly a typical “rocker” biography, and at times, the author pays too much attention to detail, which is why I found it boring. From the start, the Big Nothing didn’t spark my interest; but my admiration for Elliott Smith and his music overrode my logic, giving me false hope for a miraculous turnaround. Disappointingly, no turnaround ever came. With that said, there were times when it appealed to me, being a musician with a taste for Elliott’s music. Nugent’s use of dialogue from friends and acquaintances of Elliott’s helped to create a factual play-by-play explanation of the former singer/songwriter’s life, and his blend of different point-of-views added a nice touch as well.
Benjamin Nugent, a former Time magazine writer, has pursued Elliott’s life heavily to cover all the angles, which includes the acquisition of a large amount of dialogue from Smith’s friends. He uses this dialogue to provide a factual story with input from a variety of people; however, I would have expected more from an experienced writer. Not only has Nugent written for Time magazine and the New York Times, but he was also the keyboardist in the indie rock band, The Cloud Room. It makes sense that Nugent would want to write about another artist—I mean—who knows? Maybe they were in the same position; but, this life-story is definitely a lot more interesting than how it is portrayed in the book, or at least it could have been told in a more interesting way.
Although I’m not fond of the writing style used by Nugent, at times, his use of dialogue really gave a good mixture of outlooks on Elliott’s life. Neil Gust, one of Elliott’s good friends and former band-mate, gave a detailed account of his relationship with Elliott when they first went to college together...