Hopper audiobook

An exceptionally well-written journey into one of the most insane legends to ever outlive his expectancy. If you didn't know better, you'd think half of this is fiction. Nobody can be this crazy, and SURELY nobody can bounce back from it.Dennis Hopper did.

This chronicle of Dennis Hopper's life is exciting to read, in that the author captures the dizzy, coked, psychedelic mess of Hopper's mind. It is not a pretty picture, but well written.Because he was an artist he could do whatever he wanted."We blew it." We were Easy Riders, cool and hip and in touch with nature and creation. Not inhibited by any traditions of the past.But behind the Hollywood facade were spoiled, violent, drug crazed members of the same Hollywood elite families that they rebelled against.Instead of creating great art that celebrated life, people like Hopper got bogged down in their personal demons and anger and their own groupie like attraction to "rebels" like James Dean.I fell for this back in the flower power years. We weren't bad, we did want fun and peace and love. But we were as snowed by the Rock and Roll and Hollywood images as the people we rejected."I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness". If you want to relive those troubled years, this book is for you.

A fantastic, if brief, glimpse into the life of Dennis Hopper. Folsom's gonzo prose is heavy on Dennis' early life, but a disconnect occurs later in Hopper's life around the time he sobered up. Other than Blue Velvet, little anecdotal mention is made of his career after Hoosiers, with a focus more on his art inspirations and collection. However, a great read into a Hollywood icon who mixed it up with Dean, Nicholson, Brando and more--an oft forgotten actor who made every part he played worth watching.

Tom Folsom portrays in great prose, worthy of the mad and extraordinary life lead by Dennis Hopper, the essence of the man for whom the term "out-there" seems tailor-made. Drugs, lovers, motorcycles, and the art he loved to collect and create are all examined and detailed in Folsom's clever take on this crazed genius. A memorable life; a memorable book.

Just finished this wild and sprawling tale of a demented cowboy from Kansas roped into the coke-addled world of Hollywood, only to find that he is no Anthony Hopkins. Fucking amazing, man. I really mean it, fucking amazing.

Great biography on Dennis Hopper. Crazy life he had. An artist and visionaire with his virtues and mistakes. Recommended to anyone interested in his life, hollywood, movies or hippies!

Review to follow...

I was expecting this to be a counterculture nostalgia lark of a read, but it kept surprising me. It didn't turn out to be another story of genius self-destructing on cocaine. It's about creative genius surviving in corporate Hollywood. What is real success anyway? The American Dream refuses to die . . . And it helps that Tom Folsom is a helluva writer. The book reads like a novel. Could be easily adapted into a screenplay. Hmm . . .

Dennis Hopper could never be boring.

Understanding Dennis Hopper, one of modern cinema's great iconoclasts, is perhaps a fool's errand. Notoriously willful, often contradictory, and at times frustratingly combative, Hopper's exploits make for great entertainment even as they confound. Folsom's biography is a good, quick read which helps to contextualize much of Hopper's career, but excepting a lengthy stretch on Easy Rider (and its ill-fated follow-up The Last Movie) the book skips hastily from one milestone to the next without ever delving into the degree of detail or psychological insight that its subject warrants. Folsom is a fine writer, but it is his voice rather than Hopper's which dominates the book. However slight, Hopper is nonetheless entertaining, as any insight into its singular subject is heartily welcomed.

This was a most amazing read. Dennis Hopper was a unique, wild and crazy spirit and the book is written in a wild and unique and crazy spirit way as well!!! It also shows the struggle between art and business, creativity and making money. Sometimes they work together but often not.

A cursory glance if Hopper's brilliant erratic life. Choice anecdotes offer an intimate insight into his personal life but for such a visual genius, this book didn't delve deep into the aesthetic. A quick read respectfully done by an obvious admirer I would recommend this to the initiate.

An innovative biography of the crazy/genius who was so crazy/geniuseven Marlon Brando found him difficult to work with. Inventively written andan all around great read!

Dennis Hopper is my Spirit Animal.