Yoko Ono Author:Jerry Hopkins Although not done with her cooperation, this book is perhaps the most sympathetic portrait of Yoko Ono to appear. Hopkins goes into some detail on Ono's career as an artist in the late '50s and '60s (her work, strongly influenced by the ideas of John Cage, seems today, at least as described by Hopkins, purely conceptual and not emoti... more »onally engaged). The material on her early days, marriages and art is interesting, but the book really comes to life with the appearance of John Lennon. Although Hopkins provides a corrective to previous writers who have tended to describe Ono as a kind of evil dragon, she ultimately emerges here as arrogant and manipulative.
This even-handed account of Ono's life shows other qualities, as well, some endearing, some puzzling. Ono's Japanese childhood, which spanned World War II and included both enormous wealth and extreme poverty, is intriguing, as is her evolution from Sarah Lawrence student to avant-garde artist to pop star. Hopkins interviewed many insiders in order to expand on or correct tales told by other Lennon-Ono biographers and sometimes by John and Yoko themselves. He recounts some of the bizarre events that have occurred since Lennon's death, as well as outlandish behavior from the couple's years together. A complex, inconclusive, and sometimes sensational portrait.« less