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Book Summary and Reviews of We All Shine On by Elliot Mintz

We All Shine On by Elliot Mintz

We All Shine On

John, Yoko, and Me

by Elliot Mintz

  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2024, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A personal and revealing look at the last ten years of John Lennon's life and his partnership with Yoko Ono, written by the friend who knew them best.

In 1972, Elliot Mintz installed a red light in his bedroom in Laurel Canyon. When it started flashing, it meant that either John Lennon or Yoko Ono—or sometimes both—were calling him. Which they did almost every day for nearly ten years, engaging Mintz in hours-long late-night phone conversations that all but consumed him for the better part of a decade.

In We All Shine On, Mintz—a former radio and television host in Los Angeles—recounts the story of how their unlikely friendship began and where it led him over the years, revealing the ups and downs of a wild, touching, heartbreaking, and sometimes shocking relationship. Mintz takes readers inside John and Yoko's inner sanctums, including their expansive seventh-floor apartment in New York's fabled Dakota building, where Mintz was something of a semipermanent fixture, ultimately becoming the Lennons' closest and most trusted confidant. Mintz was with John and Yoko through creative highs, relationship and private challenges, fascinating interactions with the other former Beatles, and the happiest moment of their lives together, the birth of their son, Sean. He was also by Yoko's side during the aftermath of John's assassination on the doorstep of the Dakota—not merely a witness to it all, but a key figure in the drama of John and Yoko's extraordinary lives.

We All Shine On is a must-read for Beatles and Lennon fans, offering an up close and intimate view of one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, as well as one of the most fascinating marriages. But it's also a relationship story that just about everyone can relate to, a tale about partnership, loyalty, and trust, and most of all, the lasting legacy of a true and deep friendship.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Radio personality Mintz debuts with a vivid account of the decade he spent as John Lennon and Yoko Ono's confidante, fixer, and friend… It's a captivating and intimate window into the complicated lives of one of rock's most legendary couples." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A charmingly modest tale of a long brush with stardom, with all its pleasures and frustrations." —Kirkus Reviews

"It's hard to define the relationship Elliot had with our family. But I ultimately think the best word to describe him is: friend. Perhaps our closest friend. The reason I wanted Elliot to write a book, first and foremost, is because he is a good storyteller. The fact that he was there in the lives of John and Yoko (and mine), is really just icing on the cake. I like hearing him talk, and I'm sure you will, too." —Sean Ono Lennon

This information about We All Shine On was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Elliot Mintz

Elliot Mintz is a professional media consultant who has worked with the likes of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, Paris Hilton, Diana Ross, and many more. Prior to being a consultant, Mintz worked as a radio DJ and television host and served as the entertainment correspondent for Eyewitness News on KABC.

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