Heylin’s “E Street Shuffle” an insightful portrait of the Boss, small business loans, but a frustrating read

book cover - E Street ShuffleLast week, Viking Press released the hardcover edition of Clinton Heylin‘s E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. I read it this weekend. Some books I review are a joy, others a struggle. This one has moments of insight surrounded by pages of tedium.

There are more ellipses in Heylin’s book than most modern poetry anthologies, due in no small part to the author’s use of quotes from interviews and transcriptions of Springsteen’s live show banter. It demonstrates a sense of verisimilitude, getting the feel for how the Boss speaks, but makes for an awkward reading experience.
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