Padma Wulandari

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story

Book by Bono

DETAILS

Publisher : Knopf (November 1, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 576 pages ISBN-10 : 0525521046 ISBN-13 : 978-0525521044 Item Weight : 1.95 pounds Dimensions : 6.46 x 1.45 x 9.28 inches Best Sellers Rank: #72 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Rock Band Biographies #6 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies #10 in Memoirs (Books) , NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Bono—artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2—has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. “ Surrender soars whenever the spotlight comes on. Bono is never more powerful, on the page or the stage, than when he strives for the transcendence that only music can offer...[Bono] is open and honest, with language that can be witty and distinctive, addressing his competitive relationship with his father or growing up against the backdrop of Ireland’s political violence.” — The New York Times “When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I’d previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress ... With a fair amount of fun along the way.” —Bono  As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender , it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him. Surrender ’s subtitle, 40 Songs, One Story, is a nod to the book’s forty chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created forty original drawings for Surrender, which appear throughout the book. Read more

REVIEW

Was there ever any doubt how many stars I was gonna give this one? As a U2 diehard, it more than met my expectations. It’s lyrical and poetic, deeply philosophical and intensely spiritual. It's everything you want from Bono and more. He’s both humble and self deprecating in the way only the Irish can. He perfectly balances his arrogant rock star persona with his intense and deep desire to root out injustice. He gives us real detail on his political battles to ensure the hungry are fed, people with AIDS have access to treatment and that humans treat each other with kindness. We get the inspiration for both the words and melodies of so many of our favorite songs. He details his love of art and literature and hero worship of many musical greats including David Bowie. It is an unending love letter to his wife, a heart aching discovery of his relationship with his parents, an analysis of the guilt balancing his band and his passion for rooting out inequality as well as a search for God. If you like U2, this should be on your must read list! Especially the audiobook, it was lovely hearing Bono open his life to us. ️

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