PERFORMING ARTS

The History of Bones: A Memoir

by John Lurie
Random. Aug. 2021. 448p. ISBN 9780399592973. $28. MEMOIR
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Musician, actor, and painter John Lurie was an active figure in the hallowed bohemian scene of 1980s New York City. He appeared in influential movies by directors Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise; Down by Law) and Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas), but his real love was performing with his experimental jazz band the Lounge Lizards. Fueled by heroin and cocaine addictions, Lurie straddled fame and squalor alongside some of the decade’s most influential figures, including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna. Particularly focused on Lurie’s competitive love-hate friendship with Basquiat and disdain for Jarmusch, this meandering collection of sordid tales is a history of his bones to pick. Lurie comes off as bitter and petty, and readers will cringe when he refers to a sex worker as a “nonperson.”
VERDICT This exhaustive replay of Lurie’s highs and lows will delight only his most ardent fans.
Reviewed by Amanda Westfall, Emmet O'Neal P.L., Mountain Brook, AL , Jul 01, 2021
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