Magical mystery tour and morality tale
By Martin Rubin | The Washington Times, Sunday, May 31, 2009
A DAY IN THE LIFE: ONE FAMILY, THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, & THE END OF THE ’60’s
By Robert Greenfield
Da Capo Press, $24.95, 338 pages, illus.
REVIEWED BY MARTIN RUBIN
Oh, London in the Sixties, that fabled place and time of freewheeling existences and all manner of extravagant experiences where, so the saying goes, “if you were actually there, you won’t remember it.” Tommy Weber and Susan “Puss” Coriat, the couple at the heart of this extraordinary story, part magical mystery tour and part morality tale, are unsurprisingly no longer alive, but chances are, given the activities they indulged in chronicled here, their recall would probably be spotty at best.
Fortunately for us, Robert Greenfield, the author of “A Day in the Life,” has done a marvelous job of re-creating the wild ride of Tommy and Puss with a splendid immediacy, allowing the reader to follow closely their manic activities. As rendered here anyway, they are in themselves fascinating characters, oddly compelling and attractive despite their glaring flaws, but their story intersects with (and sheds light on) many iconic Sixties figures far better known than them, including Keith Richards, George Harrison and Charlotte Rampling (for a time Tommy’s companion). . . .
For Martin’s full review, click here or visit www.washingtontimes.com.