i didn't go into this with any agenda but the stories told in here convincingly spoke to my theory about youthful celebrity. it's all bad. ten kinds of bad really. of every core character portrayed, it appears only one was able to make a healthy transition from the fanciful idolatry he experienced in youth to the painstaking anonymity he met later in life. it's painful to take in, truly. and just when you you feel all is hopelessly flawed, the author walks through another door and you see this world from an entirely different perspective, one that shows how all this disfunction actually serves as a curative elixir to part of the population. more than that, it's the only medicine in town. the dynamic here is quite complex and this book does wonders to expose the depth of the paradox in a way that is so very captivating, right to the end. it is simply a spectacular read.