It’s repetitive to the point of distraction and because the narrative period covered is so small, dates and times mean little to the reader, but are referenced often. In addition to this minor, but time-consuming complaint, the book’s structure is a bit meandering.

travel ban, which are riveting with no sign of “Bobby” anywhere. There are stories however, like Rotolo’s trip to Cuba to test the U.S. There should be a strict one generation rule for memoirs that are largely focused on another person. I’m simply not interested in Bob Dylan’s girlfriend’s grandfather’s homemade Italian wines. At the least, the book should have been edited to rid it of a handful of non-essential, non-Greenwich Village, non-Dylan anecdotes that make its 367 pages entirely too long. I understand the need for personal information and a strong first-person point of view in a book like this, but at times it is entirely too much. In fact, in a time of gimmicky coffee table books and cash-grabbing memorabilia, this book is a refreshingly direct and humanistic artifact. After all, I’ve never dated a famous musician for any amount of time and I’m certainly not on the cover of any all-time seminal albums, that I know of. Suze Rotolo was Bob Dylan’s girlfriend from 1961 until 1964-ish (we all know how that goes), which was apparently all the clout she needed to get a publishing deal.

That’s what you call establishing credibility. Even though I’m now an amateur music writer, I used to be a professional English teacher which will hopefully come in handy now.

A Freewheelin' Time by Suze Rotolo