The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

It's a shame that other reviewers rated this as trash or made up. Unfortunately for some of us, we have lived these horrors, some worse than others. I related to his story and life. I felt the same way and empathized. Only those of us who rose from the ashes of disfunctional families and secrets will understand. To others who are horrified or simply can not believe that there are people who grew up in ways that are hard to comprehend, instead of turning your back and making a crude comment, (something we are used to btw), be greatful you did not have to endure this type of life.

Like others, I bought and read this book because I am interested in the history of music, bands, and artists of the last four decades and this was just one that was recommended after I read Keith Richards' autobiography. My opinion of Manson as a performer means nothing (I'm not interested in shock for its own sake, nor do I believe people are smarter-than-average just because they read books or use bigger words than sh[**] or fu[**] occasionally). I am always interested in people and how they cope with life in a frequently hostile and predatory world. For that reason, I finished this book - hoping that by the end Manson would have come to some kind of turning point after all the grotesque details of his youth. Why I only rated the book 2 stars is simple: you can't claim to have taken a road out of a place while you're still there. There is a token moment where he seems to realize that - if he wants to make it big in the world of musical fame - he has to get at least some of his act together. But there is no true moment of epiphany, no realization that things he did or said or inflicted on others were anything more than snapshots in a scrapbook worth a chuckle or a facepalm. I have nothing against Manson as a person, or as an artist. I don't know him personally. I worry about him as a human, though. Hell, to me at least, is living in a prison of your own self-interest (with all the wreckage that entails) and not recognizing it as such. At the time this particular book was written/published, he seemed to have been content with setting up camp along the road rather than finishing the journey. Perhaps he lives now in a totally different mindset. Perhaps he has peace of mind and security and happiness. I truly hope so.

I absolutely loved this book - even putting myself through odd looks of the people I was reading this around while on lunch breaks from work training.Why the deduction of a star?! I was personally unsatisfied with the ending. It was very abrupt. Just when you think the end of chapter 15 will roll over into chapter 16 and continue the story, it doesn’t. You’re left with a timeline of events, a few photos, etc. Then it’s time to close the book.That being said, the book (otherwise) is plentiful with raw and rugged material. If you expect anything otherwise you may not be much of a MM fan. The pictures and photoshoot images are amazing. You also see some poetry, interviews of MM, etc.Whether very little, some, most or even all of this book of Manson’s life is true, it’s truly beautiful in a morbid sense of the word. There is no sugarcoating. MM has drawn in a specific fanbase for various reasons but I think overall his words (and ways with words) give people who can relate a place of solace through his music so it’s only befitting that his book is an amazing and gratifying read as well.As stated, my only qualm with it is the abrupt ending. I may be selfish in stating that I wanted more and could’ve gone on reading of Manson’s life for ages. To my knowledge, no other “Part 2” or similar has been released since the 21 years that have passed in releasing this book. I’m sure a lot of things have happened in that time since and I’d GLADLY love it if Mr. Manson wrote another book with the details and stories of his life since!

I'm an avid reader of rock star autobiographies.It's a little involved what I think of this book and man. I didn't know what to expect. I've greatly enjoyed books from other rock stars, but this one had me feeling somewhat disgusted and perplexed. That didn't keep me from plowing through it full blast. I read this thing in 2.5 days because I was riveted by how crazy many parts were. In particular, I was blown away by his description of doing psychedelics, drugs which I have grown to hate. He totally reminded me of why I don't touch that stuff.I have to ask, how much of this was just an exaggeration of reality to capitalize on the crazy persona that we know of as "Marilyn Manson?"I was particularly disappointed to hear stories about the pathetic way Manson and his bandmates treated their young and weak willed fans backstage. It was truly disgusting. Manson claimed to "pity" many of these kids that they treated poorly, but if that were true, and if you had integrity as a person, you wouldn't stand idly by and allow for people to be treated that way. You clearly don't respect or appreciate your fans if they are just toys for abuse to satiate your low life amusement. Manson and his bandmates were not only repugnant in their revelry, but the lack of character they show as human beings is truly despicable. All this pales in comparison to the story he told of his girlfriend getting an abortion and wanting to keep the human leftovers.As for the rock and roll excesses with drugs and whatnot, except for the wild stories on psychedelic drug trips, it wasn't that mind blowing or different than other autobiographies that I've read. So wow. Big deal, dude. You did way too many drugs on a few occasions. The real story is how you're really a vile guy that has such a dim view of people. I wonder if by this point in life he grew up and out of the creepy shenanigans he takes pride in with this book.I still find Manson intriguing, but I'm not gonna lie. I think less of this person after reading this. This book is not uplifting, nor did it have any humor like many other autobiographies that I've read.I wanted to hear more about the recording process behind AntiChrist Superstar. I think it's a great album, but instead, we were regaled with more of the excessive drug induced debauchery that resulted in next to zero creative productivity before actually recording the album. Apparently he was able to sober up for a tiny itty bit to get something amazing done. Interesting as wild times, but not quite what I wanted to hear about the creative inspirational side of the album. Boy, does he overshoot the meaning and significance of his pretending to be a cult like figure. Talk about over estimating yourself, dude. Considering all that I said, I could see all of this madness herein comporting well to a movie. Said movie could be wildly entertaining and I'd imagine Rob Zombie could be an exceptional choice for such a task.I will say that there is seemingly more legitimacy to the darkness being real darkness here. I expected more of a "we did this crazy stuff and created the image for show business" type thing, but it was something quite more. There's some real nihilism here that isn't run of the mill exploitation of dark themes for album sales. I suppose that's part of what makes it more interesting to me.Brian Warner, you're a strange fruitcake, honey bunch.I'm glad that I read this. It was vile, but I enjoyed it very much, and it was a good value for the money spent on the purchase versus the time reading it.

Being a fan of Marilyn Manson, I think that even if one is not interested in him or may not like his music, this is a must read book. It is written in extremely interesting story-telling way. The way the flow of the actions is depicted in the book is very easy to read and quite interesting at the same time. It provides a different look on Marilyn Manson's early life between early ages in his life and up to the early nineties his second album. Throughout the book you are captured by the sarcasm of Marilyn Manson and his view of all wanna be stars or people with too high opinion of themselves (with nothing to back it up). There are tons of stories of his life growing up as musician and often the difficult road an artist needs to go through in order to get to his desired status.This book once again confirms that Marilyn Manson is indeed a much more intelligent person than most critics portray him as and that his music and artistic expressions are his own way of stating his view of life and the values and morals in it. In the book is also included some of his early attempts of being a writer of short stories, trying to have them published in magazines. His story "All in the family" is truly a great short tale which captures your attention until the end. Despite having dark feel to it with disturbed characters, it manages to keep the entertainment up to its sadistic end.I wish there was a second part to this autobiography and hope it is somewhere in the making.

I can admit this book is not going to be enjoyable for everyone, being a fan of MM is more than likely the only people going to seek this book out. It’s not something you’d just stumble upon and decide to pick up!That said, it explains so much of the hype that the media created in the first place.Parts of this were disgusting, scary and quite frankly degrading to those involved, however it is a story about a unique experience and I laughed out loud at many parts and the shock of the events.Would recommend, I read this in a week!

for any diehard Marilyn Manson fan. Focuses on the period of fame that made him the most infamous as well as his early life and of course so much has transpired in his personal and professional life since this was written. But for anybody interested in what made this man the antichrist, this has to be read!

Manson was subjected to some pretty interesting things when he was a kid, which helped shape a lot of his future life. This book tells his tale in all its glory.I couldn't put the book down for the first half but it petered out towards the end as his shock tactics became tiresome. There are definitely better rock/metal biographies out there but real fans of Manson will love this.

I'm not a big listener of Marilyn Manson but a friend recommend this autobiography and it's very well written, entertaining, shocking and gives great background on Manson and his origin. It's quite dark and times but there's also humour throughout. His voice comes through well and it's an enjoyable read, despite at time wanting to look away.Even if you have little to zero knowledge on Manson, still a great read