Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful Tonight

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 4,576 ratings · 631 reviews

An iconic figure of the 1960s and ’70s, Pattie Boyd breaks a forty-year silence in Wonderful Tonight, and tells the story of how she found herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the most famous muse in the history of rock and roll.

She met the Beatles in 1964 when she was cast as a schoolgirl in A Hard D...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published August 28th 2007 by Crown Archetype (first published January 1st 2007)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

No One Here Gets Out Alive by Danny Sugarman

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson

Best Books on Rock and Roll

42nd out of 380 books — 560 voters

Best Memoir / Biography / Autobiography

289th out of 1,804 books — 1,743 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 24, 2007 Walter rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoirs

OK, I should say that I'm a bit of a nut about the Beatles, and George Harrison in particular. Also a fan of Clapton. So I expected that this book would be interesting, and when I had the chance to snap it up at a deep discount, I did so.

Mostly, this book is the most superficial treatment imaginable of the people and times it descibes. If you like name-dropping, lists of who attended what party, which drugs were consumed, and who slept with whom, this book is for you. If I didn't know that Georg...more

10 likes · like · see review

Oct 09, 2007 Amy Formanski rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beatles Fans

I just borrowed this book from my mom. She passed down to me a love of both British bands and celebrity gossip. This book is a perfect mix of those things. Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison during the Beatles' heyday, and later left him for Eric Clapton. Strangely, they all remained friends. She was the muse for some of their greatest songs. She was a sassy British model and some of the pictures of her in Swinging 60's fashions are really fab. Candid shots of all the rock stars are pret...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jan 14, 2008 Nick Oliva rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

She's the only woman to have two superstars write songs to her, and in her prime, her intoxicating beauty was that of a sexual siren driving men's souls to the rocks in pure passion. Her new book "Wonderful Today" is a biography that seems to want to tell all, and indeed sheds light on this wonderful woman who came from an abused childhood to make it as one of the world's top models. Ms. Boyd begins in a chronological fashion with pictures of family and tales of Kenya with snakes, tigers, and s...more She's the only woman to have two superstars write songs to her, and in her prime, her intoxicating beauty was that of a sexual siren driving men's souls to the rocks in pure passion. Her new book "Wonderful Today" is a biography that seems to want to tell all, and indeed sheds light on this wonderful woman who came from an abused childhood to make it as one of the world's top models. Ms. Boyd begins in a chronological fashion with pictures of family and tales of Kenya with snakes, tigers, and scary natives. Quite the childhood, but then when her parents separate she is forced back to England with an abusive and cruel step-father.
The voice of the book is sweet and innocent, but the sixties flower children go through an innocence of their own and as the drugs they use to free their minds and give them empowerment for hope eventually drive them to pure misery as well. She became the wife of Mr. Harrison at the end of a fairy-tale courtship, but due to the heavy hand of the Beatle's Manager Brian Epstein, was denied a proper wedding, as the public was not to know George was "no longer available" in the heady days of Beatlemania. She and George lived a simple life, in a relatively small house with George off to the studio each day and Pattie embracing the role of wife, lover, cook, and home keeper. It was all she wanted and needed. George on the other hand became intensely involved in meditation, ironically because of Pattie's suggestion, to fill a need for a childhood he never completely experienced, and they all went off to the Yogi Master Maharishi Mahesh in India.
George eventually became emotionally unattached to her as he began binging on drugs and then meditation trying to find his way through a lost childhood. Eric Clapton then appears writing her passionate letters and begging her to leave George for a life with him. At first, she thinks this is all very nice and flattering, but then Eric goes on a heroin binge because of her refusal to give in and be with him much like a spiteful boy. Eventually George's lack of attention and Eric's determined persistence, get the best of Pattie and she leaves George to follow Eric on tour. Years go by and the addiction to drugs, alcohol, and heroin take their toll on "Slowhand" and he shows no attempt to stay faithful to any one woman. As much as Pattie wants to understand and deal with the issues of his dalliances and drunkenness, she indeed compromises her own principles in doing so, the relationship grinds to an inevitable crash as Eric "keeps on keepin' on," in full persona of what a rock star "is all about-After Midnite"-sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Pattie was and is only looking for love with someone who can make her laugh, and treat her as an equal. This book is not a kiss and tell epic, and one would love to hear some of the intense times of emotion and vase throwings I'm sure, but one can sense the immense pain she had in finally putting this to words for all to read without destroying her relationships especially with Clapton. Her only mistake was believing in young men that couldn't tie their shoes on their own, and needed to grow up and take their marriage seriously. But now at last she is on her own, enjoying her life without expectations and has accepted her responsibility in enabling these "boys" and being a part of the problem. She still maintains great beauty within and without and is and will always be the mythical lady immortalized much like Helen of Troy in that Pattie launched a million flickers of light for encores at concerts everywhere in the world.
"Layla, you still got me on my knees..."

(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Nov 06, 2007 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars

Pattie Boyd is a mere footnote in rock n roll history. Her association with George Harrison and Eric Clapton is what made her famous...if you can even call her that. One would think that someone who captured the attention and imagination of great artists such as Harrison and Clapton must be an extraordinary personality, but that just does not come across in this book. I get the feeling that Pattie Boyd was just a pretty face who happened to be in the right place at the right time...on that train...more

18 likes · like · see review

view all 4 comments

Kelly I agree with you on the writing. I've just picked up the book and already I'm annoyed with her lack of chronlogical order of events and the constant n...more
Feb 14, 2011 02:27pm

Tranisha N. I've recently read this book myself a few days ago, and in all honesty, I really didn't like it. There were a few things that bothered me:

1)chronologi...more I've recently read this book myself a few days ago, and in all honesty, I really didn't like it. There were a few things that bothered me:

1)chronological order-I was never sure what year or month it was. That definitely needed work.

2)Pattie not being entirely innocent here-while married to George, she had a secret affair with Clapton (privately); she had a fling with Ronnie Wood,again while married to George (looks like he wasn't the only one guilty of adultery); when she finally left George and chose Eric, she didn't divorce George right away. She continued to commit adultery, only this time in public. Their divorce was finalized in 1977.

3)Marrying Clapton-I think from that point on, I lost all respect for Pattie. That was without doubt, the stupidest, and I mean, the STUPIDEST thing she did. At that time, she was unhappy because history was repeating itself all over again. Clapton was unfaithful, fooled around with other women, and he had serious problems with alcohol. Did she really think that marriage was going to get Clapton to change his ways? She was really living in a dream world if she thought that. The old "I love him" is a load of crap. Love had nothing to do with it. She herself admitted this with the line "in the bottom of my heart, I knew this wasn't right". You knew it was wrong, so why did you go ahead with it?

4)Clapton himself-I think with Pattie, it was all about the chase. I think what he went through was an infatuation. He became obsessed with obtaining the unavailable, and I think THIS was what he was caught up in. An illusion, a fantasy, not the real person. And irony of ironies, when he finally got his "Layla", he didn't want her anymore. Again, Pattie acknowledged this, "the excitement of the chase".

5)Pattie being an alcoholic-she too was an alcoholic, yet she never acknowledges this, making it seem as though all she does is have the occasional drink. Clapton points this out in the song "The Shape You're In."

I wanted to like the book, I really did. The book yes, kept my attention, but I really started to dislike Pattie as I was reading it. Turns out the most famous muse in history wasn't all that after all.(less)
Dec 12, 2012 12:29pm

Mar 19, 2008 Marcie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gee, I wouldn't have left George Harrison for Eric Clapton, even if he did win the "guitar duel" for me. :) And, wow, Pattie Boyd had great shoes.

Seriously, once I recovered from the realization that this wasn't a kiss-n-tell (damn!) (insert Slowhand jokes here), I have come to see Pattie's story as an interesting extension of a recent conversation with my own girlfriends -- you know who you are, shout out to the female half of the Six O' Cups!

It began with gender roles in traditional male/femal...more Gee, I wouldn't have left George Harrison for Eric Clapton, even if he did win the "guitar duel" for me. :) And, wow, Pattie Boyd had great shoes.

Seriously, once I recovered from the realization that this wasn't a kiss-n-tell (damn!) (insert Slowhand jokes here), I have come to see Pattie's story as an interesting extension of a recent conversation with my own girlfriends -- you know who you are, shout out to the female half of the Six O' Cups!

It began with gender roles in traditional male/female relationships, with the female fulfilling the Keeper of the Fun role, and when we know the men are wrong, clueless, and/or depressingly real (as opposed to Fantasy Prince), we punish them by witholding the fun in the relationship. Then the point was made that women can become immersed in work, children, etc. and the male coax her to come up for air to see a movie or go out to dinner, that gender is irrelevant. I conclude we all have roles we fill in all our relationships.

So, I'll never know if George or Eric was the better kisser, but Pattie does share a lot about the roles in her relationships -- her most obvious being Famous Rock Star Muse. In Eric's eyes, she was Layla, the un-gettable, never-to-be dream. When he got her, he wrote in a poem that she was the butterfly and that he'd destroyed her wings. She became his Victim. To George, she was simply Something. They married very young, and she was his playmate, sister, innocent love, witness to the insanity his life became. They were all Naughty Children, not having children themselves to force them to grow up (she later discovered she's infertile), every aspect of life handled by the Father-Manager, paying all the bills, giving allowance, arranging all travel. Problems come in when one of the partners allows someone else to fill that "role" or stops playing that role by their own hand.

The book was fascinating in one regard, to glimpse into the life of a wife of a rock star, with all their creative, unstructured mania. She left one who chants all the time for an ex-heroin addict who drinks all the time. They were both unfaithful sexually to her, and she realizes she rationalized all that. But what really would hurt her is when they would take away her role she played in their life -- even if it was playmate or journey companion.

Her creative outlet was cooking and she poured through cookbooks and never bought anything ready-made, so she shopped for ingredients every day, and threw her heart into it. And then George would say something like "No, Kumar (one of the countless hangers-on that came and went) is going to cook something Indian for me." That would devastate her. It took this lady a long time to find herself. Both Eric and George refused to let her continue working as a model. She was to fill the role they needed her to. Eric needed a 24/7 Nursemaid and Rescuer. How tedious.

I have this whole new perspective on the Beatles as people. George told her, when she left him for Eric, that if she ever needed him for anything, he would be there, that he would always be there to take care of her, no matter where she went or who she was with. What selfless, generous love. How heartbreaking that he would shut her out for months while he was meditating or whatever.

They had a bungalow they lived in for years and they kept spray paint cans outside and would have everyone who visited add to the exterior walls their creative touch. So the place looked like a sweet crazy grafitti mural dive from the outside. Then they found a castle pile of stone to restore that became a "project" -- George had become obsessed with privacy and security, some incident with a fan had frightened him (how prophetic), he couldn't do anything normal like go to the pub or go bowling or see a movie without mobs. So, he proudly shows his restored treasure, his find, the thing he lovingly researched to accurately restore to former glory, to John and Yoko, and John being the cynical, jealous prick says "It's so dark I don't see how anyone can live in it." Then George suggested John take off his sunglasses. Ar-ar.

Also interesting is who John was with first wife (Jerk, Selfish, Sexist Pig) and who he was with Yoko (Student, Worshipper, Servant). Everyone hated her! But what an amazing teacher she was for him -- this fiercely intelligent, artistic, Japanese Royalty chick wasn't about to take his crap and forced him to grow up and evolve.

So, how does it end for Pattie? Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who is so brilliant, exciting, forceful that there is no "room" for you, in the shadows? She is now playing the starring role in her own life.

I've only seen Gene Simmons' show Family Jewels once, but loved how his wife and kids consistently knocked the wind out of his sails, cut him down to size, to ensure "room" for themselves, the ones he loves and needs. It's actually healthy and happy. People fascinate me.(less)

7 likes · like · see review

Feb 27, 2008 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any george harrison, eric clapton, or beatle fans.

Recommended to Heather by: My dad

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 23, 2011 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Dolly Birds

Recommended to Andy by: Dolly Birds

Shelves: rock-sleaze

That’s Pattie with an “e”, weird considering for years her name was spelled Patti, but okay. “Wonderful Tonight” is a cool book written by the only living OG Beatle Wife, so it’s major. In this book I learned the following gossipy tidbits:

1. Brian Epstein was a surrogate father to The Beatles, so much so that George even asked Brian for permission to marry Pattie.
2. George had several Hare Krishna couples living on the grounds of his home to do general maid and household work.
3. George had a st...more

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 16, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's difficult to rate a biography like this, simply because Pattie Boyd isn't a writer, and though she had help, it's more about her stories--and not simply the whole, but the components of the whole. She's had an interesting life...and, after spending my more formative years longing and wishing to have been married to a Beatle, I was relieved, after reading this book, that I wasn't.

I had some trouble with Pattie. She's not a terribly reliable narrator, but no autobiography should ever be taken...more It's difficult to rate a biography like this, simply because Pattie Boyd isn't a writer, and though she had help, it's more about her stories--and not simply the whole, but the components of the whole. She's had an interesting life...and, after spending my more formative years longing and wishing to have been married to a Beatle, I was relieved, after reading this book, that I wasn't.

I had some trouble with Pattie. She's not a terribly reliable narrator, but no autobiography should ever be taken at face value. She certainly has a lot invested in her niche as "ex wife." And that being said, I had to give her a little credit and slack. She seems sweet, and, in her own way, honest. I believe that was her life as she saw it, but I also found her to be pretty un-complicated, which would have been frustrating for a lot of the artistic types she rubbed elbows with. I would have liked to have had some basis for comparison by a few of those she referenced, other than them simply wanting to sleep with her. I wish Mick Jagger would have said if he found her fun to talk to and with worthwhile hobbies or interests. It went largely unsaid. She doesn't even validate it herself.

Pattie likes to cook, she seems to like animals, company, family. Those are all worthwhile and likable traits. The whole "keep it simple, stupid," seemed her motto, but I'm not sure she's stood her personal ground long enough to know if she has a motto, which was a bummer.

She resented George Harrison's spirituality and loner status (all attributes I've admired in George), she wanted to be more involved with him--that was clear. Yet, at the same time, George valued her enough to write the song Something about her, and more importantly, to marry her. I really wanted to find the "meat" of Pattie, and I think it's there, but even in her sixties, I'm not sure she can pin point it, which was why I read the book--to try to find it, and when I couldn't, it was sad on many levels. Sad that she married twice to try to find her worth in someone elses' love for her, sad she was on the side lines and frankly, even sad her art show, in the end, was photographs of the famous people she knew. I want her to OWN something.

I like her. And, it's a relief, at some level, to see someone just accept their role. But I think there was more potential for her. She could have been stronger, I think, if she'd brought up differently (as she says many times) but also if she were in a different era...

But again, that's the whole point of the book--because The Beatles were a different era. I know that, it's all quite dated now. She was a stay at home wife to a famous person...twice. It's very nearly still a fifties mentality, she just wore crazy clothes and did some drugs, too. But she gets half into everything: culture, cooking, yoga, meditation, her marriages, even the book. You never really get the specifics of her life with these men, only portions of it, like the snap shots she's now famous for.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 23, 2008 Sonia Reppe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: showbiz-celebrity, memoir-about-a-girl

Being a George Harrison fan, I really liked the parts about Pattie's relationship with him, and seeing him through her eyes. I didn't blame her for leaving him; when you read this you'll see why. I was never an Eric Clapton fan, and after reading this memoir, I really have a distaste for him. I don't know how Pattie put up with his obnoxious behavior and raging alcoholism, even if she did think he was a musical genius. Pattie Boyd, a talented model and photographer, has written a revealing and s...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 12, 2008 george rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-autobiography-memoir, read-in-2008, grown-up-books

I was very interested to read Boyd's autobiography, as I am very interested in the "behind-the-scenes" of celebrities, particularly rockstars. Not necessarily because I think they are extraordinary people, but because of their unlimited access.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The writing was flat-out bad. There's no other way to describe it. It amazes me that there was a co-writer because all of her stories were jumbled together and she zipped forward and backward in time nonstop. Her lif...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 20, 2008 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: celeb-memoirs, memoir

Hmm. Ok, here's the problem with this book (and there are quite a few): Patti Boyd isn't a particularly good writer. Her stories are a bit scattered, and they don't have overarching themes to make them memorable. She just sticks in small tidbits that she remembers in random places. Part of this is due to the fact that these stories are 40 years old, so it doesn't have the immediacy of a journal or memoir. Also--Patti isn't that interesting on her own. You'd think the woman who was both a Mrs. Ha...more Hmm. Ok, here's the problem with this book (and there are quite a few): Patti Boyd isn't a particularly good writer. Her stories are a bit scattered, and they don't have overarching themes to make them memorable. She just sticks in small tidbits that she remembers in random places. Part of this is due to the fact that these stories are 40 years old, so it doesn't have the immediacy of a journal or memoir. Also--Patti isn't that interesting on her own. You'd think the woman who was both a Mrs. Harrison and a Mrs. Clapton, inspired the songs "Something" (which has become one of my favorite Beatles songs), "Wonderful Tonight", and most famously "Layla" would be fascinating. The LIFE she led was fascinating, the men she married were fascinating, but Patti Boyd the woman? Meh. And she overestimates the reader's interest in her own story. Honey, I didn't get this book from the library to read about how you climbed the French Alps in your 60s (or whatever it was, I kind of skimmed through the last chapter), and tried unsuccessfully to get your sister into rehab, I borrowed it to read what kind of person Eric was, how he wrote such interesting music, what John Lennon ever saw in Yoko, and what George saw in your and why he connected spiritually to Ravi Shankar. And she...just doesn't have that many insights into the character of these men. What you come away with is Patti Boyd was co-dependent, needy, insecure, ignored the multiple affairs both her husbands had, married Eric basically on a bet (on his end), left George when she probably should've stuck it out to be with Eric, and likes being a photographer. That's about it. She grew up in a fascinating time, but I didn't finish the book understanding why two incredibly famous songwriter-singer-musicians were so crazy about her. Although she seems very nice. And she cooks well.

What it DID make me do is listen to a bunch of Beatles records (which I haven't really ever done before, and I've figured out that I like more of their stuff than I thought I would, especially Abbey Road and Revolver) and borrow the Eric Clapton autobiography and the recent Beatles biography (900 pages!) and read about these guys straight from the source. So, hey--Patti Boyd did me a favor, I guess! Thanks, Patti!(less)

7 likes · like · see review

Jan 06, 2008 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Pattie Boyd's book is an interesting read if you are in the mood to be a fly on the wall... I learned that the Beatles were a bunch of babies, Eric Clapton was a drunken egomaniacal over-sexed fool, and it was really no fun being married to a rock star (or several rock stars!). I did enjoy the love letters that "e" wrote to "layla"...very passionate (even if they did not contain capital letters). And it was even more romantic how he would write them on torn pages from books (Of Mice and Men)..."...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 22, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beatles and Clapton Fans

My mom gave me this book for my birthday because she knows how much I love the Beatles and everything related to them. Pattie Boyd met George Harrison during the filming of A Hard Day's Night, they quickly married and she remained Mrs. George Harrison throughout the 1960's and the heights of Beatlemania. She grew up with the Beatles and was around for the creation of every single song and every single album... Later, she left George for his friend Eric Clapton who was madly in love with her and...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 08, 2007 Ginny Messina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-biography-journal

Pattie Boyd's life story is amazing—not only was she a model in fab swinging 60s London and then married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, but she grew up in Africa for goodness sakes.

Unfortunately, she's not much of a story teller. I don't know where Pattie's editor was, but the book is filled with non sequiturs and with stories that seem to have no particular point. She describes her two famous husbands almost as superficially as she does all the minor characters in the book. And, in fact,...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 23, 2012 Linds rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1960s, england, memoir, non-fiction, read-in-2012

The only thing that really sticks out is how young George Harrison was at the beginning of Beatlemania. He actually asked Brian their manager permission to get married. That detail struck me as very endearing. The rest is mostly self serving name dropping and all the stuff she bought. She comes off as pretty annoying for someone who inspired my favorite love song. (Something)

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 11, 2008 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

Pattie Boyd certainly led an interesting life, at least in her early days--part of the swinging social scene in 1960's London as a model, muse to first George Harrison and then Eric Clapton--but she herself did not come across as a particularly interesting person and the book was so poorly written, shallow, and disorganized that it was, at times, painful to read. (A sample of the fine writing is: "And, to use the old cliche, make love not war. As long as you were young, beautiful, and creative,...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 15, 2008 Diane rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beatlemaniacs, Claptonaics

Recommended to Diane by: New York Times Best Seller List -ugh!

An emotionless recounting of parties, people met, trips taken, and life events.

I'll save you the trouble of slogging through the book:
1) Patti didn't have a happy childhood.
2) She became a model.
3) She met and married George Harrison.
4) He became addicted to meditation.
5) She was wooed by Eric Clapton and left George.
6) Eric was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
7) Patti was unhappy about both husbands being unfaithful.
8) Now she's single and OK.

I almost forgot the "most important" disclosure:
9) Yok...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 09, 2008 Mklinger rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful Tonight By Pattie Boyd (Autobiography)
Christie, I think you would love this book. Its written by Pattie Boyd ,who was married to two of the most famous musicians ( George Harrison & Eric Clapton ) of the 1960’s and 70’s . You gain insight to the Beatles inner circle, as she describes the wonderful memories she has of the group, the friendships she shared, and the tensions between the members and their significant others. She also describes the love triangle between Harrison, Clapto...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 25, 2009 Tamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pattie Boyd's biography brings some insight into the 60's and the egos of big rock/blues stars.

But more importantly, it's another reminder about the long term effects of not feeling loved as a child. Pattie seems to be a really nice, nurturing person who tried to take care of George Harrison and then Eric Clapton. Unfortunately, her own self esteem was not high due to feeling rejected by her parents as a child when she attended boarding schools, being shuffled around while her mother sorted out...more Pattie Boyd's biography brings some insight into the 60's and the egos of big rock/blues stars.

But more importantly, it's another reminder about the long term effects of not feeling loved as a child. Pattie seems to be a really nice, nurturing person who tried to take care of George Harrison and then Eric Clapton. Unfortunately, her own self esteem was not high due to feeling rejected by her parents as a child when she attended boarding schools, being shuffled around while her mother sorted out her married life and finally living with an abusive stepfather.

She seemed to be the type of person that men were crazy about. She seemed to know that she had this power but her self esteem kept her from helping the people around her to be at their best. No matter how much she tried to find answers for herself and took care of others, she ended up enabling her lover's bad behavior and ended up having to leave them for them to finally find themselves.

It's very interesting to hear about her life. The parties and the personalities that she was surrounded by were amazing. She knew so many people and had so many adventures.

If you ever wanted to live the life of a rock star, this is a great book to see what it's like on the inside. They are not that much different from you and me but the day to day pressure of having people thinking that you're better and admiring you in a way that is unrealistic puts so much pressure on these people. They have no privacy. It really makes them crazy. And the addictions (drugs, alcohol, religion, etc.) are fueled by self serving managers who think they are doing their best but are ultimately taking advantage of their clients by not keeping their feet in the real world.

In the end, I felt sorry for everyone. From the outside, it's hard to watch people with so much feel so bad. Happily, Pattie got some therapy, insight and wisdom and has made a great life for herself. It's a shame she couldn't work it out with either of the two men who loved her so much. Love without self esteem doesn't work.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 12, 2009 John rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beatles and Clapton fans of all ages

Shelves: biography

After having read Eric Claptons recent autobiography and enjoying it immensely, I figured that the old saw, "There are always two sides to every story.." had to be true.
So, that, and my fanaticism for anything having to do with The Beatles, drove me to read Pattie Boyd's 'Wonderful Tonight".

I found it overwhelmingly sad, like the story told by the witness of a horrible car crash, being interviewed in the midst of bodies that have been thrown everywhere. The witness is asked two questions, "Ho...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 25, 2008 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Those of you who have received my "Best of 2008" list have already read this, but for those of you who didn't get the list, here is my review of this book:

In the “being famous for doing nothing but being married to famous men is a bitch” genre… Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison but was wooed away by Eric Clapton, who then wrote the song “Wonderful Tonight” about her (it’s not as romantic as it sounds since it was supposed to be a sarcastic comment on how long it took her to get ready fo...more

1 like · like · see review

May 03, 2013 Casey C rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved reading this autobiography and would definitely recommend it to a friend interested in The Beatles, Eric Clapton, the sixties, and of course Pattie. Pattie tells the story of her life in the most beautiful way, rather than just listing the events like a bland timeline she recalls her past using figurative language, a mix of formal and informal diction as well as both short and long syntax. We can see long and beautiful imagery being used when she's describing the setting at some point in...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 13, 2012 Debra rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had highly anticipated Pattie Boyd's biography and not just because she was married to two famous guitar players, George Harrision and Eric Clapton, but because Pattie Boyd was one of my teen idols.

I was a Beatle fan, and I still am, but like many young pre-teens, I was fixated on George's beautiful, trendy wife. I loved her hair, her eye makeup, her clothes, and how she radiated the 60's look. In her book, she underestimates her own influence on the era.

Apparently she lacked confidence and fo...more I had highly anticipated Pattie Boyd's biography and not just because she was married to two famous guitar players, George Harrision and Eric Clapton, but because Pattie Boyd was one of my teen idols.

I was a Beatle fan, and I still am, but like many young pre-teens, I was fixated on George's beautiful, trendy wife. I loved her hair, her eye makeup, her clothes, and how she radiated the 60's look. In her book, she underestimates her own influence on the era.

Apparently she lacked confidence and found herself not once, but twice married to addicts, hoping their addictions would subside and they might take notice of her--and, sadly, she maybe didn't realize the world had already noted her beauty and brains. She also started trends that the Beatles were credited for, like eastern religion--yet she was the one who introduced them.

Most readers and reviewers are going to miss what I picked up in the book because our current culture embraces all religions, and we have a nostalgic view of the Maharishi Yogi and the Beatles at Rishikesh. But Prior to their introduction to eastern religion (Hinduism, Krishna and Self Realization Fellowship), she and George had a good and solid marriage. Afterwards he spiraled into addictions and abuse until their marriage dissolved. She writes about how he was either holy or holy-hell, how he was either chanting or screaming. How a good young man from loving family had turned into someone else right before her eyes, and all under the guise of being spiritual.

It's not surprising to this reader that George's personality had changed, that he began to suffer depression, that he became sexually immoral, addicted to drugs and abusive. That is what happens to a brain on meditation. He isolated himself in a room inside a big castle, trying to become one with God. He thought if he chanted enough--if he didn't talk to his loved ones, he was making progress. He disassociated. Disconnected. That is what eastern religion teaches. You go off on your own to have your experiences. You live in silence. You live an austere life--it's all about you.

We knew many such people, my husband and self included. We were either fully into our addictions or fully into our meditations. Many of our friends have died as addicts and yet they did so believing that eastern religion would save them from the demons they fought. Meditation is a drug--it is as addictive as any pill or drink, and that's why many addicts can't break the chain by trying to meditate their way out of addictions

There is not an ounce of Grace or Forgiveness in eastern religion. These two concepts just do not existed. You are personally responsible for your life--and lives to come. You live on a reincarnation wheel, and around and around you go until you get it right. But the lie is--it's not possible to get it right. This is a broken world and we are broken people. Not one baby born today is going to live a perfect life without sin. It is just not possible to attain God status, and besides Jesus, there isn't a soul on this earth who can prove otherwise. George included.

Besides the devastating ill effects of eastern religion, Pattie's book is insightful, paints an amazing picture of the sixties, the Beatles and of the lost dreams of many from that generation.(less)

like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Wendy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was an interesting perspective of a time that I have no insight into and it was fun to recognize some names (there were many, and most I didn't have a clue of) and events. Rock 'n roll culture is not really my forte so there was a lot I could learn.

--spoiler--

However, I got the feeling as I read this book that it was actually Penny Junior's story instead of Pattie Boyd's - there was a lot of bouncing around, sometimes incoherent chain of events, quite a bit of quoting other material such as...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 15, 2012 Lara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Pattie comes across as an empty-headed, pretty blonde. Someone who can repeat a single word for 7 hours. (Try it).

I assume there must be more to her to retain so many friends and capture the attention of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, but Boyd, or perhaps more pertinently the journalist who helped write this book, couldn't evoke it.

Pattie is better at detailing what went wrong in the relationships than revealing what it felt like to get into them, and perhaps that's understandable from a...more

like · see review

Jan 01, 2012 Natalie rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good, fast read. A wonderful read for any woman who's ever been co-dependent or wrapped up in the drama of her man's world and consequently lost herself.

That's what this book is really about: the emancipation of Pattie Boyd, who was the wife and muse of first George Harrison then later, Eric Clapton.

However, I found I liked the section of the book where she discusses being married to George Harrison whom I believe was her soul mate, the best. Towards the end, where she relates that he once sai...more

like · see review

Oct 09, 2011 Diann Blakely added it

While Pattie Boyd [Harrison Clapton]’s memoir appeared only a few months before Clapton's own, don’t assume that her book is dismissible as an aging groupie’s remembrances. Boyd, while married to George Harrison, became Eric Clapton’s obsession; then after divorce, she became his wife, then his ex-wife. Boyd inspired the classic “Layla” when she initially sent away the besotted Clapton with the reminder that George was his best friend. Clapton’s petulant and self-destructive rejoinder was that s...more While Pattie Boyd [Harrison Clapton]’s memoir appeared only a few months before Clapton's own, don’t assume that her book is dismissible as an aging groupie’s remembrances. Boyd, while married to George Harrison, became Eric Clapton’s obsession; then after divorce, she became his wife, then his ex-wife. Boyd inspired the classic “Layla” when she initially sent away the besotted Clapton with the reminder that George was his best friend. Clapton’s petulant and self-destructive rejoinder was that she’d left him no choice but to become a heroin adddict. Boyd stuck it out at home until her husband’s own intoxicant use and compulsive womanizing made her seek out Clapton again—“I tried to give you consolation / When your old man let you down.” Boyd was let down for most of her life: an awful childhood jolted her from her beloved early home in Kenya to cold dreary England, where she had too many uncaring paternal figures and too little motherly attention, in addition to doing time as a quasi-orphan. If Clapton was deliberately led to believe that his mother was his sister, he at least had the advantage of a stable upbringing by his doting grandparents.

The Boyd-Clapton union broke up, perhaps inevitably, perhaps because of Clapton’s infidelity—which included fathering Conor, the child who later died tragically in a fall—and his lingering sense of guilt over betraying his best friend, and perhaps because he stopped using heroin only to take up drinking voluminous amounts of brandy, vodka and beer. Yet while Clapton’s music served as the outlet for some of his demons, Boyd could only create a role as his muse, always wanting to look—and be—“wonderful tonight.” The role usually snuffs out a woman’s individuality, not to mention any creative urge she might have. Boyd, defying the odds and the tradition, has produced a distinguished body of work as a photographer, and two exhibitions gave her the courage to write this candid, ultimately sweet-hearted memoir.

((originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)(less)

like · see review

Apr 09, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was the story of an incredible life. She was a model, married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and good friends with many other 60's celebrities. She really tried to capture an interesting period in time. She does give some unique insight into the personalities of Harrison and Clapton, and there are many stories in this book that only Pattie can tell.

The problem is that she's not a very good writer. She's telling an incredible story, but in the most boring manner possible. Also, I felt...more

like · see review

Mar 02, 2011 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-own-picks

I'm fascinated by the era of the late 60's/early 70's and this autobiography from the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton was right up my alley. Pattie Boyd grabbed my attention from the get-go with her story of growing up in Kenya with distant parents and several siblings. From there, she describes life in boarding schools, being discovered for modeling, acting in a Beatles film, marrying George, their exotic life together and subsequent divorce, marrying Eric Clapton and being...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 11, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

First, I have always physically resembled Patti Boyd. People used to stop me and tell me all the time how much I looked like her. Therefore I always had a bit of a fascination with her and felt quite fond of her in a protective way, even though she is older than me. When I discovered she had written an autobiography I just had to read it. It did not disappoint me, because she proved to be the lady that I always knew she was. Even though this sweet, quiet, reticent woman was married to two of the...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
what do you think about this book???	7	24	Mar 25, 2012 04:26pm

combine
Other Editions (16)

More editions...

Genres

Non Fiction

81 users

Music

76 users

Biography

61 users

Autobiography > Memoir

60 users

Biography > Autobiography

16 users

Biography Memoir

12 users

Book Club

6 users

Music > Rock N Roll

3 users

History

3 users

Culture > Pop Culture

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Pattie Boyd

Pattie Boyd is a photographer and former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

More about Pattie Boyd...

Books by Pattie Boyd

Wonderful Today The Autobiography Of Pattie Boyd

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Wonderful Tonight

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Wonderful Tonight

“On first impressions, John seemed more cynical and brash than the others, Ringo the most endearing, Paul was cute, and George, with velvet brown eyes and dark chestnut hair, was the best-looking man I'd ever seen. At the break for lunch I found myself sitting next to him, whether by accident or design I have never been sure. We were both shy and spoke hardly a word to each other, but being close to him was electrifying.” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Wonderful Tonight
avg rating	preview: Wonderful Tonight Goodreads rating: 3.56 (4576 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764063.Wonderful_Tonight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320426628l/764063.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764063.Wonderful_Tonight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd[/url]

Wonderful Tonight

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website