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Memoirs of the Bright Side of the Moon
Do you believe in love at first sight? A love so strong it sweeps you off your feet and catapults your life into romance beyond your wildest dreams. Memoirs of the Bright Side of the Moon is such a story. From the moment you hold the book, you will sense something special within its pages as its compassion will defy what you would expect. Welcome to the true story of Ginger Gilmour, the former wife of the legendary guitar player David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.
The journey begins with her meeting David backstage while the band was playing at the University of Michigan. Swept off her feet she took him up on his offer to come with him for neither could leave each others side. Like a fairy tale, it was a spontaneous explosion of love, music, heart, and song. Four years later, they married and began a family in England taking them on the road.
90 short chapters about her life, the way she lived it, and how being part of the Pink Floyd experience affected her. A series of individual stories painting the nature of Gingers heart, and undeniably provoking emotions from the soul. A life that witnessed the creation of one of the greatest collection of music ever recorded in the history of rock and roll.
Memoirs of the Bright Side of the Moon is more than a tale of rock royalty, motherhood, and creative expression. It is a tale of standing on top of the mountain, falling from its magnificent heights, and finding yourself again. It leaves you with a yearning for the artist to pick up her brush and paint us another verse about her personal experiences, her art, her life, and the Beauty that radiates from her story. A must for the Pink Floyd fan and the curious, encouraging us all to meet….
on the Bright Side of the Moon.
The journey begins with her meeting David backstage while the band was playing at the University of Michigan. Swept off her feet she took him up on his offer to come with him for neither could leave each others side. Like a fairy tale, it was a spontaneous explosion of love, music, heart, and song. Four years later, they married and began a family in England taking them on the road.
90 short chapters about her life, the way she lived it, and how being part of the Pink Floyd experience affected her. A series of individual stories painting the nature of Gingers heart, and undeniably provoking emotions from the soul. A life that witnessed the creation of one of the greatest collection of music ever recorded in the history of rock and roll.
Memoirs of the Bright Side of the Moon is more than a tale of rock royalty, motherhood, and creative expression. It is a tale of standing on top of the mountain, falling from its magnificent heights, and finding yourself again. It leaves you with a yearning for the artist to pick up her brush and paint us another verse about her personal experiences, her art, her life, and the Beauty that radiates from her story. A must for the Pink Floyd fan and the curious, encouraging us all to meet….
on the Bright Side of the Moon.
640 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2015
17 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 5, 2017
I read this book because I am a big fan of Pink Floyd and their music and I assume that is why the majority of people would pick it up.
I don't wish to be unkind but, on the other hand, it's hard to find much positive to say about the book. I suppose the highlight is that it gives one a BIT of a glimpse backstage - but ONLY a bit as the majority of the book is about her spiritual journey to be a "child of God and a messenger of beauty." It's also very refreshing to hear someone write about their ex-partner and ex-marriage in such loving terms.
But, while Ginger may or may not be an artist, she is by no stretch of the imagination a writer. Her style is precious and banal in the extreme. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the book was written by a teenage girl on her first big crush - which I suppose David Gilmour was but surely by this point in her life, some mature perspective could be applied or even some decent sentence structure and grammar. It's not just that she is describing it from that viewpoint; it's actually written in the most cringe-making gush, up to and including capricious capitalization of Words That Are SO Important.
The other thing that struck me as a bit odd: she and David Gilmour were married for fourteen years. They were separated for at least a couple of those years. They divorced in 1990 and he has been with and married to Polly Samson since 1993 - over 24 years....and yet the writing in this book gives the reader the distinct impression that, somehow, Ginger and David are 'the' couple. Yikes....honey, you really need to move on.
And then there is the time when she wakes up one morning, looks at David and sees him as an image of Christ, which of course she took as a sign that they were meant to be together. David Gilmour describes himself as a lifelong atheist, so one can only wonder at his reaction to this.
If you're a fan of alternative remedies and beliefs, you'll probably enjoy a lot of this book. If you're a hard-science based person, you'll likely throw it across the room. If you're looking for insight into Pink Floyd and the back story on the band, you'll get a taste but certainly not enough to make it worth your time to slog through 600 pages.
I don't wish to be unkind but, on the other hand, it's hard to find much positive to say about the book. I suppose the highlight is that it gives one a BIT of a glimpse backstage - but ONLY a bit as the majority of the book is about her spiritual journey to be a "child of God and a messenger of beauty." It's also very refreshing to hear someone write about their ex-partner and ex-marriage in such loving terms.
But, while Ginger may or may not be an artist, she is by no stretch of the imagination a writer. Her style is precious and banal in the extreme. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the book was written by a teenage girl on her first big crush - which I suppose David Gilmour was but surely by this point in her life, some mature perspective could be applied or even some decent sentence structure and grammar. It's not just that she is describing it from that viewpoint; it's actually written in the most cringe-making gush, up to and including capricious capitalization of Words That Are SO Important.
The other thing that struck me as a bit odd: she and David Gilmour were married for fourteen years. They were separated for at least a couple of those years. They divorced in 1990 and he has been with and married to Polly Samson since 1993 - over 24 years....and yet the writing in this book gives the reader the distinct impression that, somehow, Ginger and David are 'the' couple. Yikes....honey, you really need to move on.
And then there is the time when she wakes up one morning, looks at David and sees him as an image of Christ, which of course she took as a sign that they were meant to be together. David Gilmour describes himself as a lifelong atheist, so one can only wonder at his reaction to this.
If you're a fan of alternative remedies and beliefs, you'll probably enjoy a lot of this book. If you're a hard-science based person, you'll likely throw it across the room. If you're looking for insight into Pink Floyd and the back story on the band, you'll get a taste but certainly not enough to make it worth your time to slog through 600 pages.
March 4, 2018
First of all, these are Ginger's memoirs and although there is a lot of David Gilmour inside, especially around the tumultuous The Wall / A Momentary Lapse Of Reason years, Pink Floyd isn't its primordial subject, certainly not in the later chapters when – SPOILER ALERT – their marriage has failed. Over the years Ginger has grown spiritually and artistically and this book minutiously reveals the path she walked / crawled / stumbled to get over there.
The main trouble is, for grumpy diabetics in a mid-life crisis such as me, that sucrose is dripping from nearly every page and that Ginger uses the word Beauty (with capital B) in about every other paragraph. Angels magically appear in Space Invaders droves. There is a lot of talk about Inspiration. And Meditation. Wonder. Goodness. Hope. Peace. LOVE. It's almost cuteness overload.
Ginger has found inner peace by soaking in a bath of alternative, new-age, eastern-style religious and philosophical mindsets and isn't afraid of saying so. It's just not my cup of tea and it must have been hard on the frail internal Floydian communication lines... (...)
The tension in the band had its negative influence on Gilmour's marriage as well . David confided to Emo that he feared that the Sant Mat movement had too much influence on his wife, what Emo – himself a Charan Singh follower - duly contradicted. (...) David Gilmour unwillingly pushed her away as she sought guidance in the mental colour therapy of The Maitreya School of Healing and in the teachings of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiya order.
The divorce did not embitter Ginger and she writes with much love about David Gilmour and Pink Floyd. She seems to be such a nice lady and her book is so fill with uplifting optimism that it almost is a sin to criticise her, but it is not without flaws.
Ginger Gilmour sees divine intervention about everywhere so that I can only deduct that over the years she created her own personal cuckoo land. This is mostly harmless, but after a time it gets slightly irritating. (...) Suggesting that mental colour therapy could help with diseases such as AIDS sounds pretty much like potentially dangerous quackery to me.
But for the look behind the curtains of this band, during one of its darkest seasons, this bleeding anorak is thankful.
(The complete review can be read at: The Ballad of Fred & Ginger.)
The main trouble is, for grumpy diabetics in a mid-life crisis such as me, that sucrose is dripping from nearly every page and that Ginger uses the word Beauty (with capital B) in about every other paragraph. Angels magically appear in Space Invaders droves. There is a lot of talk about Inspiration. And Meditation. Wonder. Goodness. Hope. Peace. LOVE. It's almost cuteness overload.
Ginger has found inner peace by soaking in a bath of alternative, new-age, eastern-style religious and philosophical mindsets and isn't afraid of saying so. It's just not my cup of tea and it must have been hard on the frail internal Floydian communication lines... (...)
The tension in the band had its negative influence on Gilmour's marriage as well . David confided to Emo that he feared that the Sant Mat movement had too much influence on his wife, what Emo – himself a Charan Singh follower - duly contradicted. (...) David Gilmour unwillingly pushed her away as she sought guidance in the mental colour therapy of The Maitreya School of Healing and in the teachings of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiya order.
The divorce did not embitter Ginger and she writes with much love about David Gilmour and Pink Floyd. She seems to be such a nice lady and her book is so fill with uplifting optimism that it almost is a sin to criticise her, but it is not without flaws.
Ginger Gilmour sees divine intervention about everywhere so that I can only deduct that over the years she created her own personal cuckoo land. This is mostly harmless, but after a time it gets slightly irritating. (...) Suggesting that mental colour therapy could help with diseases such as AIDS sounds pretty much like potentially dangerous quackery to me.
But for the look behind the curtains of this band, during one of its darkest seasons, this bleeding anorak is thankful.
(The complete review can be read at: The Ballad of Fred & Ginger.)
June 1, 2017
Ginger Gilmour perfectly channels her peaceful spirit of maternal compassion and a childlike admiration for beauty and the metaphysical in this breathtaking masterpiece.
The amaranthine imagery and diction is like velvet, soft and refreshing, almost Wilde-like.
The story has a strong backbone, one of a young woman finding herself and becoming lost in the winds of passion and love. It is a story that speaks to the reader, and her journey of maturation, both mental and spiritual, is a blessing of a lesson.
This artistic triumph is made all the more wonderful by the element of Floyd, so all classic rock enthusiasts such as myself will adore the unbelievable, star-speckled anecdotes throughout the book as well as the look into the genuine, human side of the musicians.
The amaranthine imagery and diction is like velvet, soft and refreshing, almost Wilde-like.
The story has a strong backbone, one of a young woman finding herself and becoming lost in the winds of passion and love. It is a story that speaks to the reader, and her journey of maturation, both mental and spiritual, is a blessing of a lesson.
This artistic triumph is made all the more wonderful by the element of Floyd, so all classic rock enthusiasts such as myself will adore the unbelievable, star-speckled anecdotes throughout the book as well as the look into the genuine, human side of the musicians.
January 7, 2018
A truly inspirational read. What more can i say im Lost For Words as the Pink Floyd song spells out
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August 17, 2023read this like 2 years ago and honestly can’t remember much of it BUT something that stuck with me is how ginger gilmour says that when she met david gilmour, his hair smelled like strawberries. that’s all i’m gonna say
February 14, 2021
I only read this because I am a Pink Floyd fan. But the book feels as if it had been written by a 14-year-old.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews