Have you ever read a clickbait article with a title like "10 Signs You May Not Be Drinking Enough Water" and it turns out to be the personal experience of the author, an otherwise healthy 20-something, who describes in great detail how she figured out she wasn't drinking enough water, plus some stuff that other people wrote on Reddit and Twitter, and maybe a quote from a doctor at the end? If you were fine with that, and you really like Pearl Jam, you might just like this 430-page book about a guy who has seen 57 PJ concerts, but really only likes their music from the 90s, and has strong opinions even among those songs about which are great and which are terrible. He spends the first 250 pages or so reviewing the era he didn't see live based on bootlegs and other peoples' descriptions. This doesn't purport to be a biography, but rather a "fan's notes," according to the author. But since you can't debate him like the guy at the end of the bar, it gets a bit tedious. And, like all PJ discussions, it's rather heavy on Vedder and light on the rest of the band and other key figures in their orbit. Boom Gaspar gets one mention in the whole book. Anyway, the PJ superfan might enjoy it, but it's not the intro biography that somebody should get busy writing.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

For me, Pearl Jam is a very interesting band who I like reading about more than I like listening to. Ronen Givony is obviously a fan and is very opinionated about what he likes and doesn't like in the band's catalogue. If you're looking for an evenhanded biography of the band, this is not for you.

Thank you to the publishers and author for access to an advanced copy of Not For You: Pearl Jam And The Present Tense. Please see my full review on Instagram linked below:

Being a huge Pearl Jam fan i thoroughly enjoyed this book and reading about the bands history. The author presented a lot details about the band that I didn't think of or realize and a new perspective on the songs and events. The book presented a thorough review of the band's recording history as well as on their tour and concert history. It is an excellent biography of one of the greatest bands in history. The author isn't afraid to point out some of the failings of the band as well as revel in there amazing music.

This was not what I was thinking this book was going to be about. I am not sure if it is because of how the book was in kindle format, but this book was all over the place.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

"It creeps up on you: one day, you’re a casual fan, happy to take in a show every once in a while. All of a sudden, you are a sociopath with opinions on the definitive version of 'Daughter'.” (Ronen Givony)

I loved Pearl Jam in he 90s. Unfortunately, I eventually lost track of their newer music, though their old stuff remains a favorite of mine, able to take me back to a moment in time. So, when I saw this book, I was excited to receive a copy from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

I feel this book so hard. While I like Pearl Jam, they aren't "my band" -- but I do have a band that lays the same role in my life as Pearl Jam does for the author. At times reading this book was like having a conversation with a friend about songs and setlists and our last (or next) shows. I thoroughly enjoyed that "conversation" with Mr. Givony, as well as seeing what I've missed with Pearl Jam over the years. The book was well written and researched, and despite the author's love for the band and music, it was very objective. I appreciated the current events in relation to Pearl Jam's sIongwriting and evolution as a band.

This was an excellent read, and I'm sure I'll be back to reread it (and definitely listening to more Pearl Jam).

I really loved Pearl Jam but not to the extend this author does. This means a lot of the minutiae is lost on me which makes the book not rate as well for me. I do like the quick writing style in snippets and via timeline and think really huge PJ fans will love this. It could be a favorite for a niche group.

Not what I was hoping for in terms of a Pearl Jam book, the writing was all over the place and the narrative was hard to follow.

Pearl Jam were undoubtedly one of the pioneers of the grunge and alternative rock scene around Seattle, Washington, so I was excited to read their first-ever comprehensive biography. Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense is, however, very different to most biographies and charts the band's substantial milestones alongside the political, social and environmental climate across the globe at the time, and for that very reason I found it captivating from start to finish. Right from the beginning of their career in 1989 and through to 2019, the year's are punctuated by ruminations on about time, rebellion, fame, disenchantment, civil discourse, the idea of the mainstream, the desire of a fan, and what a band can do to answer it. It sets the gigs, appearances and music into context creating an original and fascinatingly unique read at once about a much-loved band and the wider world. Many thanks to Bloomsbury Academic for an ARC.

I’ll start by saying that this is not a book for the casual fan. But as Givoney himself says, as it has been almost 20 years since the band released an album with more than two or three decent songs, is there really such a thing as a casual Pearl Jam fan left? Instead, we have folk who remember Pearl Jam from when ‘Jeremy’ was on hard rotation on MTV, back when MTV actually showed music videos, and folk who will look down upon the author for having ‘only’ seen them live fifty-seven times. This book is aimed squarely at the latter group.

Not for You doesn’t contain much in the way of biographical info on the individual members of Pearl Jam, working from the probably accurate assumption that anyone picking this book up will already know most of that. Instead, Givoney works his way through the band’s history by placing it in context with what was going on in the wider community at the time, starting with the explosion of ‘Grunge’ in the early nineties, through their battles with Ticketmaster, 9/11 and the Gulf War, the ‘Battle of Seattle’ anti-globalisation protests and the on-going fight for reproductive rights in the US. In fact, some fans who don’t share Pearl Jam’s political views might find themselves joining the crowd at some of their more infamous shows in chanting ‘stick to rock and roll’, but I appreciated this linking of the bands output with contemporary events.

Givoney claims, with some justification, that Pearl Jam are pretty much a ‘touring band’, with the main focus, and best examples, of their work being found playing live rather than in the recording studio, and Not For You contains lots of discussion and dissection of particularly notable live performances throughout the band’s career. Whilst some of this was illuminating, I probably could have done without the continued inclusion of the ‘um’s and ah’s’ during the transcriptions of Ed’s onstage chatter, however.

I would certainly recommend Not For You to Pearl Jam fans, but with one slight caveat. Givoney, as you would expect, has some strong opinions on which parts of the band’s catalogue he likes and which he doesn’t, and if these views don’t chime with your own, then they can become quite grating. I knew by page 50 that he really doesn’t like ‘Jeremy’, I didn’t need to be still being told that by page 350, too. But overall, Not for You was an interesting and entertaining look at an often unfairly maligned band.

Not for You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense is not your typical band biography. More than a gossipy retelling of behind the scenes drama, this is a thorough examination of the band’s recording and concert history. The author isn’t afraid to share his opinions on what he sees as the band’s triumphs as well as their missteps. It’s an intelligent examination of what has worked and what hasn’t. Particularly insightful is the recounting of current events that shaped Pearl Jam’s music and performances. As a casual listener of Pearl Jam, I appreciated the recap of what I’ve missed over the years.