RATING: 7 out of 10
VERDICT: An interesting read, slightly marred by Cross's irritating habit of reporting speculation and imagination as fact.

Kurt Cobain's life ended tragically -- and stupidly -- when he took his own life on April 5th, 1994. As a child he lived with assorted friends and relatives after his parents divorced; as an adult he led Nirvana, unquestionably one of the greatest bands ever.

Cross's book is a fascinating account of that life, aided by hundreds of interviews and what was clearly a great deal of research. The section on Cobain's early life is interesting, but of course what fans most want to read about is the man's music -- and that, too, is covered in detail. It documents Nirvana's first ever real performance -- at a frat party -- and mentions most, if not all, of their significant live performances and tours after that.

There are plenty of fascinating insights into both Cobain and Nirvana to be found in this book; those who think that Nirvana was a partnership of equals, for instance, may (or may not) be surprised to discover that the band was almost completely driven by Cobain; he wrote the music, and he made all the significant decisions, even contemplating firing his two bandmates at several different points in time. The book also contains plenty of fascinating detail about the genesis of Cobain's songs, and probably gives a better idea than most about the meanings of at least some of them. (It's worth noting that, as the title suggests, this is a book about Kurt Cobain, and not Nirvana -- so don't expect a definitive account of the band, although there's plenty of detail along the way.)

However, we should mention that this biography was produced with the co-operation of Cobain's wife, Courtney Love -- the author was even shown Cobain's suicide note. While obviously this assistance has meant that Cross has access to details and information that completely unauthorised biographies lack, it does also mean that Courtney may have put her own 'spin' on events, especially those where there isn't any independent source of verification available. True, Love is not always portrayed in the most flattering light, but nor does the book criticise her particularly strongly -- even though, for example, she and Cobain were both taking drugs during her pregnancy. Instead, she is often portrayed as a sort of 'victim' of Cobain's drug taking -- during her pregnancy, for example, Cross says that "with Kurt buying heroin daily ... she found herself falling down a slippery slope again." Er... sorry? "Slippery slope"? She was shooting up while she was pregnant, for crying out loud.

The other downside to the book is that Cross insists on editorialising, telling us what Cobain was thinking when clearly he could know no such thing. This is particularly grating in the chapter detailing his death, where we get a minute-by-minute account of Cobain's last day, something that can only possibly be imagination, since no-one was there to witness it.

Still, those caveats aside, this is an interesting and revealing read about a wonderfully talented, but very troubled, man. Well worth checking out.