Mercury and Me

I bought this book after seeing the movie about queen. I found it a fast read with information I hadn’t heard. Be sure to have tissues at hand when you get to his death. Good read !

Back in 2020, I had lost it.. (which sucked) and I just really love this book! I’m so glad I bought it again 🫶

I never met Freddie Mercury so I don't know what he felt or was feeling before he died. By saying this I was able to go into this book with an open mind. I've read so many ugly things written about Jim Hutton by Freddie's fans. Some hate him for writing this book, others hate him for daring to say that Freddie loved him more than his "soul mate" Mary Austin. Fans have accused Jim of everything -- lying, being greedy, being vindictive and spiteful, and even a section of fans who firmly believe Jim gave Freddie HIV. I've also heard that some of these fans sent Jim death threats before he died of cancer in 2010. I was very surprised by the amount of vitriol this man receives even six years after his death, when in interviews I've seen I've never heard any of Freddie's friends say anything bad about Jim. In fact, several of Freddie's friends agree that Freddie's relationship with Jim was THE relationship he'd been looking for.But I like I said, I sat down to read this book with an open mind. Three quarters of the way through I felt like I'd been gutted. Jim doesn't pull any punches; frequently throughout the book he mentions how much he loved Freddie but he's also very honest about Freddie's faults. It was very shocking to me. Perhaps like the majority of fans I had this ideal image of the type of person Freddie Mercury was. I needed to stop reading the book and take a break. When I came back I started over from the beginning. Now that I knew what to expect from the book reading wasn't so bad anymore. I managed to finish it all the way through, and by the end I was in tears.In the last two days I've read the book four times. Each time I find something I'd missed previously, and it became more enjoyable for me to read. I have not become disillusioned by Freddie by reading this book. In fact, he's seems more human than godlike to me as he'd seemed like previously, and that just makes me a bigger fan of his. Nor did I get the feeling that Jim had written an exploitative tell-all to make a quick buck. Freddie was a human being after all, and like all humans beings he wasn't perfect. But I didn't need Jim's written words to tell me that they had a loving relationship despite their problems. I've heard many interviews where Freddie himself talks very lovingly about his relationship with Jim (though he doesn't refer to Jim by name in these interviews) so I know that they both loved each other. There were a lot of times that I could feel the tears behind the words here, and it felt like this had been a memoir written by a grieving man. Not someone who acted like Paul Prenter and exploited Freddie.I realize people feel like Jim betrayed Freddie by writing this, but for those people who think way I have an honest question: What do you know? Did Freddie tell you that nobody was allowed to talk about him after he died? Were you there nursing him through an absolutely horrific illness? Were you a part of his life in any way whatsoever? I'm going to guess no, so I firmly believe that people who feel that Jim and Peter and others of Freddie's friends who wrote books about Freddie act like these people are leeches and users don't know what they're talking about. You don't know what Freddie wanted. You didn't know him the way these people did, so how dare you stand in judgment of them?As for the whole mess with Freddie's will...I realize there are two sides to every story. I do not deny that Freddie loved Mary until he died. I mean it's pretty well-documented that he loved her. But just because he loved her doesn't mean he did not love Jim. And just because Freddie left half of his estate to Mary doesn't mean he didn't trust Jim. I mean, if he DIDN'T love or trust Jim then Freddie's friends would certainly mentioned that little tidbit in interviews! But the only person who could truly answer that question is Freddie himself, and unfortunately he's not here to set the record straight.I gave this book four stars because the writing scheme felt very awkward. I felt like I was reading a jumbled diary at times. Jim also spent a lot of time describing Freddie's shopping trips, which didn't really interest me. However I enjoyed this intimate look into the final years of Freddie Mercury's life. Fans either love Jim for his relationship with Freddie, or hate him for his relationship with Freddie. This isn't a rosy love story; their relationship had a lot of ups and downs but I believe Jim made Freddie happy. And for anyone who doubts me, here's Freddie's own words about his relationship with Jim: "I'm really very happy with my relationship at the moment, and I couldn't really ask for better. I finally found a...niche that I was looking for all my life. And no f***er in this universe is going to upset it".

Another great book on Freddie to read

I loved this book. I read it pretty much in one sitting, and found it thoroughly engrossing. The writing is extremely simple; it feels like you're talking to Jim directly as he tells you about his life with Freddie rather than reading a professionally-written memoir. (To that effect, I wonder what role Tim Wapshott had in this book's creation? It feels too organic to have been ghostwritten, at least entirely.)Anyway, that may or may not detract from the book for some folks. It's honest--perhaps *too* honest, in a few places--and everything is filtered through Jim's perspective, which means that especially the end might rub some people the wrong way, depending on how positively you want to perceive Mary. It therefore may come across as unfair, the picture he paints of her, but this book is unfiltered: it still bears the marks of grief of a man who's just lost the love of his life--and no doubt Mary was grieving, too. Grief can make people do strange things.And while I can understand that some people would feel that Jim's revealing so much about his life with Freddie is a betrayal--well, then everyone's betrayed him. Everyone's committed the same "sin". I can't think of a single person who was close to him (with the exception of John Deacon?) who hasn't given at least one interview, and most have gone on to give several lengthy ones and / or to write books. For better or for worse, that's so--and for better or for worse, accounts of various events (especially conversations--some of them crucial) don't always match up. Grief can make people do strange things, and grief can mar memories.One thing I particularly appreciate is Jim's not really touching on Freddie's past relationship with Mary. That gets brought up a lot, mostly with speculation, and particularly when people deign it necessary to have sometimes heated debates over whether Freddie was gay or bisexual. That Jim didn't even touch on that issue, I think, speaks volumes about the kind of person he was. There are many different ways to love, and he knew that, for the years they were together, he was Freddie's, and Freddie was his. And that was good enough for them.(That said, Jim refers to Freddie as gay on a couple of occasions, and never as bisexual, so if that, uhm, "triggers you", as the kids say these days, then here's a friendly heads up.)Anyway--I loved this book. Is it simple? Yes. Are there typos? Yes. Does Jim repeat himself? Oh yes. Are there tidbits of information that we probably didn't need to know? Yep. But, as I said, that's what made it so special: it really felt like you were just sitting in a chair opposite, listening to him reminisce.Still if that sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, and / or if you're looking strictly for nothing but irrefutable facts . . . this isn't the memoir for you. If you don't mind those things, I can't recommend this book enough.

Conforme descrito. Livro incrível. Demora um pouco a chegar mas vale a espera. Ponto negativo: deviam ter tracking associado (no meu caso não tinha/não funcionou)

El libro está escrito por Jim Hutton y es de los pocos que hablan acerca de Freddie desde una perspectiva personal.Jim vivió con él durante los últimos años de la vida del cantante. Hay quienes dicen que este libro es un insulto a la memoria de Freddie, pero creo que más bien retrata la parte humana e imperfecta de aquel chico Farrokh Bulsara. No somos quién para juzgar la decisión de Jim por escribir este libro. Ellos estaban en una relación, por lo que podría decirse que ambos tenían el mismo derecho para decir lo que quisieran de su vínculo.Habrá quienes no deseen conocer el lado íntimo de las celebridades y prefieran quedarse con la parte artística de éstos. Con Freddie era difícil hacer esa distinción. Su modo de ser lo impregnaba en su trabajo. Su espíritu de vitalidad fue lo que lo motivó a ser uno de los mejores cantantes de la historia de la música.Sí algo debe contarse debe ser como fue, sin medias tintas. En sí, es preferible leer verdades que mentiras disfrazadas.

Must read for those who truly believe in a good love story. There are moments when you hate Freddie the boyfriend, but love Freddie the partner.

Jim Hutton ist mit diesem Buch ein einfühlsames, berührendes und ehrliches Portrait einer tiefen Liebe und deren tragischem Ende durch AIDS gelungen. Er zeigt uns den Menschen hinter dem Mythos Freddie Mercury mit all seinen (manchmal auch unschönen) Facetten und schafft es so dem Leser etwas von der privaten Seite Freddie Mercury's zu zeigen und uns einen Blick hinter die Kulissen werfen zu lassen. Dieses Buch beinhaltet einfach alles von großen Gefühlen ( romantischen Valentinstagsgeschenken, Eheringen, ganz viel Liebe und Katzen, aber auch Dramen wie Eifersucht, Missgunst innerhalb von Freddies Umfeld, AIDS und all das daraus resultierende Leid.Jim lässt uns teilhaben an dieser wunderbaren Liebesgeschichte, die im Schwulenclub Heaven begann und fast sieben Jahre später ein so tragisches Ende nahm. Er beschreibt sehr offen und ehrlich mit welchen Schwierigkeiten und Hindernissen er als Partner bzw. "Ehemann" einer so berühmten Person wie Freddie Mercury konfrontiert war und wie die beiden trotz allem bis zum bitteren Ende in tiefer Liebe verbunden waren.Spoiler: Das Buch beinhaltet Andeutungen aus ihrem Sexleben, Freddie's körperlichen Verfall und seine letzten Worte sowie sein Tod werden relativ genau beschrieben.Jim Hutton war gewiss kein großer Schriftsteller, aber trotzdem ist es ihm gelungen ein zutiefst berührendes und nicht nur für Fans interessantes Buch über die große Liebe zweier Menschen von denen einer zufällig der Superstar Freddie Mercury war zu schreiben.5 Sterne und auf jeden Fall zu empfehlen!Einziger kleiner "Minuspunkt": Die Fotos kommen in der Kindle-Version leider nicht so gut zur Geltung.

Loved every bit of this book, an interesting relationship between the author and Freddie Mercury. A loving relationship with touches of jealousy. Terrible how the boyfriend was treated after the death of Freddie, these days he would be entitled to a lot more of the estate than $500,000. But when everything is left to one person ( Freddie’s ex girlfriend), you know it is going to end badly. In my opinion she was one jealous person who didn’t like Freddie being in a relationship with anyone but her that alone another male.