Let Love Rule by Lenny Kravitz with David Ritz was in my Amazon basket for a while for pre-order. I’m rarely interested in celebrities, but one or two might grab my curiosity once in a while, and Lenny Kravitz is one who to this day, still seems to carry a strong air of mystery about him.

Lenny Kravitz per se

I’ve always thought of Lenny as a distinctly quirky and an interesting character, he’s not easy to define, because of his ever shifting and unpredictable style both musically and fashion-wise.

With his ‘non show-biz’ off camera demeanour, he’s always seems like a very down to earth personality.

Let Love Rule by Lenny Kravitz

I assume all the other books written about him probably focused very heavily on Lenny’s career and the music industry.

Disappointingly, I’ve found this to be the case much of the time when reading books by musicians, performers or other public eye figures.

I was hoping ‘Let Love Rule’ might give us a bit more of the pure Lenny Kravitz – the person rather than rock star.

Life

Let Love Rule opens up with a strange dream Lenny used to have as a child, before we hear about his family background, musical influences – the character of each of his parents and grandparents, his relationships with his parents, his childhood and teenage years growing up between the US and the Bahamas.

Lenny shares his first (and last) experience of getting drunk (definitely enough to put you off for life), along with the time he worked gutting and frying fish, leaving him needing to take showers with lemons to get rid of the smell.

Did you know that despite Lenny’s endless showbiz family/friend connections, he once worked in a cafe washing dishes whilst living and sleeping in a car? No stranger to couch surfing.

Career

Of course, as I expected, there is a fair amount of reflection on the beginnings of Lenny’s career, but thankfully this doesn’t overbear his writing…in fact the book ends just as his solo career begins, leaving it very clearly open for a follow up.

Verdict

Quick and easy to read – nice snappy short chapters as well as lengthier ones – making it less long and drawn out.

Delve into Lenny’s family life, the mix of cultural backgrounds he grew up with, and his more youthful days, you’ll get a lot of insight into this, including the personalities and dynamics across and between family members and childhood friends.

Lenny’s creative inspiration borrows from a range of musical and lifestyle influences – helping create the eclectic character that he is.

So, yes, I think I got what I was hoping for, a bit more of a personal insight rather than just a factual career/performance run down.