Whilst she never loses sight of the fact that Ian is the person everyone will want to know about, it's written in such a way that she is the focus of most of the book. This will disappoint the fans, as this is as much a biography of Deborah Curtis as it is of Ian Curtis.

So whilst her recollections of his attempts to become famous and the early days of Joy Division are quite detailed, she was shut out as they became more popular and were touring Europe and details of this part of Ian Curtis' life are either reported second hand or omitted completely. The issue is that Ian Curtis kept everyone at arm's length, including his wife, and refused to let her join in on his rise to fame. There are quotes from other people associated with the band, but the book is mostly just Deborah Curtis and her memories.

She describes her worries about his epilepsy and how working too hard to get a break might have hurt him and how it was that no one, including herself, saw Ian's suicide coming.

She would see every side of Ian Curtis but, like many, would believe that the depressing lyrics he wrote were just something he was writing, not something he was feeling.ĭeborah Curtis takes us through her own life as it intersects with Ian's and describes the loneliness of being his wife as he became more emotionally distant and as his work with Joy Division took him physically away from her. She knew him from when he was just schoolboy with big dreams and was with him during his rise to fame, through until his sad end. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is perhaps the highest profile of these but more than a decade before he killed himself there was Ian Curtis of Joy Division.ĭeborah Curtis seems to be the person in the best position to talk about Ian Curtis' life, as she shared many years of it as his girlfriend and wife. Far fewer are those who have deliberately snuffed out their own spark. Others have died through no fault of their own, their deaths a tragedy. Many have lived the rock 'n roll lifestyle to excess and paid the ultimate price. The list of rock stars who have been taken from us early is a long one. Even after being married to him, Deborah Curtis proves that he didn't let her get any closer than anyone else and the biography is lacking. Summary: A biography of someone who kept everyone around him at a distance.

Ian curtis touching from a distance