I first heard about this book back in 1998 when I read about it in Entertainment Weekly. I was excited then, and I was excited a few weeks ago when I bought the book. I had read no reviews on the book, as I wanted to have an unbiased opinion as I read it.

Well, I have just finished the book, and I must say... I am disappointed.

First of all, too many things are ignored in this book. Over the last few years, there has been the "Kurt was murdered" theories. The author doesn't even discuss that. Kurt committed suicide, end of story. No mention of the different handwriting on the "suicide" note. And the enormous amount of heroin in Kurt's body? The author shakes that off as "an amazing feat". Now, there was a book written on all that a few years ago, and I'm sure the author didn't want another "Kurt Cobain was Murdered" book, but couldn't he at least talk about it? Nope. Kurt killed himself. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.

At times this book is like a novel. Some of the descriptions seem more fiction than reality. I can recall the author taking up half a page talking about how when Courtney Love walked into a room, how everyone couldn't take their eyes off of her. Hello? Was the author there? No. But I'm sure Courtney told him it was like that. Uh huh.

And that's another thing. At times this book seems like a bio of Courtney, and not Kurt. And with all the negative attention that has surrounded Courtney in her career, is nonexistant in this book. In the book, Courtney is a wonderful person, a loving wife, a grieving widow. Oh, is it any coincidence that Courtney was one of the main people interviewed for this book? It troubles me that people will read this book and believe EVERY WORD. Like I mentioned above, this book at times is like a novel. How can you put trust and believe in a book that makes stuff up half the time? I had to stop reading for a while after reading the author's account of Kurt's final moments. All of it was completely fabricated. Stuff like "He took a sip of his root beer, and looked up into the morning sky. He knew the shotgun would be loud." WHAT? At times this book seems like one of those "fan fiction" things you read on a band's webpages. STICK TO THE FACTS!

Also, I didn't like how the image of Kurt was portrayed. And it makes me more upset that people are willing to accept that THAT was the way Kurt was. Remember, this isn't Kurt talking, it's the "people that knew him". And those people can make up any story and any kind of image they want, because they know Kurt can't speak for himself.

Now, am I saying Kurt Cobain was an angel? No. But I'm sure he wasn't as bad as he was portrayed in this book. "Come as you are" was positive in the final chapter, written after Kurt's death. People like Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have said numerous positive things about Kurt since his death. Oh wait. I forgot. There isn't a lot of interviews with them. But there is lots and lots of COURTNEY! It's kinda sad when Kurt's childhood friend (Novoselic) gets ousted from Kurt's "ultimate biography" in favor of his wife of TWO YEARS. But again, Courtney let the author read those diaries!

Like the title of my review says, don't believe every single word in this book. Don't let it change your image of Kurt Cobain.

Would I recommend this book? Nope. There's too much fiction, and too much Courtney. There could have been SO MUCH MORE. At times I wonder if Courtney wanted this book to portray her as a great person to further her career, and to further bury Kurt, when if it wasn't for Kurt, I doubt we would have ever heard of Courtney Love to begin with.

Forget this book. Go read "Come As You Are".

Cross's failure in the book is multi-fold. First, he suggests that Kurt created the character of "Kurdt Kobain" to separate his boring beginnings from his life of being a hip, rock star. It is obvious that Kurt was more excited about being a wealthy musician than he put on but suggesting that he created an alter ego, like Ziggy Stardust or Marilyn Monroe is preposterous. Cross also does a fair amount of bad writing comparing moments in Kurt's life to such pop culture scenes from Swingers and comparisons of Kurt to Jesus Christ. Cross even shoots himself (and his 400 interviews) in the foot when he makes such classic blunders suggesting that Kurt said he dragged the Whishka river for his stepfather's guns, selling them for his first guitar when in actuality he bought an amplifier. This is a well known story and I have never read Kurt quoted saying he bought his "first" guitar (which is readily know was given to him by an uncle) instead of an amplifier. There are other smaller mistakes throughout such as Cross suggesting that the first guitar Kurt smashed was a Fender Mustang at one of their first shows at Evergreen, when it is well known that Kurt was so poor that he played Univox Mosrite Copies (there is also a picture of this guitar in 'Come As You Are'). There is also a mention that early on Kurt crafted replacement necks for his broken guitars. Kurt Cobain a carpenter!! Must be most illusions to Christ. These errors in addition to Courtney Love being the primary interviewee listed for chapters 14-25 (over half of the book) make much of this information, unless attributed to someone else suspect. There is no arguement that Courtney has a problem telling the truth and with no one to keep her in check what is stopping her from making up as much of her time with Kurt (putting herself in a positive light) as much as Kurt lied about his own life. This makes me wonder just how accurate this information is. Kurt and Courtney didn't have the best relationship, this fact is extremely well documented. This makes me question just how much influence Courtney had in this telling of Kurt's life. Unfortunately, it will never truly be known what Kurt thought and felt beyond other's perceptions and some old words scratched in notebooks and that is the perfect equation for eternal celebrity.

HTH treads on very thin ice when attempting to correct Azerrad on the "In Utero" songs. Cross alleges that Courtney Love, Cobain's spouse, had a very considerable impact on and input in Cobain's songwriting. The evidence he employs to back up his claim varies from shaky to obviously fallacious. Cross devotes two paragraphs to extolling Love's contribution to "Pennyroyal Tea", claiming that she wrote many of the lyrics and helped with the music. The fact that NIRVANA played the song at the soundcheck of a concert in April 1991, some seven months before Cobain began dating Love, reveals that Cross is certainly mistaken.

The kind of exploitation Kurt deplored. So much made up information in this book, it made me jump out of my chair and pound the wall. Where the author couldn't get the facts, he invented them. I know. I was there during Kurt's short life. Those who turned down Mr. Cross for an interview were punished by being specifically targeted as villains or crazies. Mr. Cross was successful in one aspect, and that was to nail those book readings. Congratulations, Mr. Cross for adding more salt into one family's wounds. RIP, Kurt.

The worst problem with this book by far is that Cross relied too heavily on Courtney Love's version of events. This leads to numerous errors in the book, for example, we are told that Love helped Cobain pen Pennyroyal Tea, but any bootlegger knows that Cobain first performed this song in late 1991, before he ever met Love. One can only wonder how many other inaccuracies sprout from Love's egocentric retelling of events, events for which there is only Love's side to the story. For this reason, I consider virtually one third of the book entirely worthless, since it is based on interviews with a person proven to lack credibility. All in all, it's worth reading, but I don't consider it a worthy biography of Cobain. The John Lennon of generation X deserves a more professional biography, but for now we will have to make do with the shoddy journalism that plagues so much of the literature on Cobain.

"Heavier than Heaven" is a well written book of myths written in simple enough language to bring mass appeal to all stupid americans who enjoy a story better than truth. The supposed validity of this book is forged by a few tid-bits of information suppposedly never heard of before in any other publication. Nevertheless, the book itself, in the core, is a propaganda piece and charles cross is the puppet of the machiavialian she-demon COURTNEY LOVE. this greed monger female has the testosterone of a grisley bear and paints her husband as suicidal, pathetic, and weak. Whether you are a believer or not in the conspiracy thoeries, the truth is Courtney love drained the life out of kurt, a sweet boy who needed affection. To hear the REAL cobain story i recommend the movie KURT AND COURTNEY before Love has her way and has it pulled off the shelves.

To anyone who was a fan or has followed the story of Kurt Cobain it is obvious that this book is full of false information. The last half of this book is the, WHO DOES IT SERVE, spin control version of what happened. This information is obviously without any doubt completely disrespectful to Kurt Cobain as an artist,public figure and human being. I would ask that you question ever fact in this book and examine the true nature of how it was written and why.

The in-depth look into kurt cobain's mind is interesting, but! i had to add a caveat that courtney love's involvement with this project probably contributes to the incredibly negative picture the author paints of kathleen hanna and tobi vail. (i'm saying this as a fan of their band, bikini kill, and of kathleen hanna in general.) when cross says that vail and hanna "prattled on" about feminism, he's completely denigrating the fact that both of them were seriously involved with and interested in feminism in underground music. this isn't to say that tobi vail necessarily treated kurt the way he wanted to be treated--even michael azerrad's "come as you are" makes it clear that their relationship priorities were different. but cross extends this to be an indictment of tobi vail and kathleen hanna in general, and i find this indictment suspect because of courtney love's involvement. courtney love has a history of punching and/or wanting to "[expleative] kill" (her words, spin magazine) associates of kurt cobain from the olympia scene (she punched kathleen hanna, apparently punched k records' calvin johnson, and kurt's ex-girlfriend [?] mary lou lord was the one she wanted to "kill"). so courtney love probably isn't the most reliable, objective source of information on this period of kurt's life, especially since she wasn't there.

Charles Cross, who seems to believe he knows more about Kurt Cobain than his friends and family, writes: "This stuff about Kurt Cobain being an anti-corporate artist is complete and utter pooey...At every single turn of events he went the route to more popularity." Krist Novoselic, one of Kurt's best friends and co-founder of Nirvana has often spoken the exact opposite. "In Utero" as a step to further appeal to the masses? The idea is preposterous.

Cross goes out of his way to point out the most trivial and inane inconsistencies for the purpose of defaming Cobain's reliability. "Heavier Than Heaven" is hardly the definitive account of the life of Kurt Cobain. Rather, it is a polished version of Christopher Sandfords biography which has been widely disspelled by people who actually knew and worked with Cobain.

Cross's ferociously judgemental and too-often exaggerated book must only be read by Nirvana fans who know better than to believe everything they read. If "Come As You Are" and "Never Fade Away" are to be read with a slight grain of salt, "Heavier Than Heaven" requires several pounds.