Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division

This isn't (as other reviews might suggest) the memoir of a bitter and resentful wife, desperately wanting a small piece of the limelight that her husband so coldly denied her. She gives credit where it is due. She continually refers to Ian's 'caring and generous' side, the love she felt for him before and during their marriage, and how lost she felt when her love eventually wasn't returned. The reader is taken on a journey through the life of Deborah Curtis after she met Ian, how she was made to feel at the different stages, what it felt like to be caught in the trappings of mundane 'everyday' life as her childhood sweetheart realised his dreams of a successful band.

It is true, Ian was a troubled person. Deborah Curtis, instead of pretending to understand the motives for his actions, tells the situation from her point of view; she felt alienated, misinformed, lied to, isolated, abandoned. She doesn't pretend to know her husband well enough to be able to say 'this WAS the reason he did this' etc. Although she was his wife, the closest person to Ian, she, like everyone else, ultimately had no clue as to what went on in his sadly tormented mind.

A common problem I've noticed with books such as this is that, when the 'facts' are not entirely clear, the author will infer truths and make it dramatic. This doesn't happen in this book. When Deborah is sure of what happened, she writes it. But so often, she seems as alienated as everyone else in Ian's life, and she expresses this also. This is effective because it makes the book so real. When a person, especially a successful musican, commits suicide, it's so easy to get caught up in what THEY must have been feeling at the time. This book makes such a topic all the more 'real', because it shows exactly how others close to the person can be affected. It's a sad read, at times confusing, and entertaining. But above all, it is honest.

Essential.


Closest Perspective to a man in Isolation   March 1, 2005
Robert E. Murena Jr. (Fairfield, CT United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

"Touching from a Distance" is an interesting book written from the most intimate persective possible. Ian Curtis is held in a very high regard by his fans and some strange mythology has evolved around him. He is often viewed as someone who was above human nature and above his fellow artists. His anti-glamorous appearance and epilepsy as seem to have given hima light of meek innocence by his most subjective of historians, his die-hard fanbase. I am a die hard Joy Division fan but I am in no way surprised by the violent controlling behavior of Ian Curtis as described in this book. So I guess he was (and is) toching from a distance but up close he was a troubled individual. While I am sure that that Deborah Curtiss, is still working out the trauma of a relationship that ended abruptly 25 years ago I certainly don't think the story is exaggerated. I found it amazing that even though she allowed him to follow his ambitions, she wanted to remain a normal family and did not become a "rocker wife". This book is a fine and interesting look into the life of a troubled soul and how fame was the catalyst for his final decision. I recommend the work highly and it is a must read for JD fans as well as anyone who is trying to figure out the Artist-Suicide connection. I thought Repeatedly about Sylvia Plath, Elliot Smith and, of course, Kurt Cobain while reading it.

I Found a couple things particularly interesting about the book and the first one is that Mrs. Curtis repeatedly blames Ian Curtis' behavior on managers, band mates and record execs who want to exploit or simply influence him. I couldn't tell if this was some sort of strange apology for his behavior or simply that she loved him too much to see reality as many abuse victims do. In reality there should be no excuse for his bahavior but admitedly Curtis was a visionary who really worked toward his singular goal of making music. From reading this work and reading between the lines I get a feeling that he was emotionally despondent and all together unsympathetic as a man and even had his managers not pushed him toward it, he would have certainly still not been the family man Mrs. Curtis wanted him to be. I am sure that he had emotions of love, I have heard his music, I think the problem was in the expression. Interestingly my struggle with Deborah's portrayal of her husband didn't get in the way my apreciation for how she portrayed him tenderly even while she described his affair.

Another thing required for discussion is Curtis's alleged right wing affiliations. The Author and his wife explains his (...) fascinations and his love of order and organization but any definite (...) relation is only alluded to requiring a cognitive leap to make the connection. By this logic Michael Jackson too should be a die hard (...) Many artists and thinkers who grew up in the wake of WWII were deeply affected by the tumult of the war and what facist governments were. By writing songs such as "They walked in a Line" Curtis is not describing his fascist lust but simple interest in the goings on of the 20th century's most important event.

I am getting completely off subject and returning to the book I will sum it up by saying that it certainly must take courage to pen such a work. I am glad that Mrs. Curtis wrote it and am actually smitten by her lucid style and the way she knew how to highlight the important stuff, not dwell on dull and sad things and make there relationship seem loving even during the worst moments was amazing. In a relationship that seemed like a drawn-out practical joke the punch line of which being a dead husband in the kitchen this book is not sarcastic or gloomy. It is important that we do our best to understand why suicide occurs and my conjecture is that it would have happened to Ian Curtis regardless of his fame. I recommend this book highly: It is a quick read and well written. JD Fans need to read this one.



Ted Murena


Sorry, That's Life   May 7, 1999
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Realistic fans of Joy Division will love this book for the intimate window it provides on a troubled but brilliant man. Silly groupie-types who prefer the doomed-angst-angel myth that has grown around Ian Curtis will be outraged, because the book portrays him as he was: a flawed human being. I suggest these kids stick with their fantasies. Reality is so much more fascinating, though. Deborah Curtis writes with great economy, fairness, and insight, and her book is a godsend to the serious alternative music fan.