I actually think that criticizing it is quite pretentious and fake. I never understood why optimism is something to criticize Paul for. I thought that little trivia gave a profound and touching essence to the optimism that he so characteristically embodies. This stuck because I was overwhelmed by its representation of brutal vulnerability and just its sadness - something that Paul has glossed over throughout his entire career.
One particular part that stuck with me is when he briefly mentions how he saw his first grey strands growing during The Beatles conflict before their breakup (during which he was in his late 20s?!). He's the voice that makes some parts funny and others unexpectedly emotional, and he isn't even trying to make it so: it flows. Paul's input every couple of paragraphs or so is what really gives a voice and a life to this book. There are a lot of things I knew as a Beatles fan and a lot that I didn't know (ex: I didn't know the Abbey Road cover was based on one of Paul's drawings, I didn't know he lived in the attic in the servant's room of the Ashers' house during the height of Beatlemania and when he was "officially a millionaire," etc.). Those parts of his life are enough to be aspiring for thousands of stories about the London life in the Swinging 60s, which is what really fascinated me - the whole story-like essence of it all. It instead has a lot on when Paul was living with the Ashers and his involvement with the Indica Gallery and all its people, etc. Personally, I thought there was considerably little written of The Beatles's Hamburg and The Cavern era, which are my most favorite eras, but it doesn't diminish from the book. Paul's every phase of life is just so interesting to read about - not because he's famous, or because he's a Beatle, but because it simply is. It was very informative, smart, honest, charming, cute - as if you'd doubt that it's Paul McCartney - and, surprisingly funny and definitely heartbreaking, especially towards the end.
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