2.) I had difficulty finding any student blogs that are about an interesting nonfiction novel, so I surfed the Web seeking a novel that will both fascinate me and keep my attention. I managed to surf into a site about one of my favorite bands: The Doors. There was a few poem selections by the incredibly delicious lead singer, Jim Morrison, but nothing in the nonfiction category that was available for me to purchase.
So I gallantly moved forward and stumbled upon a nonfiction novel by Ray Manzarek. “He does jam pretty swell with his piano.” I thought to myself, as I clicked through the pages of summaries and evaluations. “Maybe I’ll give it a try.”
I continued to read countless reviews of the novel, and many of the responses within each computer database I explored claimed it was both “Intelligent,” and “Creative.”
“Woah!” I said to myself, “Those two categories are pretty engaging!”
I lied. It was more like... “Hey! I might actually enjoy doing this assignment!” No offense Ray, I just find difficulty reading a novel that isn’t revolving around something fictional. Perhaps a dystopian like “House of the Scorpion” or a captivating tragedy like “Macbeth.”
However, when I encountered “Light My Fire,” I read the first page on the convenient website of Amazon.com. To my surprise, it was readable and, well, captivating!
3.) After reading the comments about this novel, many believed it was a good read, and it was both philosophical and energetic.
When I read the novel, I found these statements to be absolutely true. It’s sole purpose was to inform and express.
For example, Ray informs his readers about his life and how life was with his superstar band. In chapter six, he talks about the struggle of getting a demo of his band’s music into a record company. He describes colorfully the rejection and the boiled feelings of anger when the song “Hello, I Love You” was turned down flat. He wrote in his novel, “He put the disc on the turntable and played each cut... for ten seconds. Ten seconds! You can’t tell jack shit from ten seconds... I wanted to rage at him. ‘How dare you! We’re the Doors... Listen to the words man!’” He’s informative, yet his voice in this writing is so evident, so brilliantly written, it was like I was there. Watching his face heat up with rage and disgust. Jim would be cooly lounging next to him, waiting for the end of the demonstration, so he could respond to the rejection with a quick, yet witty comeback. In all of his flawless beauty, he would say to the rejector, “...We don’t want to be used, anyway.”
How delightfully engaging.
He expresses his opinions flawlessly through his many allusions to his band’s music. He often paused within his writing to quote a stanza from some of his favorite songs. In the first chapter when he is describing Jim’s death, he stops and says “We could plan a murder, or start a religion.” It was philosophical and beautiful... It had a million different ways to be interpreted, but it’s solid expression was fascinating. I found his frequent allusions inspiring and enjoyable.
4.) Based on what I encountered in the book, I’ve come to the conclusion that Ray Manzarek is a person of cunning and poetic features. He is passionate with his words, yet he has a casual feel about him. Judging by his writings, he is a man who knew colossal amounts of information, but he uses it only for pleasure and expression, not for economic gain or conformity.
His passion was revealed frequently in the book... "And we rocked that little room. Wrestled those songs into shape. Did a Jacob on the angel or creativity, and caught the muse." His words were almost hypnotic. His poetic tone of peace and philosophy inspired me. It was passion at its finest.
Along with his passion, he was a caring individual. He loved Jim Morrison, like a brother. He looked out for him, and hoped that he would be able to live as an incredibly handsome poet, not as a drunk surrounded by leaching "friends" who only followed him because he had the money. Ray wrote about Jim in a brotherly sense, worrying about his health, about losing his muse to dangerous actions. "How many great lyrics got lost in that senseless flood of drunken activity? How many great poems fell victim to those bad habits, wasted on besotted, uncaring ears that were just jumpsuit him until they could divine how to weasel the next drink out of him, or the next high?" His words were beautifully enchanting... Mesmerizing and Exotic... I found myself in love with his concern and brotherhood.
One tone was the nostalgia Ray had felt when he heard of Jim's death in Paris. He flashed back to a party in Hollywood when one crazed man ran in and says that Jim was in an automobile accident. The feeling was evident after he wrote, "A wave of anxiety and its evil twin, impotence, swept through our three lower chakras. We had entered the darkness and it was a fearful place... Within five minutes, in walks Jim Morrison... Everyone sighs a great relief, we laugh at our gullibility, and the party continues..."
He wanted Jim to walk into the room again with that youthful, gorgeous smile like he did then... It was unreal that he could expire like that, so unexpectedly. Death is like that, isn't it? I felt so fragile after reading that.
A positive tone was seen in chapter 2, when he was eating a large meal with his father. Ray described the delicious scent that caused slight salivation in my mouth. "Man what an experience. It was a nose experience. An olfactory experience like my aural experience of hearing blues at Hoyne Playground. Another new world had opened itself to me. And I was ready!
A tone of anger was described colorfully in the chapter called "The Beach House." Jim and Ray encountered a conflict, a conflict never encountered before. A new door into a strange new world. The wardrobe to a furious Narnia. "And he exploded! He jumped out of the chair, threw the glass down- merciful God, it didn't break- and stormed toward the door... He opened the Mondorian door and then turned and shot me an enraged look. A look unlike any I had ever seen. In his eyes before... He was, perhaps, going mad."
6.) Place is the most important factor of the story. Ray goes through his life with the doors, and he visits many places like the record companies and the beach house. It shows how his life with his band grew and died. It was location that described where he travelled with his friends, what he saw, who he met, the diversity of his web of memories was both complicated and busy, like a hive of bees flying in all different directions yet still living in harmony.
7.) Three incidents in the book that really sparked my interest were the moment Ray confronted the love of his life in college, when they named the Doors, and when they met Andy Warhol.
It was like a high school moment when Ray asked out Dorothy, the beauty in his college class. She was exquisite and cultured, and according to Ray, “...she was cute as hell.” He called her a sphinx, he eyes were narrow and her hair was perfectly straight. Classic asiatic features that are enchanting to almost everyone. He walked up to her and was shy and positively adorable when he asked her out. He reminded me of Milhouse from The Simpsons. He was shy and awkward as he proceeded to attempt to woo this beautiful woman.
She was an artist, a freshman in college, and Ray was captivated by her. By the time the book was published, they were happily married. How sweet.
The name. Giving someone that term, that identity, that one or two word phrase that describes who the band is, and what it isn’t. They were spouting out different names here and there... Names like “Two guys from Venice,” or “Morrison and Manzarek.” Those names and the others that were suggested weren’t them. It wasn’t what Jim and Ray were about. When Jim says, “We call it... the Doors.”
At first, Ray thought he was going bananas. He thought how ludicrous of a name it was... when it hit him. It’s genius. The doors of the mind, into the subconscious. The trippy inner meaning of human thought.
“Like opening the doors of perception? Like Aldous Huxley?” It was perfect. It was this deep and divine name that had an identity that was new. The ferocious pit inside the cherry of discovery. It was fascinating. It was new. It was a liberal ideal, a new sound, and a new way of music. He and Jim had created their own genre... Psychedelic.
Another happening was absolutely perfect. When Jim and Ray met Andy Warhol. The Andy Warhol. The man who birthed pop art, who completely changed the artistic world. Who immortalized a simple can of campbell's soup. The genius himself. I gasped so suddenly that I almost swallowed my tongue. Two of my Idols in the same place, chatting nonchalantly, like they were just normal people. They were in the Factory, a club that Andy owned, where ecstasy was just as available as oxygen. There was drugs, alcohol, and women. Everything a superstar like Jim wants.
Andy looked through Jim, saw his soul, was captivated by his presence. It was like he fell in love with him. Who could blame him? He was gorgeous. A face carved by the most artistic of angels. His beauty graced the room like a dove in a flock of crows. It was like the essence of lust and divinity were combined to create this god of a man. And Andy wanted to be in his graceful gaze.
When Jim’s glorious gaze caught Andy, he was invisible. Another person, just another fly in his swarm of followers. “Andy was merely an entree into decadence.” 
8.) Compared to my last book I read, this was severely different. I can’t even begin to describe the differences. I managed to persuade my old english teacher to let me read a fiction novel instead of a nonfiction (which was actually against the syllabus.... naughty.). The severe differences were plotline, story style, and tone.
Plotline was the first evident factor. My first book, “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, was a tale about how life was in the early 1900’s for an immigrant. It was life at its worse for the working class, and the main character dealt with the bulk of the problems within the industrialized and new United States. In “Light my Fire,” the plotline had nothing to do with the early nineteen hundreds or abuse within a workplace.
In “Light my Fire,” the story style was severely different. They both had different perspectives, “The Jungle” was in third person, and “Light my Fire” was in first person. I felt like Ray was talking to me, having this deep conversation about his life... like we were close friends sharing a drink one saturday night. (Of course, the drink was only a Coke, not some kind of alcohol. Don’t worry, I’m not a bad egg.)
“The Jungle” was more like Upton wasn’t even in the story, he was just some voice in the background of a documentary. He didn’t have his voice. I didn’t learn about who Upton was or why he wrote the novel. Ray was on the opposite side of the spectrum.
Tone was the third difference. Ray had this casual, “I’m venting all my thoughts to you” tone, when Upton had the “Morgan Freeman” esq to him that made it sound like I was being told an enchanting, yet scary, storybook tale.
VS. 
9.) The main idea of the book was Ray’s life with the Doors... How he grew with them, how they changed him. His life in the beginning, his life in the climax, and his life in the end with his stellar band that changed many music lovers’ lives forever.
This life he had, this rare experience only some incredibly fortunate people get to live through, was finally able to be viewed by the simplistic populus filled with all of the “Average Joes.”
Along with his biography, he also had themes of brotherhood and trust... How important a friend can be to someone... He went into deep detail about how Jim was so crucial to him, and how much he meant to him as a brother. He was worried about all of the addiction and lies that orbited Jim like a satellite.
At times I forget that everyone has that one person they would do anything for. That one unbiological brother or sister that they would take a bullet for. I feel like Jim was that person for Ray. I’m a little envious that Ray had such a close relationship with someone that handsome. He even admits Jim is gorgeous.
10.) The best features of the book was about almost everything. His descriptions were divine, his voice was strong, and his diction was poetic and elevated.
He described everything so comfortably, so controlled, his words were water, and he was a river. It was smooth and clean, and it went with the flow of everything. I found it fascinating and beautiful how well he was with words. It was enchanting. It was electric. At times, some of his words gave me goosebumps. I’m almost overwhelmed by how talented he is with a pen.
His voice had the strength of a thousand men, plus two. It was absolutely revolutionary. I was fascinated. I felt like he was talking to me, reciting poetry for my enjoyment. He was colorful and enjoyable. He made me feel like I was his friend, his pen pal he wrote a novel for. It felt like he was next to me, telling me everything I wanted to know about his life with Jim Morrison.
His diction was shocking. I always think of a man within the rock star world wasn’t as educated and deep as the common poet. I was surprised, and I was intrigued. It was fascinating. He had an educated way of speaking, a philosophical tone that did not fit in with his careless “Hippy” pathos he had about him. I was engaged with the book, and his use of high diction was overwhelmingly fluent.
11.) The novel did have only one problem. It was wordy. At times I was captivated by his words, I was eagerly flipping the pages. Sadly, there were some times I was skimming. The words got too numerous, and the chapters were long. I didn’t want to cut off the story in the middle of the chapter when I stopped reading, but the chapters were so slow that I ended up being forced to. It was almost depressing. I loved the story, it just took a long time to get through, unfortunately.
In the end this book was fantastic. I give it five stars and two thumbs up. If you’re a lover of the Doors, this book must be read at least once. I highly suggest reading this novel.
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