Nancy Spungen was the girlfriend of Sex Pistol's bassist Sid Vicious. Aged just 20 she was found stabbed to death in their bathroom at New York's Chelsea Hotel where they lived. Although he was charged with her murder Vicious died before the case came to court so her death remains a mystery.
And I Don't Want To Live This Life is written by Nancy's mother and it is an honest and soul bearing look at how the death of her child was both a tragedy and a relief.
Nancy suffered severe birth trauma and was an out of control manipulative child prone to violent outbursts of behaviour. As a teenager she was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. This book is about her struggle with mental illness and how it affected her family at a time when her condition was little understood and socially unacceptable.
I picked this up after having read many good reviews, and while I can't say that I enjoyed it - it's the story of a sad life and a young girl's struggle - I did find that it was a fascinating case study.
It's very detailed and her Mother writes extremely objectively about her daughter.
I do think that the book should have been edited quite drastically - there are some glaring mistakes in it, such as referring to John Lydon as John Lyndon - but it was an eye opening read that explains Nancy Spungen and her lifestyle in a way that goes much deeper than the sensational newspaper headlines that surrounded her.
It's not an easy read, in fact it is quite depressing, but if you want an insight into the life of someone and their family trying to live with mental illness this is a brutal and honest account and a brave book for any mother to write.
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