Surrender

40 Songs, One Story

De: Bono

Narrado por: Bono

***WINNER OF THE 2024 AUDIE AWARD FOR AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR***

Bono—artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2—has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him.

Narrated by the author, Surrender is an intimate, immersive listening experience, telling stories from Bono’s early days in Dublin, to joining a band and playing sold out stadiums around the world with U2, plus his more than 20 years of activism.

Throughout a remarkable life, music has always been a constant for Bono and in the audiobook, his distinctive voice is interwoven with a very personal soundtrack adding atmosphere and texture to each and every scene. From moments of classic U2 hits to snippets by The Clash, Patti Smith, Verdi, Johnny Cash and Mozart, Surrender also exclusively features clips of newly recorded reimagined versions of U2 songs including ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘With Or Without You’, ‘One’, ‘Beautiful Day’ and more, glimpsed for the first time on Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

©2022 Bono (P)2022 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

A VOGUE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“Honest and direct . . . [Surrender] is defined largely by humility. This is an introspective story written by a man whose spirit is never far removed from the sadness and grief of his childhood; the hunger, literal and figurative, of a teen wannabe rocker; and the gratitude of one who worked his butt off and made it to the top . . . This is the rare rock star memoir written by a rock star who, you get the impression, could have been a writer . . . Bono has a gift for making even the unattainable seem relatable . . . He’s humble, even self-effacing. He might be fun to have a beer with. He is very much of this Earth, even if on occasion he might seem to float above the water.”—The L.A. Times

“Compelling . . . Surrender is more introspective than salacious or score-settling, and proof that the tunesmith who wrote it also speaks fluent prose.”—The Washington Post

“Surrender soars whenever the spotlight comes on. Bono is never more powerful, on the page or the stage, than when he strives for the transcendence that only music can offer . . . [Bono] is open and honest, with language that can be witty and distinctive, addressing his competitive relationship with his father or growing up against the backdrop of Ireland’s political violence.”—The New York Times

important to me

I know this sounds ridiculous, but this is the 3rd most important book in my life. right after the Bible and the autobiography of Malcolm X.

loved it.

Incredible

This book is so much more than his story. It is also history, poetry, and another way to look at the world. I want to believe in Bono’s God.

Even better than the real thing!

A man. A preacher. A band. A teacher. Thanks Bono for giving me a wonderful life by sharing yours!

Big fan!

I loved this book, Bono I learned so much more about you, now I’m not just a lifelong fan of U2, but of your life’s work and influence in the world.

Connecting us all

My favorite audio book ever. Bono creates connection for all of us…let’s be better together. Thank you, Bono….and Ali.

An incredible story by a brilliant musician and thoughtful writer

Surrender is an incredible read, thoughtful and humorous. The narrator seeks to inspire and inform, not just about his own life and his rock band’s journey — but also humanitarian crises and issues that span the entire world and half a century. The audiobook kicks this often musical story up a notch, with Bono’s soothing voice in top form (his imitations are a hoot) and clips of concerts past, as well as remixed classics. Very much in the vein of Bruce Springsteen’s 2016 Born to Run, Surrender reminds U2 fans that Bono isn’t just the “last of the rock stars while hip-hop drove the big cars.” He’s an innovative, compassionate artist and storyteller who would have made his mother, Iris, so proud.

Worth reading if you’re looking at reviews!

Rated 4/5 because this book didn’t change my life, but I loved listening to it. Performed by the author with relevant song clips.

Barely a U2 fan— I pretty much only know the hits and my parents had a copy of The Joshua Tree that they would play occasionally in my youth. But I’ve been listening more because of this book.
I typically don’t read celebrity books but bought this on a whim thinking that a lyricist might have fun and thoughtful prose. I was right!
I enjoyed how Bono’s writing is infused with the poetry of his lyricism and I love how he added clips of the songs when referencing them.
I enjoyed getting a behind the scenes storytelling of U2’s creative process for each album.
He can be cheesy at times, but this seems to be an unavoidable consequence of his spirituality and passion when the depth he is trying to communicate just can’t make it through the language.
His take on spirituality is much more modern than I was expecting— it is flexible and richly loving.
Sometimes he seems full of himself, but it’s just sprinkled in and worth bearing for the minute or two you encounter it. Reasonably, he’s had a large reach globally, so maybe some of it is true. He also owns up to it multiple times.
It seems like he genuinely put himself into this book. It was delightful to read.

So much more than I expected

Much more engaging and introspective than the average rock memoir, Bono touches on …. Basically everything

The first third or so deals with Bono’s early life and the band’s origin story. As a big fan of U2, this was fascinating to me, I knew some of the basic facts of how the band formed, but was fascinating to hear the details of how they formed, how they broke into stardom, how they linked up with Paul McGuiness. I loved hearing about young Bono obsessed with the importance of the band getting a van for touring, certainly they’ve stepped up their game in that regard over the years.

The story of Bono’s relationship with his father runs throughout the book, and was somewhat surprisingly a highlight for me. Gave he story a strong emotional core. He also talks at length about his relationships with his wife and bandmates. He sprinkles this with anecdotes about his experiences with several legendary musicians - Sinatra, Dylan, Prince, among them, as well as several politicians. A good chunk was also devoted to his activism, how he got involved with it and what he actually did.

There were some good details about the making of some of the bands landmark albums, especially Achtung Baby, and to a lesser degree Joshua Tree, but I didn’t feel like this was a main focus of the book. I would suggest for example the book U2: At the end of the world, for those looking for more behind the scenes info from the Achtung/ZooTV era. I was impressed that Bono did not shy away from copping to some missteps, including the Somgs of Innonce - iPod debacle, amongst many others. His analysis of why Pop was not well received I have heard before, but he gave a few more details. To some degree, I was disappointed and would have liked to have heard more about the making of some of the less popular albums. I would be fascinated to know more details about the making of a lot of songs on Pop and No Line, but as I said, this was not that type of book.

Having Bono read the book was a great idea. His cadence and inflections, the way he laughed as he recalled some of the stories, added so much depth. You really felt as if you were getting to know the man.

Overall, definitely worth a listen for all hardcore U2 fans, and still plenty to keep less ardent fans engaged.

Loved loved loved

I grew up listening to U2, was a fan. This vulnerable and real narrative is one that can only be told looking at the past, while looking towards the future. Bono’s life as an artist, a rock star, an activist, a husband, father and friend spoke to me. We all put on different roles as we go through our lives. Our younger selves puffed up with ideas and pretensions of who we should be. Looking back, we can only be who we are. And though he talks about “not finding what he’s looking for”, he seems to have achieved some momentary grace on where he presently is. Lovely, brave and real.

Inspirational, beautiful, soothing, and melodic

First, if you are, or have ever been a fan of U2 and/or its music, no need to read my review any further - you will love Bono's book, and his reading of it. Full stop.

I have been a fan of U2 since I was 8 years old (1986), when U2 War was given to me as a birthday present. Joshua Tree sealed the deal for me, I was hooked for life - have bought every album since. I am not usually big on autobiographies or memoirs, so Surrender wasn't on my wishlist - until I heard Bono's interview on the Smartless podcast. Bono's presence was endearing and authentic, and his stories left me wanting more ...so I jumped on Audible and bought the audiobook.

Within the first 15 minutes, I was mesmerized by this book. Bono's words are eloquent and often poetic - his speaking voice in the book is calm and soothing - he could easily be a guest meditation leader on Calm. If he simply read his book, it would have been more than enough...but Bono went and made this into an entire experience - it has music (some original performances by Bono, as well as live performance recordings of various U2 concerts) and even sound effects. The production level of Surrender is on par with a studio LP, I'm not exaggerating - I found myself consistently asking, "Did I really only pay $17 for all of this??". The Surrender audiobook really is a work of art, and it has all the touches of a piece that has been lovingly crafted by an artist.

Bono has always been someone who I wish I could meet and to really know in this life. He's an amazing artist and philanthropist. Now at 47, I have no illusions that will ever happen, but, after experiencing Surrender, I feel like I really have met Bono - his sincerely feels genuine throughout his performance of the book - and I am glad to have gotten to know Bono, even if he doesn't know me.

Now that I've finished listening to Surrender, I think I'm going to go listen to it again now. It's that good - enough said.