Lord what a life!! So thankful Jimmy made it, but hells bells it was not a easy journey.
Fantastic story, I loved it.

I am glad I read this autobiography. I have been a JB and CC fan for as long as I can remember. Learning about his roots gives context. This story is raw and gritty. It is not an endorsement for young Australian males or the health of lower-middle class Australian families. Nor does it encourage travel to what reads like crime-ridden, unsafe, impoverished Adelaide.

Such a great story, Jimmy Barnes is a true legend

Interesting book about Jimmy's early years and insight into immigration of the working class. Amazing he survived. His dad reminds me of my own, but not to the same degree. Most parties when I was a kid ended up with drunken 'friends' having fist fights. Definitely was a part of the 70s - 90s.
I would have been terrified to live in that neighborhood with all those dangerous guys in packs. Probably being so drunk and drugged saved them from killing each other.
I wish the book had age titles. I kept on thinking he was older, and then he would say he was 8 and the timeline would be thrown out for me.

I've owned a copy of Working Class Boy since it was released in 2016, that very week I also got to meet Jimmy Barnes and have him sign the book. I've still got the bookmark and wristband from that day.

I'm not sure if I ever finished reading the entire book back in 2016 but hey..a book is a book.

I'm vaguely familiar with Jimmy Barnes,I'm more familiar with his son David Campbell (due to David's hosting on the morning news).

With Jimmy Barnes being a musican, reading this felt like he was trying to tell a story but without the backing of a track.

I remember when the hype for this book happened, it was quite hard for Barnesy to talk about his life, especially when he was being interviewed being his son; David Campbell. So, understandably this book can feel like information has been purposely retracted. Either in a "I don't remember.." statement or "I don't feel comfortable sharing this part.." which is completely understandable cause he grew up in a life that would now be classed as "domestic abuse" or "having children removed from parents" situations.

After finishing this story, learning that he had spent time trying to figure out how to put his life into words and never knowing how until that moment.

Barnes story is raw.

A story of a kid who could've been nothing more than what his environment turned him into; drug dependent and alcohol addicted, chasing girls and constantly running, to a man who became what the world knows him has; the lead singer of Cold Chisel, and a solo artist.

Jimmy Barnes has written a gut-wrenching memoir that I couldn't stop listening to. His narration, just like his writing, is honest, funny, warm and at times heart-breaking. Barnes' early life was spent in poverty, his world ran on violence fuelled by alcoholism and, later, drugs, and he was desperately afraid most of the time. Yet there were bright spots: his beautiful mother, before life took its toll; the fierce love felt between the six siblings; most of all the shining goodness of Reg Barnes, Jimmy's stepdad. Then there was music, which gave Jimmy something to strive for. Listening to Jimmy Barnes' story has given me a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by working class immigrants to Australia from Britain in the 60s, and the cycle of poverty that continues to impact the lives of people living in Adelaide's northern suburbs to this day.

Raw Jimmy Barnes, an enjoyable, yet hard to stomach at times, read. You do not have to be a Cold Chisel fan to enjoy this read.