A hopeful memoir

Sometimes you set aside a book you’ve been given for a long time, until—perhaps years later—you pick it up, flip through it, open the first page, and … get completely absorbed in it. That’s exactly what happened to me with Suze Rotolo’s memoir of her years in New York with Bob Dylan.

How many times have I looked at the photo on the cover! It shows the author arm in arm with the singer. Alone in a big city. On a snow-covered street. Both are still young. She was 17 at the time, he was 20.

And it’s not just any time. During the years they were together, Dylan transformed from an obscure folk singer into an uneasy spokesperson for a generation. A time of change.

“Als die Zeiten sich zu ändern begannen” is the German title of the book. This isn't a translation of the original English text. I may have just gotten to the heart of the matter. And maybe the title of the original edition will point us in the right direction: “A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.”

There are books that are never read. And there are books that are allowed to wait patiently—in the certainty that you will discover them for yourself someday …

April 3rd, 2026

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