Touching from a Distance

"Hook tells his story without any preciousness—in fact, he seems to revel in his abrasiveness throughout. He badmouths the Cure, writing, 'I think they thought, "I wish we were Joy Division."' He describes Buzzcocks lead singer Pete Shelley as a 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' for ordering lobster at a restaurant. Hook says early on that former bandmate Sumner hates being called Barney—then proceeds to call him that for the rest of the book."

In the Los Angeles Times, Randall Roberts reviews Peter Hook's Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division.