Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | Sheila Weller | They changed women's lives

books:

Girls Like Us: Car...

	Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation Sheila Weller Atria, 2008 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 108 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Worth it for the footnotes alone

As a gossip-fest, good time this book would rate 7 stars for the footnotes alone. Three singer-songwriter coming of age in the 60s and 70s, each trying to figure out what it means to be an independent female artist in a world where all the old rules are gone; this material is gold. Their career struggles, love lives, success and failures are all detailed here.

And what details! See nearly every significant male musician of the early 70s fall at Joni Mitchell's feet. Watch Carole King go from dutiful 60s wife to California hippie to Idaho back-to-nature recluse. Observe Carly Simon try to establish herself as a serious songwriter while struggling to hang on to her marriage to James Taylor.

Weller clearly believes these women's lives say alot about the lives of their generation. That's a tougher sell for me, especially when Weller seems unwilling to question whether "sexual freedom" really was freedom for these women or just a different way to be exploited. The choices they faced - career or motherhood, equal partners or supportive wive, etc - still ring true.

What keeps this book a 5 and not a 7 though is Weller's creeping bias. By the middle of the book her disapproval of Joni Mitchell is as obvious as her impassioned defense of Jackson Browne is inexplicable. I couldn't help feeling that Weller would have given, say, Bob Dylan a pass for the behavior she tut-tuts over in Mitchell. Then there's Carly Simon. Perhaps because Simon is the only subject who cooperated or perhaps because Weller identifies with her, Carly Simon gets a pass on numerous occasions for things you just know Mitchell would get globbbered for. Stopping by the table where your recently separated husband, his new girlfriend and his best friend are having dinner only to ask the best friend out on a date? It's a "sign of the times." No, dear, it's seriously bad taste. Being hurt because someone suggests that Joni Mitchell wouldn't appear on her album cover in lingerie and boots? Poor sensitive, insecure Carly. How about getting in touch with reality? Whether Joni would or wouldn't appear in lingerie and boots, you can bet she'd own her decision to do it. Weller so treats Simon with kid gloves that bad reviews get relegated to the footnotes.

Which brings me back to the footnotes. I've read entire books which are less interesting than a single footnote in this book. Weller did her research and if you're wondering what happened to a minor character, just hop on the footnotes and you'll get their life story. You'll also get a few magical mystery tours like the one that starts with disco music empowering gays and ends with Jann Wenner and his partner Matt Nye throwing themselves a baby shower.

This book is great summer reading but like me, you may find yourself sympathesizing with the concert reviewer who notes "Carly Simon has been getting on my nerves for years."

Kindle Notes: On the Kindle version you can easily access the footnotes without skipping a beat on the main text. There are no photos in the Kindle version.

for more information click here

They changed women's lives

I must admit, when I started this book I was reading it because I loved the music and I remember many of these songs from my mom singing them, and from listening to them on the oldies and classic rock stations. I also admired the ladies, this is true. But once I got into it, I didn't realize it would be this way, but it was like a documentary on feminism, a most enjoyable one. The way the author linked the little (and big) things that happened in the songwriter's lives with what was happening in the headlines, and behind them, made me see connections I had not seen before. I also felt I got way more into the psychology and the motivations than any rock and roll book or general music book I have ever read. What made me respet this the most was the sources. The author seems to have gone out of her way to find as many people as she could who were in these womens lives, and even though some of them were people I had know about before, such as Graham Nash for Joni, so many more were sideline people, names you just wouldnt have heard of if you followed music, but obviously these were the people who really knew. Many sections were just plain riveting and the system of going from one singer to the next kept me wanting to get ahead of myself but I just said, no, no, wait. There were also parts that were heartbreaking, like when Joni gave up her child. The music is so fresh even today but the times were really long ago, and that's the magic of the book. We have taken things for granted that another generation had to struggle for. Food for thought as well as pleasure. I recommend.

for more information click here

Carole, Joni, and Carly--All In One Book

This was an interesting way to write a book. The author finds a way to connect the lives and music of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon with 20-30 page chronological chapters about each artist.

I found the format to be a bit confusing at first, and was tempted to read all the "Carole" chapters, then the "Joni" and "Carly" chapters, however, by breaking them up I found that my interest grew.

While I would have preferred to read separate biographies on each, I have to say that I enjoyed reading this rather lengthy book.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

products you might be interested in