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gothamballer39's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Brandi Carlile is an amazing storyteller. I first fell in love with her and her music after listening to her audiobook the first time. This re-listen truly cemented her profound impact on me. Her story is inspiring and heartwarming, yet it also feels so validating and familiar. Her narration of the audiobook is so personable and it makes you feel like she's just sitting in a room with you telling stories. The fact that she also sings throughout is truly so warm and wonderful. Her voice is powerful, yet comforting and just enhances the fantastic story of her memoir.
theaceofpages's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I'll admit. I'm not particularly familiar with the author. But it's queer and it fits a prompt for a reading challenging I'm doing so I thought, "why not?" since the blurb made it sound like this would cover some interesting topics.
Overall, I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would (memoirs about a random person (to me - I'm aware she's well known)) miss more often than they hit. I really enjoyed the parts about her personal life, especially her childhood and struggles and how she tried to overcome them and become stronger. I didn't care as much about her musical connections, but I'm also not particularly interested in the music world and I think those who are will enjoy these stories more than I did. There was more of this towards the end which meant I started enjoying the memoir less than I did at the start. I wish it had continued in that vein, but I guess it makes sense for a musician to focus on their musical career so I can't really complain about the shift that much. But overall, I don't regret reading this one! The author seems like an interesting person.
Overall, I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would (memoirs about a random person (to me - I'm aware she's well known)) miss more often than they hit. I really enjoyed the parts about her personal life, especially her childhood and struggles and how she tried to overcome them and become stronger. I didn't care as much about her musical connections, but I'm also not particularly interested in the music world and I think those who are will enjoy these stories more than I did. There was more of this towards the end which meant I started enjoying the memoir less than I did at the start. I wish it had continued in that vein, but I guess it makes sense for a musician to focus on their musical career so I can't really complain about the shift that much. But overall, I don't regret reading this one! The author seems like an interesting person.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
katerijk's review
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The audio version has beautiful music in between each chapter
sausome's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
I love Brandi Carlile and remember my dad telling me about her first album when it came out while I was in high school because he thought I'd like it. He was right! I've been a fan ever since, going to concerts when she was in small show halls in St. Louis to seeing her fill Merriweather Post Pavilion outside of DC. It's been such a joy watching her success. I have her memoir autographed, and a couple autographed CDs of hers. But the audiobook was so worthwhile to hear Brandi reading it and singing songs as the book goes.
bhnmt61's review against another edition
4.0
The audible version of this book is extra worthwhile because it has a couple of hours of recordings of the songs- you only get the lyrics in the print copy of the book (of course). I really enjoyed this, especially the beginning. As with another musician memoir I read recently, it becomes less and less relatable as she becomes more successful. But it’s still a great story—if you’re at all interested in her or women singer-songwriters in general, highly recommended.
helena_marie's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know what else to say, absolutely loved this book (read: audiobook) Brandi is so cool and such a champion of love, authenticity, and community. 10/10