Reviews - Lady sings the blues

203 reviews for:

Lady sings the blues

William Dufty, Billie Holiday

3.97 AVERAGE

abob's review against another edition

4.75

emotional medium-paced

sillycreature's review against another edition

4.5

funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

The story of Billie Holiday's life is a powerful one — nothing short of inspiring, through her tremendous resilience & resourcefulness —though at times difficult to read through, for all the tragic and shocking things she has seen & experienced. And although the book is allegedly ghostwritten and contains some factual inaccuracies, her personality and voice still shine through (at least, I like to think they do).

I was particularly fascinated to learn about what inspired her most successful song, "Strange Fruit", and how it came to be the song we know today. (Though I was appalled to find out about one of its catalysts — the awful tragedy of her father's untimely death, and how it could've been avoided if only those medical staff were more willing to be PEOPLE and to offer him the medical treatment he urgently needed).

Although she can be quite harsh at times, when talking about certain people, her honesty and straightforwardness — along with her humor! — are definitely something to be appreciated, and one of the many things that kept me invested until the very end. (The second to last chapter, in particular, was SO funny and heartwarming!)

But my absolute FAVORITE part of this entire book was the way Billie Holiday talked about the people she was fond of: her incredibly lovely sweetheart of a mother, Sadie Fagan (I loved her so much 😭💗); the amazing pianist & great friend, Bobby Tucker; the Danish doctor & his daughter (both big fans of hers) who kindly took her in during her trip around Europe & made sure she was healthy; her fans from America and Europe; and so, so many others. She talked about them all with so much fondness and gratitude and respect. Despite all the tragedies, struggles and inequities in her life, there were still some people (although few in number) who remembered how to be "people" — and I'm glad that their memory, too, lives on through this book.

The 2006 edition came with a few great photos of herself alongside other singers — a feature always welcome when it comes to biographies. I only wish they had included photos of Billie's mother, as well (I feel like she was too important of a person for her not to be included, but maybe I'm just biased). Oh, and of Billie's dog, Mister! (a very good boy 😖💗)

With that being said... I finished the book and was going to give it the 5 stars it fully deserves, UNTIL I found out from other reviews that apparently Billie Holiday has never actually read it herself?? So, technically, she never approved or disapproved this "autobiography". This — along with the previous accusations of ghostwriting and factual inaccuracies — left me quite conflicted and a bit disappointed, to say the least. Still, I do not doubt any of the tragedies, the abuses, the racist crimes and the struggle with addiction described here. Those were very real and unfortunately not limited to Billie's experiences.

All that's left to say is, I knew close to nothing about Billie Holiday before I picked up this book; I learned a whole lot about an amazing & inspiring human being, and about life & love & grief & strength by the time I finished it. I know I'll still be thinking about this life/story for many more years to come.

Content Warnings