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ngm99's review
I enjoy reading the stories of people whose life experiences are very different than mine. I didn't really care for this one or like the writing style. I'm 24 so maybe if I had a better grasp or had lived through the years she describes I would have liked it better. But Alas, I didn't
anaphernalia's review
i just do not care about any of these name drops. also the foreword???? truly could’ve done without.
casspro's review against another edition
2.0
Pamela is not a good writer, but she's entertaining none-the-less.
annamickreads's review
3.0
First, and I say this for maximum reader enjoyment: skip Dave Navarro's intro. Just skip it. If you're reading this book for the salacious nature of the contents, go ahead I guess, but then I think you'd probably have a very different experience rather than reading it for what it is: Pamela, arguably one of the most, if not THE most famous groupies in American rock 'n roll history, boldly reflecting upon her teen diary entries as she single-mindedly pursued her intense passion for musicians. There aren't many people who would turn their diaries into bestsellers, so for that, you have to give her the respect she's owed.
What makes this memoir so remarkable is not the rockstars found within its pages (if anything, it was very humanizing for someone who did not grow up during the 60s and 70s to learn that the people put on pedestals of that era were in fact mere mortals) but rather, that Pamela to a degree knew that she was being used and was having WAY too much damn fun to care. It's refreshing to see someone wholeheartedly embrace their sexuality, especially in a time where more and more every day women are shamed for, god forbid, enjoying themselves.
Another point of interest: Pamela's personality was so sweet and enthusiastic that even the girls who were jealous of her or her rivals for the attentions of people like Mick Jagger were, at times, her best and closest friends. There wasn't anyone Pam COULDNT charm, and she found comfort and safety in the other groups of women she associated with, which is important, because the culture of toxic masculinity in the rockstars of decades ago still persists in some of the rockstars of today (just ask any teen who attended Warped Tour).
Because the writing is largely Ms. Des Barres' memories spliced with her girlish journal entries, I wouldn't say this memoir is any great work of prose by any means, and after a while, that can get a little exhausting. There are times where she pokes fun at her teen self, definitely self aware, but if you aren't as equally obsessed with The Beatles or whoever her flavor of the week is, it can get a bit tedious.
I think for me where this fell flat is that there's no big revelation. Most of the men depicted in this work used every ounce of fame they had to their advantage, bragging in their own memoirs about sordid, sweaty affairs with hot (and frequently underage!!!) women like that made their music any better. As the reader, you want teen Pamela to wake up one day and realize that while being in proximity to fame is fun for a time, it's even more interesting to pull back the curtain and ask why "groupies" are mocked while we should be pointing the spotlight at the men who made that culture in the first place primarily to serve themselves.
What makes this memoir so remarkable is not the rockstars found within its pages (if anything, it was very humanizing for someone who did not grow up during the 60s and 70s to learn that the people put on pedestals of that era were in fact mere mortals) but rather, that Pamela to a degree knew that she was being used and was having WAY too much damn fun to care. It's refreshing to see someone wholeheartedly embrace their sexuality, especially in a time where more and more every day women are shamed for, god forbid, enjoying themselves.
Another point of interest: Pamela's personality was so sweet and enthusiastic that even the girls who were jealous of her or her rivals for the attentions of people like Mick Jagger were, at times, her best and closest friends. There wasn't anyone Pam COULDNT charm, and she found comfort and safety in the other groups of women she associated with, which is important, because the culture of toxic masculinity in the rockstars of decades ago still persists in some of the rockstars of today (just ask any teen who attended Warped Tour).
Because the writing is largely Ms. Des Barres' memories spliced with her girlish journal entries, I wouldn't say this memoir is any great work of prose by any means, and after a while, that can get a little exhausting. There are times where she pokes fun at her teen self, definitely self aware, but if you aren't as equally obsessed with The Beatles or whoever her flavor of the week is, it can get a bit tedious.
I think for me where this fell flat is that there's no big revelation. Most of the men depicted in this work used every ounce of fame they had to their advantage, bragging in their own memoirs about sordid, sweaty affairs with hot (and frequently underage!!!) women like that made their music any better. As the reader, you want teen Pamela to wake up one day and realize that while being in proximity to fame is fun for a time, it's even more interesting to pull back the curtain and ask why "groupies" are mocked while we should be pointing the spotlight at the men who made that culture in the first place primarily to serve themselves.
labunnywtf's review
4.0
This was a seriously neat book to read. As a music junkie, I loved the extreme name dropping Miss Pamela does. I cannot lie, I oozed jealousy at all of the rock stars she took floor/bed/vehicle rolls with.
She comes off as really sweet, and very sincere, and I think that's what makes it so enjoyable to read. When trying to explain to a co-worker who she was and what the book was about, he said, "She sounds like a slut." And I actually took offense! It's the 60's, dammit. YOU are old enough to remember the 60's, and I know YOU weren't walking around with a chastity belt clapped 'round your bell bottoms!
I should've been a flower child. I was completely born in the wrong era.
She comes off as really sweet, and very sincere, and I think that's what makes it so enjoyable to read. When trying to explain to a co-worker who she was and what the book was about, he said, "She sounds like a slut." And I actually took offense! It's the 60's, dammit. YOU are old enough to remember the 60's, and I know YOU weren't walking around with a chastity belt clapped 'round your bell bottoms!
I should've been a flower child. I was completely born in the wrong era.