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A review by _tinamarie_
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---And the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller
3.0
I listened to this book on Audible, so I don't have the issues with editing or run-on sentences other readers have had. My only issue with the narrator was that she spoke the lyrics instead of at least trying to sing them, i.e. "I've lost my bay-ay-ay-ay-bee."
I am very interested in the '70s and its music, and pretty much gobble up any dirt on the major musicians of the time.
I normally find biographies that discuss a subject's family history boring. I don't need to know what every great-grandfather's name was and from where he hailed, etc. In this case, though, the family history actually did matter (Joni's two grandmothers were frustrated artists who tied themselves down with marriage, and this made an impression on her.)
It's a long book and dragged in a few spots, but I learned a lot. It was gossipy in parts, yes; but many songs are inspired by love and sex, so I didn't feel the gossip was completely gratuitous. The book is rather sprawling, and it IS very long, so I appreciated that the author alternated between the three singers as she goes through the years.
Favorite parts: (1) Carole and Gerry churning out hit after hit while Carole was pregnant and taking care of babies; (2) Carole later living in Idaho, cut off from civilization, walking in snow shoes for three miles to mail a letter, cooking freshly-killed buffalo, and battling the forest service; (3) Joni in high school (big party girl, unique sense of style) and her many romances throughout her life; (4) young Carly's home life and how she dealt with her stutter.
I am very interested in the '70s and its music, and pretty much gobble up any dirt on the major musicians of the time.
I normally find biographies that discuss a subject's family history boring. I don't need to know what every great-grandfather's name was and from where he hailed, etc. In this case, though, the family history actually did matter (Joni's two grandmothers were frustrated artists who tied themselves down with marriage, and this made an impression on her.)
It's a long book and dragged in a few spots, but I learned a lot. It was gossipy in parts, yes; but many songs are inspired by love and sex, so I didn't feel the gossip was completely gratuitous. The book is rather sprawling, and it IS very long, so I appreciated that the author alternated between the three singers as she goes through the years.
Favorite parts: (1) Carole and Gerry churning out hit after hit while Carole was pregnant and taking care of babies; (2) Carole later living in Idaho, cut off from civilization, walking in snow shoes for three miles to mail a letter, cooking freshly-killed buffalo, and battling the forest service; (3) Joni in high school (big party girl, unique sense of style) and her many romances throughout her life; (4) young Carly's home life and how she dealt with her stutter.