A review by phoenix527
Celine Dion: My Story, My Dream by Céline Dion, Bruce Benderson, Georges-Hébert Germain

3.0

I have loved Celine Dion since I was a little girl. I have been in love with her voice and her music for as long as I can remember. Celine mentions in her biography that its tricky when you meet your idols because things can go south so fast. I have never met Celine Dion, but I feel like I know her better though her biography. I don’t think I like her any less, but I will say that she seems more like a real person to me now (as opposed to Celine Dion, idol). I like that she seems more real to me now. So I guess that means that I liked this biography. And I did but I didn’t love it. Based on everything I knew about Celine before reading her biography and everything I now know about her from reading it, I know that Rene Angelil is super duper important to her. Why wouldn’t he be? But I felt that this biography was too centered around Rene and not enough about Celine and the music, or her family, or her process. I feel like she wants to take us on the magical, romantic, fairytale love between she and Rene, but their relationship didn't read like that to me. There is background information, but it is very heavy Rene. I like the part where she talks about her "singing robot" and "the honeymoon period with songs." That is all very interesting and real. I also like the parts where she talks about her secret rituals and her relationship with her Mom. I wish there was more of all of that and a lot less of the Rene romance. I also liked the parts about her musical training and how she basically had to relearn to sing when the doctor told her to do those exercises and that it would take 3 to 5 years for her to hear/see the improvements. One thing I didn't realize was how sheltered Celine's life has been. She started singing with Rene when she was 12 and soon after that, he had completely taken over her life, meaning she didn't have to make any decisions. She went where she was told to go and everything was always taken care of for her. I had no idea that she was so sheltered. She mentions how she is not someone who dwells on the past, she only looks forward. As I read that, I thought to myself how envious I am of that. And I realized that she can be that way because of how sheltered she is. While she knows and understands the pain of losing people like her niece Karine, she doesn't know the pain of a breakup, or losing a friend, etc. It is interesting. Overall, if you are a Celine fan, you will like this book. You may not love it, but you will like it.