alexampersand's review against another edition
4.0
I've long regarded Tori Amos as one of the most interesting and intricate creative minds around. She seems to view both the world, and the creative process, in such a way that very few people do. So I was very excited to dig into this, and have her focus her thoughts and opinions on the topic of Resistance.
And this book was... not exactly what I expected it to be. I'm still not entirely sure exactly what sort of book this is. I'm not sure Tori knew what sort of book this was while writing it. At one points it's a recount of war and political unrest (partially through historical recounts, and partially through a lens of a creative writer and performer living through these times). At another it's a straight up memoir about the creative process, and weaving songs together. At another it's a love letter to her mother who passed away shortly before the book was written (and I do wonder whether perhaps parts of the book were written prior to her passing away, hence the distinct feel of the latter half of the book which is very focused on her mother).
All of these parts are fascinating, and often beautiful. But it had the effect of feeling a little structurally uncertain. I feel like it would have benefitted from being split into distinct 'parts' that dealt with distinct themes, rather than simply an ongoing series of short segments, some of which flow into one another, and others which seem to take a screeching U-turn to discuss wholly different subject matter.
I also love the addition of the song lyrics to split up the segments, although, perhaps it's just me being obtuse and unable to read through Tori's deeply metaphorical lyrics, some of them I would have appreciated a little more explanation in the text for how they fit into the themes being discussed.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it as a book, but just wish it had a little more structure to it.
And this book was... not exactly what I expected it to be. I'm still not entirely sure exactly what sort of book this is. I'm not sure Tori knew what sort of book this was while writing it. At one points it's a recount of war and political unrest (partially through historical recounts, and partially through a lens of a creative writer and performer living through these times). At another it's a straight up memoir about the creative process, and weaving songs together. At another it's a love letter to her mother who passed away shortly before the book was written (and I do wonder whether perhaps parts of the book were written prior to her passing away, hence the distinct feel of the latter half of the book which is very focused on her mother).
All of these parts are fascinating, and often beautiful. But it had the effect of feeling a little structurally uncertain. I feel like it would have benefitted from being split into distinct 'parts' that dealt with distinct themes, rather than simply an ongoing series of short segments, some of which flow into one another, and others which seem to take a screeching U-turn to discuss wholly different subject matter.
I also love the addition of the song lyrics to split up the segments, although, perhaps it's just me being obtuse and unable to read through Tori's deeply metaphorical lyrics, some of them I would have appreciated a little more explanation in the text for how they fit into the themes being discussed.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it as a book, but just wish it had a little more structure to it.
adeepermystery's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful but a potentially triggering listen. Absolutely necessary discussion topics, but I picked it up thinking it was solely biography, and it delved into female genital mutilation, 9/11, #MeToo, etc. Wonderful once I knew what to expect.
nicolescottwv's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
katrinadreamer's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
When asked who is my favorite musical artist, I will often say Tori Amos. I have followed her career since I was introduced to Little Earthquakes in the mid 90s and have seen her perform live more than anyone else (upwards of 20 times). I have immense respect for her and her music has pulled me through the most difficult times in my life.
I found this book interesting in that it discusses her process and her relationship with music. I also found her stories about the crossroads of music and politics interesting. Like other readers, I thought some chapters were a bit winding and in need of more editing, especially the last chapters. Overall, I’d recommend the book to Tori fans as well as those who enjoy hearing about artists’ processes.
When asked who is my favorite musical artist, I will often say Tori Amos. I have followed her career since I was introduced to Little Earthquakes in the mid 90s and have seen her perform live more than anyone else (upwards of 20 times). I have immense respect for her and her music has pulled me through the most difficult times in my life.
I found this book interesting in that it discusses her process and her relationship with music. I also found her stories about the crossroads of music and politics interesting. Like other readers, I thought some chapters were a bit winding and in need of more editing, especially the last chapters. Overall, I’d recommend the book to Tori fans as well as those who enjoy hearing about artists’ processes.
debz57a52's review against another edition
2.0
Let me start by saying that I am only a mild Tori fan. I listened to her more back in the 90's, when she had a few hits, and I might have seen her at a festival show or somewhere, where I saw several people performing besides her. I don't think I've listened to any new music from her in the last two decades, though, nor seen her tour or really heard much about her in the media. But I enjoy songwriter memoirs, and I think I mostly agree with her politics, so I thought this would be a good one to listen to, read by her.
I'm not sure I was right about that, for me. The parts of the book where she talked about her life were my favorites - her childhood and how she started songwriting and touring, the important people in her life, her tour crew and their actions on various trips, even her perspective about current events (then current, not now-current in 2022). But often, she talks about her understanding of the spiritual, and although I understand she believes those things for herself, I don't believe them for myself, so it was hard to follow. She also takes a deep dive into explaining some big historical moments in the last 40 years which, while factually correct based on what we understand to be "the truth" now, seemed to go on in more detail than was needed to understand what Amos wanted to eventually say. Finally, she talks a lot about her songs - with almost poetry readings of the lyrics instead of re-records, like other songwriters' memoirs have included - and her philosophy around art and writer's block and creativity and politics. Those, while interesting to listen to and gather as one more viewpoint, also seemed to not be speaking to me, as our Venn diagrams related to creating art do not overlap very much.
Overall, while I was in the middle of the audiobook and driving around, I felt no real reason to stop mid-listen to DNF the book, there were lots of parts when I would have abandoned the book or skipped entire sections if I were reading a physical copy or an ebook. I suspect Tori fans would enjoy it far more than I did.
I'm not sure I was right about that, for me. The parts of the book where she talked about her life were my favorites - her childhood and how she started songwriting and touring, the important people in her life, her tour crew and their actions on various trips, even her perspective about current events (then current, not now-current in 2022). But often, she talks about her understanding of the spiritual, and although I understand she believes those things for herself, I don't believe them for myself, so it was hard to follow. She also takes a deep dive into explaining some big historical moments in the last 40 years which, while factually correct based on what we understand to be "the truth" now, seemed to go on in more detail than was needed to understand what Amos wanted to eventually say. Finally, she talks a lot about her songs - with almost poetry readings of the lyrics instead of re-records, like other songwriters' memoirs have included - and her philosophy around art and writer's block and creativity and politics. Those, while interesting to listen to and gather as one more viewpoint, also seemed to not be speaking to me, as our Venn diagrams related to creating art do not overlap very much.
Overall, while I was in the middle of the audiobook and driving around, I felt no real reason to stop mid-listen to DNF the book, there were lots of parts when I would have abandoned the book or skipped entire sections if I were reading a physical copy or an ebook. I suspect Tori fans would enjoy it far more than I did.
agracerobinson's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
wombatjenni's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This book... I did not expect to love it so much. Which is a weird thing to say as I've been a Tori Amos fan since the mid-90s.
Throughout my fandom, the one thing I would always raise my eyebrows at was her talk of faeries and her songs as Girls who come to her, and back then I didn't quite get it--it all felt a bit too woo-woo for my comfort. So despite loving her lyrics and her music, I felt hesitant about grabbing this book.
But y'all. It's amazing. I'm glad to have proven myself wrong. The book is punchy with its approach to politics and creativity, and working as a creative person in a part of the world that wants to harness such forces to make money or for hustling or to be "productive" - and how falling into that trap can lead to your well drying up. This should've been obvious to me, but it's now obvious-er after reading this book: Tori Amos is able to keep on trucking, year after year, doing her own thing, because... she does her own thing. She is herself in her creativity, and either you like it or not. And if you're in the latter group, I mean, too bad, but we all have our likes and dislikes, don't we?
There is much to love about this book, but I specifically want to go back to check her setlist in her post-9/11 tour that I saw her in, and the one much later in Seattle, after learning that not only does she determine the set list a mere hour before going on stage (or even changing it on the fly if it feels right), but she also determines it based on what kind of a dialogue she feels the audience that night might be in need of. Are people feeling jubilant? Anxious about the state of the world? Do people need catharsis or distraction? What's going on in the city? (She always does a meet and greet before the show to hear from locals).
Tori Amos is - pardon the pun - in tune. With everything. That's the overwhelming feeling I got from reading Resistance.
Throughout my fandom, the one thing I would always raise my eyebrows at was her talk of faeries and her songs as Girls who come to her, and back then I didn't quite get it--it all felt a bit too woo-woo for my comfort. So despite loving her lyrics and her music, I felt hesitant about grabbing this book.
But y'all. It's amazing. I'm glad to have proven myself wrong. The book is punchy with its approach to politics and creativity, and working as a creative person in a part of the world that wants to harness such forces to make money or for hustling or to be "productive" - and how falling into that trap can lead to your well drying up. This should've been obvious to me, but it's now obvious-er after reading this book: Tori Amos is able to keep on trucking, year after year, doing her own thing, because... she does her own thing. She is herself in her creativity, and either you like it or not. And if you're in the latter group, I mean, too bad, but we all have our likes and dislikes, don't we?
There is much to love about this book, but I specifically want to go back to check her setlist in her post-9/11 tour that I saw her in, and the one much later in Seattle, after learning that not only does she determine the set list a mere hour before going on stage (or even changing it on the fly if it feels right), but she also determines it based on what kind of a dialogue she feels the audience that night might be in need of. Are people feeling jubilant? Anxious about the state of the world? Do people need catharsis or distraction? What's going on in the city? (She always does a meet and greet before the show to hear from locals).
Tori Amos is - pardon the pun - in tune. With everything. That's the overwhelming feeling I got from reading Resistance.
zimlicious's review against another edition
4.0
“Tori Amos kitabı çıkıyormuş!” dediğim ilk gün ön sipariş verdim ve 22 Mayıs Cuma günü elime ulaştığında da “bayramda okurum ama şöyle bir bakayım içine” derken bir baktım kitabı bitirmişim. Buna şaşırmayın çünkü Tori Amos çok uzun yıllardır hayatımda çok önemli yeri olan kadınlardan biri. Herkesin (ya da çoğunluğun mu demeliyim acaba?) bir “müzik hayat kurtarır” hikâyesi vardır ya? Benim hikâyemde de başroldeki isimlerden biri gerçekten Tori Amos. Genel olarak kendi tarzını yaratmasıyla ve çok “kişisel” şarkılar yazmasıyla tanınsa da kitabında da belirttiği gibi bir “hikâye anlatıcısı” aslında. Ben de 90’lardan beri asıl bu yanına hayranım; şarkıları hem kendi başlarına hem de bir araya geldiklerinde müzik ile anlatılan hikâyeler benim için. Bunlar arasında hem Tori’ye özel, gerçekten “kişisel” olanlar hem de başkalarını anlatanlar var. Mesela Black Dove (January Girl) şarkısını rüyasında beni görüp, bana yazdığına eminim (benim emin olmam kesin bilgi olduğu anlamına gelmiyor; hemen celallenmeyin).
Tori Amos kitabı elime ulaştıktan ve bitirdikten sonra şöyle bir baktım uzun yıllardır hayranı olanlar ve olmayanlar farklı şeyler söylemiş mi diye. Hayranı olmayıp da okuyanlara pek rastlamadım ama müziğini sevip de sırf Tori yazdığı için alıp okuyanlardan bazılarının yorumlarına şaşırdım. Çünkü kitabın politika ağırlıklı olmasına şaşıranlar çok vardı. Bush yönetimi zamanında, ilk şarkısı Yo George olan American Doll Posse gibi bir albüm yapan, her fırsatta politik görüşlerinin ve bu doğrultuda aldığı aksiyonların Washington’da çaldığı piyano barlarda duyduğu muhabbetlerle de şekillendiğini anlatan bir kadının böyle bir zamanda politika konuşmasına şaşırmalarına şaşırdım ben de. Uzun yıllardır bir numaralı sapığıymışım gibi röportajlarını, vs. de takip ediyorum haliyle ve bu Tori Amos kitabı ile ilgili beklentilerimi doğru şekillendirmişim diye düşünüyorum şahsen; ben hayal kırıklığına uğramadım.
Devamı: https://zimlicious.com/tori-amos-kitabi-resistanceda-tum-sanatcilari-direnmeye-cagiriyor/?utm_source=GR&utm_medium=LINK&utm_campaign=TORIRESISTANCE
Tori Amos kitabı elime ulaştıktan ve bitirdikten sonra şöyle bir baktım uzun yıllardır hayranı olanlar ve olmayanlar farklı şeyler söylemiş mi diye. Hayranı olmayıp da okuyanlara pek rastlamadım ama müziğini sevip de sırf Tori yazdığı için alıp okuyanlardan bazılarının yorumlarına şaşırdım. Çünkü kitabın politika ağırlıklı olmasına şaşıranlar çok vardı. Bush yönetimi zamanında, ilk şarkısı Yo George olan American Doll Posse gibi bir albüm yapan, her fırsatta politik görüşlerinin ve bu doğrultuda aldığı aksiyonların Washington’da çaldığı piyano barlarda duyduğu muhabbetlerle de şekillendiğini anlatan bir kadının böyle bir zamanda politika konuşmasına şaşırmalarına şaşırdım ben de. Uzun yıllardır bir numaralı sapığıymışım gibi röportajlarını, vs. de takip ediyorum haliyle ve bu Tori Amos kitabı ile ilgili beklentilerimi doğru şekillendirmişim diye düşünüyorum şahsen; ben hayal kırıklığına uğramadım.
Devamı: https://zimlicious.com/tori-amos-kitabi-resistanceda-tum-sanatcilari-direnmeye-cagiriyor/?utm_source=GR&utm_medium=LINK&utm_campaign=TORIRESISTANCE
annasirius's review against another edition
3.0
Stopped halfway through - I just kind of expected more. She talks about art as form of resistance, but I never knew, for example, that Cornflake Girl was about FGM. It sounds rather dreamy. How is that effective resistance?