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librarydancer's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very fascinating, but ultimately sad book. It concludes with the ending of her marriage to James Taylor in the 1980's.
She is very frank in discussing her mom's live-in-lover, her father's coolness, and her stutter which has plagued her for years. She clearly has a gift for meeting and associating with very intelligent and gifted people -- one of her first boyfriend's is an acclaimed author, another counselor she met at camp became her collaborator for songs such as 'That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be'.
This book is almost a record of very famous people from the seventies, with her having love affairs with a large number of leading men. The sadness comes from her relationship with James Taylor. It is clear she still loves him, but he has cut her from his life. He will not speak to or of her, allow any questions concerning their relationship or time together, and apparently has forbidden others to do so as well. They have two children together, so it is clearly a difficult situation for both her and their kids.
This book will be of special interest to those who were teenagers and older in the 1970's.
She is very frank in discussing her mom's live-in-lover, her father's coolness, and her stutter which has plagued her for years. She clearly has a gift for meeting and associating with very intelligent and gifted people -- one of her first boyfriend's is an acclaimed author, another counselor she met at camp became her collaborator for songs such as 'That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be'.
This book is almost a record of very famous people from the seventies, with her having love affairs with a large number of leading men. The sadness comes from her relationship with James Taylor. It is clear she still loves him, but he has cut her from his life. He will not speak to or of her, allow any questions concerning their relationship or time together, and apparently has forbidden others to do so as well. They have two children together, so it is clearly a difficult situation for both her and their kids.
This book will be of special interest to those who were teenagers and older in the 1970's.
bigann's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly I only really know a few songs by Carly Simon but the memoir made me appreciate them more and want to look into some others. While I was really gripped by the descriptions of her childhood and the characters she created out of her family and friends, I felt as her career picked up her descriptions got a lot more detached and too much was being crammed into the pages. I definitely learned a lot and enjoyed it overall, but I would warn that about 2/3rds of the book are hard to follow and more a recount than a memoir.
freckleduck's review against another edition
2.0
I was not excited for this book. It felt like a litany of who slept with who and overall I found it to be a waste of my time. I didn't know much about Carly Simon previously and found her story interesting at times but not worth it for me.
bmpicc's review against another edition
3.0
Simon went deep, but she also ended early (in the 80's). I suspect I'd have rated this higher if I had listened to her read it to me. I had no idea that her father was Simon of Simon & Schuster, that she dealt with anxiety and depression, that she had a stutter, and that her coming of age story was so incredibly heartbreaking/confusing. I give her credit for her honestly. She is a talent for sure.
cdale8's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this, but instead of the interesting stories that the author could have elaborated upon, being given so much in the way of experiences and resources as a privileged young child in a progressive household, she tended to fill her pages with a lot of name dropping and confused angst. I realize that everyone, rich and poor, has their challenges, but I almost shelved it before she made it to college. The narrative got better as the early career stage of her life came into play, and she described (but did not explore, save one large and relatively famous attack at one concert) her issues with panic disorder, but I was somehow left with the feeling that she still really doesn't understand that someone that doesn't have to bother thinking about money while living in Manhattan in their 20s -- even back In the 1960s and 70s -- is actually wealthy. She kept writing about the family fortune being swindled long before she made it as a solo artist, and complaining that people thought she had money when she did not, but how did she get over to London to play around in a recording studio as a new unsigned artist, take a sabbatical from school in Nice, eat and party it up in midtown -- she certainly didn't elaborate on the employment woes of a struggling artist other than one summer as a youth camp leader... She could have used her experiences with sexual exploitation as a child to talk about society and its evolution in that respect -- how did she protect her own daughter, given her experiences? I really wanted to like this but I'm afraid that I just found most of it fairly shallow, and her revelations of various dalliances a little too TMZ for my taste.
stapilus's review against another edition
5.0
Very impressionic, occasionally poetic, retelling of part (mainly the first part) of her life. It does a better job than most of giving the reader insight into the way her mind works; the voice seems very much hers.
kimgunn's review
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
Beautifully written and lovely to listen to Carly's voice narrating. I would have loved to hear more about her life and career after her divorce from James Taylor, but what she did share still held my attention.
hedread's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading about the early years of Carly. I loved so many of her songs "in the day". It was also interesting to read about so many of the big rock groups from the 60s and 70s.