From Publishers Weekly
This highly personal collection of essays, anecdotes and spontaneous statements accompanied by sweet, primitive drawings deals with Jewel's atypical childhood in Alaska, her struggling-musician days and her eventually successful music career, characterized by constant touring and putting up with the consequences of fame. Similar to Jewel's bestselling book of poems (A Night Without Armor), this compendium of prose exhibits a clear, direct, purposefully poignant and, at times, indulgent writing style. Jewel recognizes artistic quality when she sees it and often brings up names and their associations (touring with Bob Dylan, thinking about Italo Calvino's "If" before taking the stage), perhaps in an attempt to connect with them, and to show her admiration. Certainly, Jewel has talent and integrity, and, when she abandons a self-conscious posture, she can offer insights that are fresh and luminescent ("For me, the real beauty of singing is learning to play the instrument I've been given"). Unfortunately, her descriptive writing suffers too frequently from a surfeit of sentiment ("Do I like the dream I've dreamed or have I begun to feel like a prisoner of the dream?"). Jewel's name will carry this book a long wayAas will the catchy cover, an alluring photo of the poet/ writer on horseback. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Jewel's second foray into publishing is not another book of poetry but a memoirlike collection of diary passages and musings. Most people familiar with the singer-songwriter's story know that Jewel was raised in Alaska, attended Interlochen, an art school in Michigan, and lived out of her van while trying to make it big. In addition to those familiar stories, Jewel shares details of her life on her family's homestead and her struggles to make ends meet, which included playing guitar and singing on the street for money. Interspersed with these tales of the past are Jewel's adventures on the road. She meets all sorts of people, from those who call her a sellout to those who stare at her in awe. Jewel herself often seems to be in awe of her fame; the juxtaposition of her hard-knocks former life with her princesslike present existence is constantly emphasized. Of course, it's not a simple matter of one being bad, the other good; the opening poem reveals that Jewel sometimes still longs for her life in Alaska. "Am I wasting myself on something false?" she muses on a tour bus. It's clearly a tough question for her. Although many readers may find this all a little self-serving, Jewel's fans (the presumed audience) will find this memoir earnest and heartfelt.
Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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