Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | 
| Author: Sheila Weller
Creator: Susan Ericksen
Publisher: Tantor Media
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 433471
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 19
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.3 x 5.6 x 1.7
ISBN: 1400106494
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421640922
EAN: 9781400106493
ASIN: 1400106494
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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Condition: Ships immediately! New- box has wear, discs are perfect. Unabridged. 2008 Audio CD.
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| • | Hardcover - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | | • | Paperback - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | | • | Unknown Binding - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation: Library Edition | | • | Audio CD - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | | • | Kindle Edition - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation | | • | MP3 CD - Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---And the Journey of a Generation |
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Product Description
Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon, midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them---confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 71 more reviews...
 Repetitive, Repetitive, Repetitive... July 15, 2008
I was so looking forward to this book because I am a huge fan of all three women and the author. Unfortunately, much of it is recycled stories that have been in the many other books and articles written about this time period. There is also constant repetition among the chapters. Unlike other reviewers, I admit I was looking for something a little gossipy and light but instead, it appears Weller is trying to create some type of faux-feminist piece by constantly bringing up the plight of women during this unenlightened time period. I wanted to read about the artists, not a piece on the birth of feminism. Carly Simon definitely makes for the most interesting read and in spite of being a Joni Mitchell worshiper, I got really bored reading about her long blonde hair and unique voice and stoic yet goofy ways- over and over and over again. Insight please! I also agree with the comments on the editing- or lack thereof. I devoured the excerpt in Vanity Fair and this is what prompted me to buy the book. However, tack on another 100 pages to that Vanity Fair article and you could have added all the new (as opposed to regurgitated) information and saved a few trees in the process!I think she had a good idea but the execution I found was pretty poor.
 Worth it for the footnotes alone July 13, 2008
As a gossip-fest, good time this book would rate 7 stars for the footnotes alone. Three singer-songwriter coming of age in the 60s and 70s, each trying to figure out what it means to be an independent female artist in a world where all the old rules are gone; this material is gold. Their career struggles, love lives, success and failures are all detailed here.
And what details! See nearly every significant male musician of the early 70s fall at Joni Mitchell's feet. Watch Carole King go from dutiful 60s wife to California hippie to Idaho back-to-nature recluse. Observe Carly Simon try to establish herself as a serious songwriter while struggling to hang on to her marriage to James Taylor.
Weller clearly believes these women's lives say alot about the lives of their generation. That's a tougher sell for me, especially when Weller seems unwilling to question whether "sexual freedom" really was freedom for these women or just a different way to be exploited. The choices they faced - career or motherhood, equal partners or supportive wive, etc - still ring true.
What keeps this book a 5 and not a 7 though is Weller's creeping bias. By the middle of the book her disapproval of Joni Mitchell is as obvious as her impassioned defense of Jackson Browne is inexplicable. I couldn't help feeling that Weller would have given, say, Bob Dylan a pass for the behavior she tut-tuts over in Mitchell. Then there's Carly Simon. Perhaps because Simon is the only subject who cooperated or perhaps because Weller identifies with her, Carly Simon gets a pass on numerous occasions for things you just know Mitchell would get globbbered for. Stopping by the table where your recently separated husband, his new girlfriend and his best friend are having dinner only to ask the best friend out on a date? It's a "sign of the times." No, dear, it's seriously bad taste. Being hurt because someone suggests that Joni Mitchell wouldn't appear on her album cover in lingerie and boots? Poor sensitive, insecure Carly. How about getting in touch with reality? Whether Joni would or wouldn't appear in lingerie and boots, you can bet she'd own her decision to do it. Weller so treats Simon with kid gloves that bad reviews get relegated to the footnotes.
Which brings me back to the footnotes. I've read entire books which are less interesting than a single footnote in this book. Weller did her research and if you're wondering what happened to a minor character, just hop on the footnotes and you'll get their life story. You'll also get a few magical mystery tours like the one that starts with disco music empowering gays and ends with Jann Wenner and his partner Matt Nye throwing themselves a baby shower.
This book is great summer reading but like me, you may find yourself sympathesizing with the concert reviewer who notes "Carly Simon has been getting on my nerves for years."
Kindle Notes: On the Kindle version you can easily access the footnotes without skipping a beat on the main text. There are no photos in the Kindle version.
Carole, Joni, and Carly--All In One Book July 11, 2008
This was an interesting way to write a book. The author finds a way to connect the lives and music of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon with 20-30 page chronological chapters about each artist.
I found the format to be a bit confusing at first, and was tempted to read all the "Carole" chapters, then the "Joni" and "Carly" chapters, however, by breaking them up I found that my interest grew.
While I would have preferred to read separate biographies on each, I have to say that I enjoyed reading this rather lengthy book.
Not As Advertised July 9, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Slogged through this "epic". I wanted, truly wanted, to enjoy this book and I didn't. I respect and enjoy the music of all three of these women but this book confirms what I have thought about learning anything about entertainers (be they film stars, musicians, etc.); just enjoy their work and let it go.
I learned that these women really slept around (and you can only use the excuse of "it was the times" so long). Not very appealing. (You would have thought Carly Simon might learn after early on she got veneral disease from a lover).
Some of it was interesting especially the role of their mothers in their lives.
But it needed editing in the BIG way; where was her editor? AWOL. For example, Bette Midler was NOT one of the queens of disco and yet that's what the author states. She also states that Carly Simon was more committed to her albums of standards than others who put out standards like Linda Ronstadt. Linda was one of the first and she had THE name in the business who was Nelson Riddle who was orchestra director for Frank Sinatra, etc. It is also stated in the Joni Mitchell montage that Joni was with Graham Nash for 2 years "in the dawn of 1970" but the page opposite says that Joni and James Taylor were in love and were lovers in 1970. This isn't explained in the text of the book.
Bloated and gossipy, it is not an examination of women in rock in the late '60s and early '70s.
 Patchwork that is big on sizzle and short on substance July 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In a way, this is a very odd idea for a book. Aside from the fact that all of these people are women and singer/songwriters, there is little that unites them. As a result, there is a patchwork quality to this book. The author goes from one singer to another and back again. You feel as a reader like you're the passenger in a car where the driver doesn't really know how to use a stick shift. There is a lot of lurching.
Most of the focus on the book is not on these women as artists, but which famous people they slept with. Since Ms. Simon apparently has slept with a tremendous number of famous men, Girls Like Us is best when focusing on her. At the other end of the spectrum, the author can't seem to get much of a handle on Carole King. Joni Mitchell falls somewhere in between.
If you want to know more than just about their sex lives and love affairs and get to the real heart of the matter - the music of these women - this book comes up short. There is very little insight here as to the art of their songwriting. What motivates these people to do what they do? What were they thinking when they wrote their classic songs? These are the kinds of questions that the author does not possess the depth to answer.
The tone of the book is very girlie and chatty. It's like eavesdropping on a coffee shop conversation with some fifty-something year old women dishing the dirt about relationships and sex lives. If you're a woman, maybe this tone is fine. For me, it was a distraction.
In essence, this book is a beach read for female boomers. It's full of well-researched celebrity gossip. To her credit, the author does treat the subjects with respect. She also knows how to write a sentence. But if you want to truly get inside the head of any of these songwriters, you'll have to look elsewhere.
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