New found reviews

[marjan]

From libraryjournal.com

Ian, Janis. Society’s Child: My Autobiography. Tarcher: Penguin. Jul. 2008. c.384p. photogs. index. ISBN 978-1-58542-675-1. $26.95. MUSIC
Verdict: This is as much a survivor’s story as an intimate chronicle of the folk music world. We often feel sorry for Ian—and we’re glad she’s survived (her husband once tried to kill her)—but she doesn’t open up enough for us to admire her. Nevertheless, Ian still fills concert halls with many fans, and most libraries will want a copy of her book.
Background: At 15, Ian wowed the folk and pop worlds with a song about interracial dating, "Society’s Child." A few years later, she was playing center stage at clubs in Greenwich Village and hanging out with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Rev. Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, and Janis Joplin. By 1975, her song "At Seventeen" was riding the charts and winning two Grammys. In this plodding and prosaic autobiography, Ian offers a brutally honest portrait of her agonies and ecstasies, her triumphs and her failures. Just as her music career was taking off, her personal life started falling apart. She chronicles her parents’ divorce, the sexual abuse she suffered from the family dentist, her failed marriages, and her financial crises, without pausing long to reflect on the effects of any of these events in her life.—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Evanston, IL

[marjan]

from Barnes & Noble.com overview

Synopsis

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Janis Ian's memoir of her more than forty years in the music business.

Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of fifteen when her soul-wrenching song "Society's Child" became a national hit. An intimate portrait of an interracial relationship, "Society's Child" climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career. In this fascinating memoir of her life in the music business, Ian chronicles how she did drugs with Jimi Hendrix, went shopping for Grammy clothes with Janis Joplin, and sang with Mel Tormé —all the while never ceasing to create unforgettable music.

In Society's Child, Ian shares with readers what it felt like to move in and out of the public eye. In 1975 her legendary song "At Seventeen" earned two Grammy awards and five nominations. But during the 1980s she made a conscious decision to walk away from the often grueling music business to study ballet and acting. She also struggled through a difficult marriage that ended with her then husband's threat to kill her. The hiatus from music lasted for nearly a decade until, in 1993, Ian returned with the release of Breaking Silence. Rather than risk losing artistic control, she took out a second mortgage on her home to fund the record. It paid off as Breaking Silence gained Ian her ninth Grammy nomination. Now in her fifth decade, Ian continues to draw large audiences around the globe.

Janis Ian has inspired generations offans and in this moving book she shares the fascinating story of her life in music.

Publishers Weekly

"I was born into the crack that split America," Ian writes, and her early immersion in the folk music scene of the 1960s helped shape her prodigious songwriting talents while she was still in her teens. The autobiography shares a title with her first hit, a song about a doomed interracial romance that was considered too controversial for many record labels and radio stations. The pressures of the music industry and her troubled family life drove Ian to a nervous breakdown at the age of 19. It was in the following long period of recovery that she wrote her most famous song, "At Seventeen." ("I'd never sing it in public," she says of her initial feelings about the song. "It was just too humiliating.") Soon after reaching that recording peak, her life was derailed by a series of troubles ranging from an abusive marriage (to a man she first met because she was in love with his girlfriend) to massive tax liabilities to bouts with septicemia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The roller-coaster ride may be typical stuff for celebrity autobiography, but fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness as an independent singer-songwriter in Nashville. (July)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

More Reviews and Recommendations
Biography

Janis Ian is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter and singer, and an author of science fiction.

[marjan]

from Barnes & Noble editiorial review

From the Publisher

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Janis Ian's memoir of her more than forty years in the music business.

Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of fifteen when her soul-wrenching song "Society's Child" became a national hit. An intimate portrait of an interracial relationship, "Society's Child" climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career. In this fascinating memoir of her life in the music business, Ian chronicles how she did drugs with Jimi Hendrix, went shopping for Grammy clothes with Janis Joplin, and sang with Mel Tormé —all the while never ceasing to create unforgettable music.

In Society's Child, Ian shares with readers what it felt like to move in and out of the public eye. In 1975 her legendary song "At Seventeen" earned two Grammy awards and five nominations. But during the 1980s she made a conscious decision to walk away from the often grueling music business to study ballet and acting. She also struggled through a difficult marriage that ended with her then husband's threat to kill her. The hiatus from music lasted for nearly a decade until, in 1993, Ian returned with the release of Breaking Silence. Rather than risk losing artistic control, she took out a second mortgage on her home to fund the record. It paid off as Breaking Silence gained Ian her ninth Grammy nomination. Now in her fifth decade, Ian continues to draw large audiences around the globe.

Janis Ian has inspired generations offans and in this moving book she shares the fascinating story of her life in music.

Publishers Weekly

"I was born into the crack that split America," Ian writes, and her early immersion in the folk music scene of the 1960s helped shape her prodigious songwriting talents while she was still in her teens. The autobiography shares a title with her first hit, a song about a doomed interracial romance that was considered too controversial for many record labels and radio stations. The pressures of the music industry and her troubled family life drove Ian to a nervous breakdown at the age of 19. It was in the following long period of recovery that she wrote her most famous song, "At Seventeen." ("I'd never sing it in public," she says of her initial feelings about the song. "It was just too humiliating.") Soon after reaching that recording peak, her life was derailed by a series of troubles ranging from an abusive marriage (to a man she first met because she was in love with his girlfriend) to massive tax liabilities to bouts with septicemia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The roller-coaster ride may be typical stuff for celebrity autobiography, but fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness as an independent singer-songwriter in Nashville. (July)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews
The sad life and hard times of the queen of mopey folk. Fifteen-year-old Ian became a cause celebre in the 1960s as the composer and performer of "Society's Child," a folk-pop song that daringly addressed an interracial romance between teenagers. In calm, lucid prose, she charts the bumpy path of her life and career since then as an embattled lesbian singer-songwriter with, apparently, worse luck than the Chicago Cubs. Precociously intelligent, Ian felt alienated from her peers, and this early unhappiness seems to have colored many of her subsequent experiences. As she struggled to advance her career in an often cruel and superficial industry, she was repeatedly cheated and mismanaged, never quite breaking through to superstardom despite such hits as the 1975 wallflower anthem "At Seventeen." In her account, the author sees herself as a perpetual victim: molested by the family dentist as a child, drugged by a stranger on the streets of New York, sexually manipulated by her therapist and various girlfriends, cheated by business managers, persecuted by the IRS, beaten and threatened with death by a psychotic husband. Serious health problems also repeatedly sidelined Ian, including an incapacitating bout of chronic fatigue syndrome. All of which would suggest she is an epic downer to hang out with. As a narrator, though, she proves excellent company, providing fascinating insights into the craft of songwriting and amusing anecdotes about carousing with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The personal material is equally gripping, in a soap-operatic way, rife with betrayals, sexual intrigue, danger and madness. As evidenced by many of her lyrics (and second career writingscience-fiction stories), Ian is a natural prose stylist with a real knack for pacing and the telling detail. What might have been a dreary catalog of woe is instead a juicily entertaining look at an unusual life in show business. Downbeat yet oddly rollicking and compulsively readable.

[marjan]

from us.penquingroup.com

Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of fifteen, when her soul-wrenching song “Society’s Child” became a hit. An intimate portrait of an interracial relationship, “Society’s Child” climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career. In this fascinating memoir of her more than forty years in the music business, Ian chronicles how she did drugs with Jimi Hendrix, went shopping for Grammy clothes with Janis Joplin, and sang with Mel Tormé—all the while never ceasing to create unforgettable music.
In 1975, Ian’s legendary “At Seventeen” earned two Grammy awards and five nominations. Her next two albums brought her worldwide platinum hits and fame that stretched from Japan to Holland. But after seven albums in as many years, she made a conscious decision to walk away from the often grueling music business. During this period, she struggled through a difficult marriage that ended with her then husband’s attempt to destroy her, and a sudden illness that very nearly cost her her life. The hiatus from music lasted for close to a decade until, in 1993, Ian returned with the release of the Grammy-nominated Breaking Silence. Now, as she moves gracefully into her fifth decade as a recording artist and writer, Ian continues to draw large audiences around the globe.

In Society’s Child, Janis Ian provides a relentlessly honest account of the successes and failures, and the hopes and dreams of an extraordinary life.

“Deftly written, the life experiences described by Janis Ian in this engaging memoir give us a peek into the anatomy of a brilliant songwriter.”—Joan Baez
“Janis Ian was brilliant from the start. Through her songs and poems, I have always noticed the grace in the use of her language; now I can see her artistic flow in book form. Congratulations Janis!”—Odetta

“One of life's greatest pleasures is a book that you simply can't put down—one that transports you from start to finish as it elevates, enlightens, enlarges, and entertains. Janis Ian gives you all of this in Society's Child. It's a book that flies on "glistening wings" straight into your heart, where it will nestle forever.”—Kitty Kelley

"I laughed, I ached, I wept, I cheered . . . and ultimately was totally taken in by Janis Ian's honest and deeply moving autobiography. Society’s Child is an insightful and courageously personal account of her musical, spiritual and emotional journey!"—Noel Stookey of Peter Paul & Mary

“Janis Ian is at once larger-than-life and excruciatingly human. In Society’s Child she describes great triumphs, devastating losses, betrayals of every kind, and her extraordinary strength of spirit shines through every page.”—Kathy Mattea

“One of the finest self-written books about the songwriting life in recent years . . . It’s nice that Janis Ian conducts the tour in person and allows us to see the undressed side of the stone.”—Jimmy Webb

“Musical genius, lover of life's bounties, survivor of its spectacular bummers, big, big artist in a beautiful tiny package — my friend Janis Ian.”—Ronnie Gilbert of The Weavers

“At 15 she was already breaking all the rules. In an era-the mid-1960s-when people of her parents' generation didn't speak about "ugly things" like interracial romance, prostitution, and war, Janis Ian was opening her big mouth and getting hounded offstage for singing her taboo-busting lyrics. Society's Child (Tarcher/Penguin) is the hugely readable autobiography of an artist who has lived through success and crushing hardship but knows that ‘you can't sing and cry at the same time.’ Sing on!”— O Magazine

“Fans will love the book, of course, but many nonfans, too, should find this painfully candid memoir hard to put down.”—Booklist, starred review

“Ian is a natural prose stylist with a real knack for pacing and the telling detail. What might have been a dreary catalog of woe is instead a juicily entertaining look at an unusual life in show business.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness…”—Publishers Weekly

[gisli]

Looks good, keep ´em coming...may it happen that we do see a review from a surden Dutch reader now that most of the other readers have broken theyre oath for secrasy??????

[marjan]

Nope Gisli, you just have to wait until July 24th :rolleyes:

[Dee]

Quite a mix there. Thanks for posting these, Marjan!

[marjan]

June 26, 2008 --
from nypost.com

DAVID Geffen is a brilliant businessman, but he made one incredibly bad call early in his career. In her new autobiography, "Society's Child," pop singer Janis Ian reveals how Geffen and Hal Ray, her agents at William Morris, once presented her with an offer to do the soundtrack for "something called 'The Graduate,' and advised me to pass. One of them said . . . 'It stars some big-nosed unknown kid with a funny name and bad hair. The story line is silly - [he] graduates from college, has an affair with his mother's close friend and neighbor, falls in love with the neighbor's daughter, then runs away with her after breaking into church where the wedding's being held. Oh, and he locks everybody else inside . . . with a big cross, while he and this chick make their escape . . . Ridiculous.' We passed. Paul Simon did the score, and the rest is history." The Dustin Hoff man movie got seven Oscar nonimations and its Simon & Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson" was a huge hit.

[Eva]

Where did you find all those Marjan?

Eva

[Amy in Vermont]

Great reviews from people who really matter.. how awesome!

[hoops]

woooo hoooo thank you for all the good news!
peace
hoops

[Bat]

Only a few more weeks...my god, I can't stand it!:eek:

[Oak Kitten]

The person who wrote the "plodding and prosaic" review for "Library Journal" seems to be in the obscure minority. How do you think someone would feel after going through those experiences? Do you really need to have someone wallow in it for your entertainment? That would be the standard expected by a great deal of the contemporary reading public, I suppose. But Janis always transcends the plodding and prosaic standards that govern the masses, thank goodness.

Oak

[hoops]

oak, i just ignored what that person said, obviously they missed the whole point. i wonder if they even read the whole book. sigh
peace
hoops

[Dar]

Has she grown from 'Rude Girl' to 'Queen'? LOL



The sad life and hard times of the queen of mopey folk. ...... All of which would suggest she is an epic downer to hang out with.


well I've never experienced her as a downer to hang out with. hmmph!

[Roady]

I can't imagine reading one of Mr. Carrigan's books: :eek:

What inspirational literature do I read next? / Pamela Willwerth Aue ; Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., contributing editor.
Boundless faith : early American women's captivity narratives / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Eternal wisdom from the desert : writings from the desert fathers / edited by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Meditations from Mechthild of Magdeburg / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr..
Religious poetry and prose / John Donne ; edited by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Romancing God : contemplating the beloved / Ramon Lull ; edited and mildy modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Temple : the poetry of George Herbert / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Way of perfection / Teresa of Avila ; edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.

*Edited to add: I really shouldn't judge Mr. Carrigan's books when I haven't read them. Maybe Janis just isn't his type. ;)

[Roady]

Society's Child
Janis Ian
Reviewed by J. A. Jance (http://writersarereaders.com/janceiansocietyschild.html)

[David_Gardiner]

A brilliant review. It sums up so much in so few words. Now that is a real reviewer looking at Janis' book. The standard to which I aspire.

[hoops]

nice review thank you again roady
peace
hoops

[Mary6906]

Very nicely written indeed.

[Roady]

I just finished Jance's "Dead Wrong" this past weekend. Glad to see she has a new one coming out this month! Though I'll have to read Janis first. ;)

[aabram]

Just love these reviews. I have emailed them to myself :)

[lucille]

I can't imagine reading one of Mr. Carrigan's books: :eek:

What inspirational literature do I read next? / Pamela Willwerth Aue ; Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., contributing editor.
Boundless faith : early American women's captivity narratives / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Eternal wisdom from the desert : writings from the desert fathers / edited by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Meditations from Mechthild of Magdeburg / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr..
Religious poetry and prose / John Donne ; edited by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Romancing God : contemplating the beloved / Ramon Lull ; edited and mildy modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Temple : the poetry of George Herbert / edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.
Way of perfection / Teresa of Avila ; edited and mildly modernized by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.

*Edited to add: I really shouldn't judge Mr. Carrigan's books when I haven't read them. Maybe Janis just isn't his type. ;)

Well Henry sure doesn't sound like "my" type either. In fact he sounds like he could be a god bothering, sanctimoniuous, bible bashing bastard. (Not to put too fine a point on it):D

[hoops]

lucille,
OUUUUUUCH! lol i guess you and i won;t be discussing God at the picnic ...just kidding really
peace
hoops

[Kath of the Guitar]

Hoops, LMAS! She's a BAADDD GIRL! We might have to perform an EXORCISM! :eek: ;) But we love her so we'll keep her!

[hoops]

kath, i agree she is a good girl, we'll keep her :D
peace
hoops

[Mimi]

Wow! But all these reviews worsen the torture of waiting... it gets worse every day!

MIMI

[hoops]

mimi hun, we're almost there just hang on my friend. the reviews, i find to be enticing, making my excitement for the book greater. just a little humor here...i see in the near future a mass sigh across the world as we catch our collective breath and all light up a cigarette satiated and a good kinda tired :D
peace
hoops

[Melody Everette]

All the articles on Janis Ian remind me of my efforts to purchase several from the New York Public Library. It was still the microfilm era. I'm thinking not too long after BETWEEN THE LINES was solid on the charts, think mid-1975. I'd never considered collecting the back-history of an artist before. The internet probably wasn't even an idea. And waiting for snail mail made me anxious.

Marjan, I'd venture your collection makes the scrapbook in one of my videos look like a pamphlet.

Awesome.

melody

[gisli]

Wow! But all these reviews worsen the torture of waiting... it gets worse every day!

MIMI


Yeah I know......and you can blame Marjan for that;)

[Mary6906]

Janis Ian, still best known for “At Seventeen,” doesn’t seem like the type to have rock ’n’roll lifestyle stories to tell.

But she does in Society’s Child My Autobiography, (Penguin Group, $26.99), a remarkably easy if sometimes unsettling read that should be in stores today (along with a double CD).

Besides a highly complicated personal life that included a rough marriage to a man she met when he was living with the girl she really loved, Ian writes that her band got hooked on drugs and alcohol during the “Seventeen” days.

It led to a bizarre moment in Los Angeles when she heard a male voice saying “I hate this song” through the speakers while she was playing “Seventeen.”

“I looked at my soundman, thinking someone had grabbed his talk-back mic,” she writes. “He shook his head. A few bars later, I heard, ‘I hate this (bleep) song. I’m never playing this (bleep) song again.’ A few people in the crowd began laughing and pointing at the bass player. Stu’s microphone was still on, and he was mumbling into it ...”

It turned out Stu had taken full advantage of the open bar backstage. But she couldn’t fire him or other problem makers because right after the L.A. show Ian was booked to play four sold-out shows at the then just-opened Sydney Opera House.

“I wasn’t talking to anyone in the band and it was pure hell getting up onstage,” she wrote. “The band were all doing such massive amounts of coke that none of them trusted one another. The paranoia resulted in meltdowns.”

The full link here: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/711232.html