pickA must-read for fans of Janis‘s music and free spirit. It feels deeply tragic to read, knowing how it all ends, but there‘s also something emotionally satisfying in this biography‘s intimacy. For a time, you feel like you know Janis, and that‘s a special feeling, indeed.
pickI love Janis Joplin. She was so talented and she lived her life the way she wanted to. This book, like her life, was a downer. She was bullied growing up, her family basically cut her out of their lives, she was enaged to someone who turned out to be a con man, and she got addicted to hard drugs. Man, she was talented though.
bailedI had been looking forward to this, since I‘m a fan of Janis Joplin, but 90 minutes into the audiobook I felt like I wasn‘t learning anything new (I‘ve read an earlier biography) and couldn‘t face another 11 hours of so-so prose. Bye-bye.
so-soI read this biography for one of my book clubs. The author certainly did her research, but it felt bogged down in details. At times, it seemed like we were getting a daily description of her life, whether those details were relevant to her craft or not. If you‘re a huge Joplin fan, though, I expect you would enjoy this.
so-soI don‘t know what I was expecting, but it wasn‘t this. I really feel like I wanted more info into the scene but it‘s very focused on Janis‘ need and desperation to be loved. It‘s good but not what I was wanting.
Is there any voice as memorable as Janis Joplin‘s? I hadn‘t even heard of this book until I saw it available as a skip the line hold and now I‘m so thrilled!
When I was growing up, Janis was always on in our house. She is still my favorite to listen to. I am so happy to be starting this 💜
pickWell researched bio of Janis Joplin. Starts with her parents and takes us through teen years, California, music, drugs, fame. Holly George-Warren shows how Janis remained close to family, was driven to succeed at music but succumbed to the negative thinking of her father‘s “Saturday night swindle” philosophy, that you can never win. https://cannonballread.com/2019/11/janis-her-life-and-music-elcicco/
Janis: Her Life and Music | 
