Ann Powers

Piece by Piece is the autobiography of singer/songwriter Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos) and is subtitles "A portrait of the artist. Her thoughts. Her conversations." And it really is. A wonderful insight into Tori Amos as a musician, a mother, a lioness and a spiritual follower of her own path. Separated into conversations between Tori and Ann, Tori's own observations adn writings, Ann's comments, passages from interviews with those close to Tori including her husband and song canvases, I show more couldn't put this down from the first sentence.

There are eight main chapters names after goddesses or archetypes (Tori is a fan of mythology expert Joseph Campbell and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung) wich cover Tori's opinions and experiences including motherhood, her image, the trouble she had with her first record comapny (Atlantic Records), her failed project Y Kant Tori Read, three devestating miscarriages, her relationship with christianity and the two Mary's (the Mother and the Magdalene). From her Cherokee grandfather Tori has found her love of spirituality rather than a dogmatic religion and performs ceremonies before going on stage with her close friends, family and crew (pretty much all the same thing). The tale she weaves is intelligent referencing many mythologies and folktales whilst being intimatly personal when she speaks of her daughter and failed pregnancies. Weaving stories behind her songs and what they mean to her amid the narrative, it really feels like you are talking to Tori and she is present in the room with you.

It gives an amazing insight into her creative process. This includes how she writes her songs (song Beings), gets her inspiration from basically everywhere and everyone around her, pieces sections of fragments of music and lyrics together and pieces together her image. It was written just before The Beekeeper was released and it was interesting to read of the symbolism of the bee and the six sides to Tori. This is simply a MUST for all fans of her music and what she stands for.

A little about my journey with Tori so far. I first heard Cornflake Girl when it was in the charts and then promptly forgot about her. The same with Professional Widow (the remix). It wasn't until I was around 15 that I went to an unconventional party that I really discovered her music on a deeper level. The party was the first birthday party for STEPS. STEPS was a group in Liverpool for woman who self harm and it was the first time I had plucked up the courage to attend one of their meetings. There I met some great people and started the long road to not being ashamed of mt ways of coping. At the party one lady did a modern dance interpretation to Tori's song "Hotel" from the album "From the Choirgirl Hotel" and it still is my favourite of her songs. It was so poignant with the ending "I'm still alive" repeated and I adore it when she plays it live. I have seen her live four times now and the third time I was lucky enough to be one of 200 people at an intimate gig in a theatre in London where she was interviewed by Ann Powers for part of this book. They sat on stage and chatted with Tori playing two sets of four songs inbetween. Amazing. show less

Not your daddy's rock-star memoir, Piece by Piece is an explication of the personal mythological structure behind Tori Amos' songwriting. Part biography, part spiritual memoir, there is much here of interest even to newcomers to her music. Most of the writing is done by Amos, which is fortunate, as Powers' writing, though it makes use of the same vocabulary, lacks Amos' lucidity and authenticity. Piece by Piece is worth buying in hardcover if you're a Tori Amos fan; others might want to get show more it from the library. (Or drop whatever you're doing and buy all of Tori's albums. Not that I have an opinion on the matter.) show less

I loved this book. I was hesistant about reading it, in case it turned Tori into another wannabe like Jewel -- but like Joni Mitchell, Amos is a gifted writer and a widely-read and extremely political person. She talks eloquently about the gender politics of the music business and has an amazing gift (supplemented by Ann Powers' skilful editing) for weaving themes and images through multiple anecdotes and stories.

Probably would get 5* if I was more of a fan of her work, this made me want to get as much of her back catalogue as I could and listen to it all. Friends have recommended her but I've resisted to this point and though reading a bit about her might be useful and interesting, and it was. This is the kind of biography where you actually should know more about the music than I did and I would have loved to have had some more pictures, particularly of album covers discussed in the text. Still show more quite an interesting read, it did speak in particular to the mystical and feminist corners of my brain. show less