Jewel

(Audiobook, read by Jewel)

I have fallen deeply in love with books being read by their authors this year, and this was no exception. Jewel was the artist, who with Hands, owned my artists, budding singer-in-training, soul for most of my teens and her early albums are still some of my favorite for all time. Especially the Hands, itself.

This book was glorious and gorgeous and gave an insider story to her life, which gave me a whole new way to look at everything about her music. The path of the show more singer singing the song and not just the song as it was reflected through my life translating those same messages....and it's definitely left me wanting to see her in concert, again, and wanting to listen to all of her albums in order as a companion to the text as well now, with new eyes, new ears, new hands, new understanding. show less

Jewel's memoir was so highly reviewed, with such adoration, and I've always enjoyed her music so much, that I wanted to give it a try. It's one of the few times "read by author" gave rise to positive expectations.

I didn't last very long. As I expected from her songs, Jewel has a facility with words and poetry that I often genuinely enjoyed: "Maybe if I didn't let go, maybe if I used words like Hansel and Gretel used breadcrumbs, I could find my way out of the woods and avoid being eaten by show more the witch and the wolves. Maybe." And her narration was not at all bad.

But there were moments from the beginning in which her choice of words instead rubbed me the wrong way, and it got worse as it went along. Finally, the tendency to pretentiousness, paired with a level of good luck that reminded me of Eat, Pray, Love (another pretentious book I couldn't finish), made me stop the book and return it to Audible. Don't mistake me: I understand the horrors among which she grew up, and I don't begrudge her any good fortune that came her way – I'm delighted. I hope she has millions of dollars and all the happiness she can deal with. But things start clicking into place for her, with a vengeance – people appear just when they're needed, money drops from the sky, chances and opportunities manifest as if by magic. Maybe it's just disbelief – none of those things have ever happened to me, so I find it hard to accept that someone else had such a miraculous turn of luck. Or maybe it's jealousy, since none of that has ever happened to me. Regardless, she became a bit smug about it all, and I had to give up. show less

This was a blast from the past. I remember this poetry collection being HOT when I was in middle school. That being said I never got around to reading it. I enjoyed this collection, but I wasn't in awe of it. It was ok for a singular read but I didn't find myself bookmarking any pages or wanting to save this to re-read it. Again, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. This was good for a singular read.

Interesting little book by Jewel, yes Jewel the singer. A collection of her poems that cover anything from growing up as a little girl in Alaska to the red light district of Tai Pei. Through her poems she tells stories of growing up in Alaska. Her look for love and being in relationships but her insecurities. Another reviewer noted that some lead you to want to know more about her or that part of her life and then you jump to a completely different area or time period. But all and all a nice show more collection of contemporary poetry. show less