Boys in the Trees: A Memoir

The book cover shows Carly Simon, whom we knew as sexy, smart, wild, and free, as a shy, downcast awkward girl. As does this memoir. Both sides, now. Carly recounts her childhood stuttering, her self-absorbed parents, and the birth of the unforgiving lump inside her she calls "The Beast".

Post-blossoming, when she joins her sister Lucy to become performers as The Simon Sisters, all is still not well. A successful career and a seemingly perfectly matched partner in James Taylor still don't fix her. The tone is honest, confessional, and truly touching. Carly is honest about her entanglements with Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens, and Warren Beatty, all of whom tried her on for their own satisfaction. For a public figure, she's show more touchingly vulnerable and shocked through with nerves and self doubts.

The epic story of her marriage to Taylor is the highlight of the book. Joyous when she describes their on stage energy and complimentary voices, and tragic when their private personas and problems destroy their luminosity. Those of us whose lives were bracketed by "Sweet Baby James" and "Anticipation" will be completely caught up in the magic and misery. show less

Instead of a slick memoir, full of the expected name dropping, Carly Simon's first person narrative offers surprising insights into the devastating impact of mental illness.

Yes, there are references to the famous people who were part of her childhood, through her father's connections as the founder of the publishing house Simon and Schuster. And yes, there are also appearances by Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Carole King -- and other famous figures from Rock and Roll history. Even Sean Connery makes an appearance.

But instead of walking away with a picture of the glamorous lives of internationally famous performers Carly Simon and James Taylor -- I came away feeling empathetic. For the difficult lives this couple has led as the result show more of chronic depression. Taylor relied on substance abuse to escape. Simon, a lifelong stammerer, battled low self-esteem, guilt, and intense performance anxiety.

Not surprisingly, I found the early years of Simon's life much less interesting than her adult life. Once she began trying to establish a music career, the became a quick read -- with stories of record producers trying to bed aspiring young performers, love affairs and other less serious sexual encounters, and the blossoming of great talent.

For fans of Carly Simon AND James Taylor, reading this book will also provide interesting information about the origins of some of their song lyrics. show less

Instead of a slick memoir, full of the expected name dropping, Carly Simon's first person narrative offers surprising insights into the devastating impact of mental illness.

Yes, there are references to the famous people who were part of her childhood, through her father's connections as the founder of the publishing house Simon and Schuster. And yes, there are also appearances by Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Carole King -- and other famous figures from Rock and Roll history. Even Sean Connery makes an appearance.

But instead of walking away with a picture of the glamorous lives of internationally famous performers Carly Simon and James Taylor -- I came away feeling empathetic. For the difficult lives this couple has led as the result show more of chronic depression. Taylor relied on substance abuse to escape. Simon, a lifelong stammerer, battled low self-esteem, guilt, and intense performance anxiety.

Not surprisingly, I found the early years of Simon's life much less interesting than her adult life. Once she began trying to establish a music career, the became a quick read -- with stories of record producers trying to bed aspiring young performers, love affairs and other less serious sexual encounters, and the blossoming of great talent.

For fans of Carly Simon AND James Taylor, reading this book will also provide interesting information about the origins of some of their song lyrics. show less

This is what an autobiography should be like. There are revelations about her life but more importantly there are emotions! She doesn't just recount the events that happened to her as she grew, she explores how those events made her feel. her insecurities, her fears, and her small triumphs. I'm sure I'd heard that she was a childhood stutterer and she's not the first person to find that singing is a good treatment. But I wasn't aware of her loneliness. Her stutter just amplified the feelings she already had of not fitting in. The household she grew up in, seemingly based on a hippie-era free-love concept, had a lot of adult behavior happening in front of the children who were too young to understand or put into context things like why show more her mother would have an affair with a much younger man, and do so openly in front of her father and others. This low self esteem apparently was taken advantage of by an older local boy who preyed on Carly and sexually abused her for years.
I found the later sections riveting as we see Carly grow and try to overcome all her self-doubt and her search for true love, much of it in the public eye and with other famous people. But to me the childhood story really illuminates how she became who she is and how a meek, scared, shy and confused young girl finally found her strength and her passion and grew to be loved and respected by millions. Since the book ends in the mid 1980's, I'm hoping for a sequel. show less

This was a very readable autobiography. From a wealthy, but anxious childhood, Carly emerges as a beautiful singer with a stutter sometime that humiliated her. She aims perfection that she sees in others. After sex with many famous entertainers, she falls deeply in love and marries with Janes Taylor forever, but his infidelity ends the marriage. I am impressed by Carly erudite-ness and her articulate writing. Wouldn’t want to live her life, though.

The first 50 or so pages tell the story of Simon's early family life. Both of her parents were talented and Carly was both exposed to and inherited some of that talent. The remainder of the book is about her friendships and relationships with men. Of course she rehashes 'You're So Vain' as the 2nd verse is about Warren Beatty. She didn't assign other people to other verses, but did say they were a compilation of men, but could be Mick Jagger, Cat Stevens, Sean Connery, and Marvin Gaye. Carly and her sister sang folk music together in the 1970's and when her sister spent the night with Sean Connery (he asked for a menage a trois) the duo broke up and Carly went her own way. She deeply loved James Taylor but after years of his addiction show more she felt that there was no hope that she was ever going to get "all" of him and they divorced. They had 2 children. While money has never even been a concern to Simon (either way), she seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders. My only criticism of the book is that it is a tad too long. Perhaps some of the publishing world of her father could be edited. 385 pages show less

Before reading this memoir, my knowledge of Carly Simon and her life was pretty basic. I was familiar with her music, although mostly just her chart-topping songs, knew that she married & then divorced James Taylor, and knew that she suffered bouts of stage fright & didn't do a lot of public performing. But I liked her well enough to be curious about what her memoir would have to say, so I looked forward to reading it.

A large portion of the book centers on Carly's years growing up: living with her business-oriented father (co-founder of Simon & Schuster), her not-so-faithful mother, & 3 siblings; her struggles with stuttering, her budding sexuality, and her music debut as one half of the Simon Sisters. She then branches out into her show more break-out solo career, her marriage to James Taylor, motherhood, and the more heartbreaking years when her marriage began falling apart. There's a fair amount of name-dropping, but rightly so, as Carly became popular fairly quickly in the early 70's and was often in the right place at the right time. She also shared quite a bit about the history behind some of her more well-known songs, most of which she wrote or co-wrote. She ends this particular memoir at the period shortly after her divorce from James, so there really isn't much in this book beyond that point, but that seems appropriate, given that the time period of her increased popularity (70's & early 80's, primarily) would seem to be what appeals to most readers.

I read this on audio, and though I think the book itself would also be enjoyable, I would recommend doing it on audio if you have the chance. Not everyone can read their own memoir effectively, but Carly does a good job of it and you would never guess that she's had a history of stuttering. The audiobook does have a fair amount of (mostly) instrumental music throughout, which is nice, although sometimes a little too prominent, making it difficult to hear Carly's speaking voice at times. It's hard to describe why I enjoyed this book so much, but I did find myself fully immersed in the story (especially in the middle) and was always anxious to get back in the car so that I could continue listening. I am a sucker for most any type of book, fiction or non-fiction, set in the decade of the 1970's, so that may have been part of it. But as a straight memoir of someone who lived, and continues to live, in the public eye, this was a well-written book. show less