Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time.

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs.

Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information.

Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
 

Customer Reviews:

The Lives Behind the Lyrics

Girls like us told me about the personal lives that fueled the music of my generation's youth. I was fascinated with every page and thought how these women turned their romances and disappointments into the greatest hits of several decades. It was lively, timely and even caused me to go back and buy some cd's so I could listen to the songs that Weller wrote about. It proved the old feminist maxim of the '70's that The Personal Is Political. I would recommend this book to anyone who has loved and lost and listened to it all through music. JW

2008-10-05

A walk down memory lane

The most wonderful part of this book was the opportunity I had to relive some of my youth. As I turned each page, memories of days gone by would come back to me. Perhaps because of the written word, the reference to a particular song, place or event. It was a joy but alas, I have no desire to relive again.

2008-09-30

tHE BEST BOOK ON FEMALE SONGWRITERS EVER!

wELL DOCUMENTED, WELL WRITTEN, COLORFUL, AND GROUND BREAKING LOOK AT FEMININE INFLUENCE ON rOCK AND roll. rEAD IT NOW!

2008-09-16

Their Lives Have Been a Tapestry

As someone who was introduced to Joni Mitchell by her older sister, (and discovered Carole King and Carly Simon on her own), I can't begin to express how delighted I was to discover this book. It brought back so many memories and rekindled the strong identification I felt back then. I was reminded how in those days I was hungry for any personal detail about these women--and here is everything I ever wanted to know! The research that went into this book is astonishing. The writing is juicy and fast-paced, but thoughtful and serious too. The interweaving of cultural and social issues is extremely effective, yet more than anything, I was intrigued by the author's depiction of the sheer ambition of each of these three very different women. The book brilliantly explores that ambition and the myriad personal factors that both encouraged and hindered them on the road to artistic and commercial success. In the end, it made me a bit bereft to compare these talented three to the artists most young women are listening to today--it seems to me they cannot compare. Highly recommended.

2008-09-15

Too too much

I am so happy I never bought this book, but rather, got it from my library.
I was so looking forward to reading it also.
This book is way too long and way too detailed.
If you love 1/2 page footnotes on every person that ever came into contact with each woman, this book is for you.
I understand the need for a bit of history of course, but she just totally overdoes it. She could have spared us all an easy 150 pages by eliminating a ton of noisy, unimportant information and facts that did nothing to make the story better by a long shot.
I loved her book on the Nicole Brown Simpson murder called Raging Heart, though. THAT was a great read.

2008-09-14