Book talk: “Girls Like Us,” by Sheila Weller

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of this book for review via Nicole Bruce at The Book Report Network. I received no other compensation.

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

Sheila Weller
Atria Books, 2008 (hardcover) (ISBN 0743491475 / 9780743491471)
Biography/music/history, 592 pages

First Sentence: One day after school,
fourteen-year-old Carole Klein sat on the edge of her bed in a room
wallpapered with pictures of movie stars and the singers who played
Alan Freed’s rock ‘n’ roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount.

Three sentences from Page 123

Book description: 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 mid-century 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.

Comments: When I was offered this book for review, the PR e-mail had this to say:

“(T)his book isn’t just for women who were kids when Carole King wrote the music for ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?'”



It’s for women who just love pop music. Women who may not love music so
much, but heard the songs of King, Mitchell and Simon as the soundtrack
to their personal lives and struggles. The daughters of those women,
who want to understand their mothers better. Fans of pop culture. And,
not least, the men who love those women — or that music.



GIRLS LIKE US can appeal to such a cross-section of readers because
it’s really two books in one. The first is a dishy triple biography
that will keep readers awake — and turning the pages — late at
night or on the laziest beach day. The second is a social history of
the women’s movement in America; it’s a chronicle of a thousand
crazy-quilt changes in relationships, careers and expectations.”

A sales pitch, of course, but as it turns out, not an oversell.

During my childhood and early teens in the early- to mid-1970’s, I
remember frequently hearing Carly Simon and Carole King on the radio,
and Joni Mitchell to a lesser extent; at the very least, we knew
Carly’s song “Anticipation” from those commercials for a very slow
ketchup, and Carole’s “You’ve Got a Friend” from youth group. And although my consciousness of the world, and what place I
might have in it as I grew into an American woman, was being formed at
that time, I wasn’t aware of how these women were part of what was
re-shaping that world. The generational “journey” that frames Girls Like Us is that of the generation just a bit before my own.

The context of social change and how it impacted women at that time,
particularly the ones emerging into adulthood, gives the book
substance, but the stories that it tells within that context are what
make it a page-turner. Weller has done a lot of research and made good
use of secondary sources in developing this parallel biography of three
women who have more in common than you might have realized.

Weller does discuss each woman’s particular musical career in (mostly
objective) detail. Carole was barely out of high school in Brooklyn
when she started out as a professional songwriter and arranger, and was
a seasoned pro when, ten years later, she became a hugely successful
singer-songwriter. Canadian Joni was always driven toward artistic
expression, both musically and visually, and on her own terms. Carly’s
privileged Manhattan upbringing led to a relatively late start on her
career, as it interfered with her being taken seriously. As Weller
discussed the writing of various songs, quoting lyric passages here and
there, I found that a lot of them were coming back to me, even if I
hadn’t thought of them in years.

The context is enlightening and the work is interesting, but the book
is also a biography, and it’s in these women’s personal stories that
the real fascination – and fun – is. While I didn’t feel that Weller
struck a gossipy tone at all, much of anyone’s biography involves their
relationships, and these three women definitely have had many of them
in their lives. Carole was a teenage working mother, and played a
maternal role with many of her friends as well – and this tendency was
probably also a factor in her attraction to younger men (she’s been
married four times, and all except her first husband were younger).
Both Carly and Joni were rarely without male companionship unless it
was by their own choice, and both have been part of musical power
couples at various times. Joni was the inspiration for Crosby, Stills,
and Nash’s song “Our House” (she and Graham Nash were living together
when he wrote it), and later was James Taylor’s girlfriend. James and
Carole were platonic friends, but eventually Carly became his wife. The
overlaps in all three women’s social and artistic circles are
interesting, if a little confusing. I really felt like I’d gotten to
know all of them pretty well by the time the book wrapped up, and I
enjoyed having the opportunity to do so.

Girls Like Us is put together well, and rarely dull
reading, even if you’re not a huge fan of these artists (not a big Joni
fan, to be honest; I appreciate a lot of her songwriting, but never
liked her much as a singer, and while her “beauty” is often mentioned
in the book, I guess I just don’t quite see it), although I think some
familiarity with them will make it more enjoyable. It’s a thick
hardcover, though, so keep that in mind if you tend to carry your
reading material with you.

Rating: 4/5

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,318 other subscribers

My moment of Zen, or how I learned to stop worrying…sort of

Julie’s question for this week’s Hump Day Hmm: What stunning realization has enlightened you recently, or at some point in your life, and caused you to take a turn, either in your life path or in your thinking? And…what happened next? During my first husband’s early-onset midlife crisis – you know, the one that included the affair, the separation, the unsuccessful reunion, and the eventual long-drawn-out divorce – I had no shortage of things to […]

Ten on Tuesday – Some like it hot, but not us

Lately, I’ve been sharing the Ten on Tuesday prompts with Tall Paul when they come out (a week in advance – thank you, Yano!), and some of them are more inspiring for him than they are for me. This week’s topic, “10 Things to Do When It’s Too Hot to Go Outside,” was one that I thought he’d weigh in on, because he’s an expert. He avoids hot weather as much as possible – and […]

Weekend Assignment #226: A musical interlude of sorts, or “Jukebox Brain”

This week, Karen asks the musical question: Weekend Assignment #226: Is there a song that you’re particularly enjoying at the moment, that’s on heavy rotation on your iPod, the CD player in your car, or just in your head? If so, what is it? If not, what was the last song you were really into? Extra Credit: What song, if any, has been playing in your head today, and you really wish it would stop […]

The Saturday Review of Scraps

The Bulletin Board: *********I haven’t moved, but my blog has a new address: it’s now being published on its own domain. Welcome to www.3rsblog.com! I’ve changed the Feedburner settings, and bookmarks and links will redirect from the old address, but if you notice any problems, please bring them to my attention! ********Submissions for the August Bookworms Carnival, Edition 14 are already coming in – thanks, early birds! The deadline is Friday, August 8th. Please e-mail […]

TBIF – Thank blog it’s Friday!

Tuesday Thingers (hosted by Marie of The Boston Bibliophile) Today’s topic: Recommendations. Do you use LT’s recommendations feature? Have you found any good books by using it? Do you use the anti-recommendations, or the “special sauce” recommendations? How do you find out about books you want to read? I’ve glanced over the Recommendations that pop up on my LibraryThing home page, but really haven’t followed up on any of them. Since they’re based on my […]

At the movies: “The Dark Knight”

At the movies: “The Dark Knight”

The Dark Knight Action/drama, 2008 Welcome back to Gotham City, not exactly the most welcoming of places. The Dark Knight picks up about a year after Batman Begins, and some of Gotham’s citizens believe that things have gotten worse since Batman came on the scene – and at times, Batman himself wonders the same thing. He has his (not very effective) imitators, and his detractors, including Gotham D.A. Harvey Dent. Since he operates as a […]

Random bookworminess and Weekly Geekiness

Thursdays are usually review days around here. Today I’m offering a movie review – because I haven’t managed to finish my current read – but not wanting to stray from books entirely, I’m answering this week’s book-themed “Randomness” meme. Randomness: Bookworms (hosted by Naida) 1. What are you currently reading? Still reading Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller. It’s a long book, so […]

Weekend Assignment #225: You can’t spell “routine” without “rut

This week, Karen says: “Okay, this one is more participatory than most Weekend Assignments. I’m not just asking you to write something; I’m asking you to do something. Are you up to the challenge?” Weekend Assignment #225: What are you going to do this weekend (or on your next day off) that’s different from what you usually do? Make plans to break out of your usual routine, and tell us what they are. Extra Credit: […]

Change of address!

I haven’t moved, but my blog has a new address: it’s now being published on its own domain. Welcome to www.3rsblog.com! I’ve changed the Feedburner settings, so hopefully this post will be showing up in your feed reader or e-mail just as it usually would. (If you recently saw a bunch of older posts dumped into your reader, it had something to do with the address change/re-set of the feed.) I’ve been monitoring the feed […]

Ten on Tuesday, sort of: Celebrity Edition

This week’s Ten on Tuesday topic, “10 Least Favorite Celebrities,” really isn’t doing much for me. I try to stay away from the entertainment-gossip-oriented websites and TV shows (although having said that, TMZ on TV can be hilarious, mostly because of the snarky voiceovers), which helps limit my exposure to so-called celebrities who may have been on a reality-TV show once or twice, but are now mostly famous for being on gossip websites and in […]

Traveling again…

Traveling again…

I’m holding down the fort at Sunshine‘s place today. She issued an invitation a few weeks ago for guest bloggers to contribute posts talking about what’s great about their home states. My current  state of California was already spoken for, but this is where it comes in handy to have moved around as much as I have – I was able to but in a bid to post about one of my previous home states. […]