Imagine being in a 10 hour therapy session with a meditating babbling music celebrity that has taken over the session and the councilor is in the corner drooling and beating themselves on the head with their clipboard and the other patients are scratching at the walls to escape... but there's NO ESCAPE.
Yes, this is Jewel's story. The story is very interesting - but then she starts giving you her analysis and expert opinion. You will repeatedly hear "I Learned... but then...". Sadly, she doesn't learn. Her life is a mess of emotional stupidity and self evaluation that insists wisdom has entered the room - but it hasn't. She isn't the usual popstar with sex and drugs and money problems. She's a NEW emotionally insecure confused popstar with family issues and money problems.
She grows up in Alaska with an absent hippie Eastern Meditation con-artist as a Mother. And a slightly abusive Musician Outdoors man father. And brothers and sisters that almost never enter the story. So basically her parents did a mind trip on her.
But Jewel learns to sing, and joins Daddy on the road and in the pubs. She has a great voice and takes it to a music college in the lower 48.
Later she ends up in California and lives in her car while performing at coffee houses. She gets a record contract and makes it BIG.
Then Mommy comes back and takes over Jewel's music career and funding. Jewel easily lets her. (even though Mommy has zero experience?) Mommy works Jewel like a slave and blows all her money on Eastern Guru's and stupid luxury... and fires all her friends that made her famous.
Blah blah blah, Jewel eventually goes totally in debt and then fires Mommy (and doesn't talk to her again for about 20 years... maybe more?) and starts dating a Rodeo guy and then has a kid. Happy ending? Hell no. Jewel self-evaluates everything to DEATH and it most likely ruined her marriage (they're divorced. Seriously, no cowboy is going to listen to some crazy Bimbo wife meditate and evaluate every assumed mental issue in their relationship and how to connect over Cosmic Spirit-bonding...) and this crap is most likely about to poison her young son as well, but she's too clueless to see it. Then there's a 2 hour lecture (in the audiobook) on how to raise children and the positive effects of meditating like a useless brain-dead hippie and reading endless books by professor know-it-all's on self evaluation.
DO NOT READ THIS. Your brain will turn to mush and you'll stick forks in your eye to stop the suffering.
I only read it because she occasionally talks about the music industry and meeting and touring with Bob Dylan.
But many Goodreads women gave this book 5 stars - I'm guessing they are cat ladies who lost their men because they were too busy writing poetry and meditating on star-charts and Auras to cook them dinner and raise a home. Whatever floats your boat!
As soon as she mentioned Eastern Religions and meditating I should have burned the audiobook. I knew all this mess was just around the corner. I'm seldom wrong. Jewel learned NOTHING. I feel sorry for her. But what a great voice! But I can't listen to her albums... I tried. How I tried!
She continues to sing about how Unbroken She is. Hell no! She's broken... and there's 10 hours of audiobook to prove it. I have to stop now. I'm rambling like Jewel... Bye. good bye... I should go and meditate on the metaphorical nutrition of plastic fruit...