Carla P. reviewed on + 59 more book reviews
This book was a trainwreck and a half. I'm glad that at the moment she seems to have her life together, but, she was supposedly sober for a 15 year stretch before her "monster reemerged from it's slumber" last time... (I got this book on paperbackswap.com, by the way-- glad I didn't pay for it-- but, it was very nice of the previous owner to put little magazine clippings about the subject matter in the jacket of the book; when I pass it along to the next person on paperbackswap.com I'll leave them in there.)
With her messed up childhood, there's no way she could've turned out any other way-- up to a point. But, once she was older, she had so many chances to cut ties and NOT put herself in certain situations that at THOSE times I had trouble feeling any sympathy for her, more annoyance, as I'm sure most of her family did as well. You can blame the sins of the father being visited on the children up to a point, but when you get to be an adult, it's time to let go of the crutch of an excuse. When she was younger-- yes, absolutely her lousy father's fault, her lousy mother and stepmothers for not protecting her better than they had. I felt she let her mother off too easily in that-- and her father for constantly abandoning her. And when she was a child, I felt sorry for the little puppy who kept coming back, wishing for love only to be kicked aside again and again. But, when she became an adult, and a mother... well, it was a lot harder to sympathize, because she was PUTTING herself in these situations, KNOWING full well the outcome. And there was no shortage of people BEGGING her to get help, offering all the support in the universe, but she made the choices she made. I am not a judgmental person, but, I don't buy pathetic whining, either. Her father was toxic, as were most of the self-absorbed adults in her life, though, and I feel awfully for her for that...
I think that Chynna was the luckiest one of John Phillips' brood of five (Jeffrey, Laura-Mackenzie, Chynna, Tamerlane, and Bijou), because she had Michelle as a mother-- who DID protect her in the way she was unable to protect the others. However, I was intrigued by the sister/daughter relationship she had with Bijou, (and honestly adore Danny Masterson, to whom Bijou is now married, so I'm curious as to his take of her wild family, which obviously Mackenzie wouldn't know, so, it's not in the book).
Other than that, my impressions are that I wish she had better flow in her continuity. It isn't generally clear what happened when-- but that's not her fault; she honestly can't remember because of the haze that has been most of her life... That, and there's a few songs she sang on "So Weird" that I wish were on iTunes (reading the book reminded me of them).
With her messed up childhood, there's no way she could've turned out any other way-- up to a point. But, once she was older, she had so many chances to cut ties and NOT put herself in certain situations that at THOSE times I had trouble feeling any sympathy for her, more annoyance, as I'm sure most of her family did as well. You can blame the sins of the father being visited on the children up to a point, but when you get to be an adult, it's time to let go of the crutch of an excuse. When she was younger-- yes, absolutely her lousy father's fault, her lousy mother and stepmothers for not protecting her better than they had. I felt she let her mother off too easily in that-- and her father for constantly abandoning her. And when she was a child, I felt sorry for the little puppy who kept coming back, wishing for love only to be kicked aside again and again. But, when she became an adult, and a mother... well, it was a lot harder to sympathize, because she was PUTTING herself in these situations, KNOWING full well the outcome. And there was no shortage of people BEGGING her to get help, offering all the support in the universe, but she made the choices she made. I am not a judgmental person, but, I don't buy pathetic whining, either. Her father was toxic, as were most of the self-absorbed adults in her life, though, and I feel awfully for her for that...
I think that Chynna was the luckiest one of John Phillips' brood of five (Jeffrey, Laura-Mackenzie, Chynna, Tamerlane, and Bijou), because she had Michelle as a mother-- who DID protect her in the way she was unable to protect the others. However, I was intrigued by the sister/daughter relationship she had with Bijou, (and honestly adore Danny Masterson, to whom Bijou is now married, so I'm curious as to his take of her wild family, which obviously Mackenzie wouldn't know, so, it's not in the book).
Other than that, my impressions are that I wish she had better flow in her continuity. It isn't generally clear what happened when-- but that's not her fault; she honestly can't remember because of the haze that has been most of her life... That, and there's a few songs she sang on "So Weird" that I wish were on iTunes (reading the book reminded me of them).
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