Customer Reviews

Chasing Down the Dawn

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me tell you this first. I am a huge Jewel fan. But to put it lightly i really did not care for her last book. When I went to the bookstore to purchase this book I was questioning my motives for buying it. I started to look through it before I bought it and decided it looked OK and there were some cool pictures and drawings so I decided to buy it. Well much to my surprise it is amazing. I love it. Jewel captures so much emotion in her words. She describes the memories of here childhood in Alaska with such beauty that I now want to go on vacation there. She also writes about here experiences with crazed fans and the feeling she gets before, during, and after concerts. There are even some very funny moments in the book. It is somewhat of an autobiography but more a glimpse into the mind of a very talented and deep thinking artist. A++++ I recomend this book if you are a fan of Jewel's or not. Go buy it even if you did not like the last one as I did not. You will not be let down!

Once again Jewel amazes me with her wonderful tales and poetic expressions. This new book of hers, Chasing Down The Dawn, is full of memorable stories and anecdotes from her life. The pictures of her self and her family are a kind of home photo album that bring you closer to the artist's heart. On reading this book I had the feeling that I was sitting in Jewel's living room with her and she was telling me stories about her childhood and her success as an artist. As always Jewel manages to lay bare her soul in a most entertaining way - I believe this is a book well worth any readers attention, even if they're not a total Jewel fan. There's much insight into human nature in its pages. And I feel better off for having read it.

Serious Jewel fans have always known that there is a mind of great compassion and intelligence behind the media hype surrounding this wonderful performer. Unfortunatly she often gets sterotyped as a "pop star", a position that she never tried to acheive, but has nevertheless been thrust upon her. It is too bad, because she has much more in common with Bob Dylan and Janis Ian then she has with Madonna.

I was ignored her when she first came out precisely because of the pop star image. Then when I was suffering from a severe depression brought on by the suicide of a close friend, I discovered her second CD "Spirit", I'm usually not too big of a folk music fan, but her gentle, and optimistic attitude toward life were just what I needed to hear at the time.

Reading this book, I realized why her music is so moving, she is a person who has really suffered in life. Growing up in abject poverty, living with an abusive parent, and being made to feel inferior because she had a learning disorder, these experiances have shaped a very strong, beautiful and determined soul. She also comes across as a very cultured person who knows a great deal about art, philosophy and literature. This is an astonishing achievement, considering the fact that, given her background, she must be largely self-taught.

I have to wonder about the people who wrote negative reviews, one of them says that this book is bad poetry, which means that they must not have read it, because it in fact contains very little poetry. Another implies that Jewel fans are uneducated, well I'm a honors college student, and I adore her, and I know of one Harvard graduate who has put up a web page of her quotes, because he admires her. You can look it up on Yahoo. In other words these people do not know what they are talking about and, therefore, should not be taken seriously. People who are conforable with themselves do not nurture obsessive hatreds of celebrities.

Actually, the only flaw in this book is the occasional bursts of overly flowery prose, but this is common with first time published writers, and there is no reason that Jewel should be held to a higher standerd then the rest of us in this regard.

I urge everyone to take a look beyond the MTV-manufactured hype surrounding this amazingly multitalented artist, and I want to thank Jewel for sharing herself with us.

When I purchased the video "Jewel: A Life Uncommon," I was disappointed. However, I found what I was searching for in her book "Chasing Down the Dawn."

This book is wonderful. Jewel demonstrates her talent for writing prose with astute observations and beautiful language. She is truly a talented writer. Part of what makes her so talented is that you can actually feel her emotions rising off the page--she writes of her childhood, the painful loss of her best friend, her relationships with both her mother and her father, and some of her family history. It is fascinating and could be fiction just as easily as nonfiction. She has truly led a unique life.

Supplementing the writings of Jewel are great photographs of her and her friends, and of her when she was younger and of places she has been. I found this to be a great addition to her writing.

This is a mandatory item for any Jewel fan--it will give you more insight into who she is and what she does and it is truly interesting.

Just like a telephone conversation would do, I felt this book communicated directly and honestly to me as the reader. Jewel's writings read like a letter from a friend, as she shares her joys and worries with honesty and passion. Colorful stories from her youth in Alaska and California effectively dim the stage lights and we see her in a simpler, clearer light. Jewel candidly talks about how her family, fame, and experiences have helped make her who she is and what it feels like to sing from her soul.

My best friend Jacque, used to say, "Sleep beneath the stars and you will wake with more answers than you have questions to." ~Jewel

From the first page, you enter Jewel's magical world of snow and ice in Alaska. Jewel is on a private jet, writing about her life.

Jewel's "Chasing Down the Dawn" is an intimate, timeless and enchanting mosaic. Jewel creates a world where the main elements of life and the magical experiences are woven into her daily existence. Her experiences are processed through her self-analysis and then woven into words.

While not organized in a chronological order, memories dance playfully with stark reality, unique vignettes give insight into the inexorable connection between Jewel's music and the way she views life. She becomes the guitar, her music is her gift, she is grounded in purpose, yet living in the stars with dreams she eventually manifests into reality.

The story of her life is temporarily tragic and eternally beautiful. We read about the tragic loss of her mother as a child (the divorce), how she struggled to live in a world of men (no privacy), her childhood in Alaska and the sharp contrast between frontier life and traveling on a private jet. It is as if Jewel has lived two lives, one in the distant past and one in the dreamy future. Her vivid recollections are especially beautiful to read and there is a sacred side to her writing. She is not just experiencing her dream, she is creating each moment through conscious decisions.

Jewel is a multitalented artist. She excels as a musician, poet and skilled writer and then her artistic nature also comes out in her photography. I loved the three pictures of the grain barn with the horse and rider shadows. She also shows us her honest comedic side in stories of how she "borrowed" a few items from a friend. She then concludes that stealing was a "manifestation of my lack of faith in myself."

Chasing Down the Dawn gives insight into Jewel's songs and what inspired her to write "Who Will Save Your Soul?" Her songs then reveal their history in her childhood memories, ideas about love, love of horses and nature, memories of people she has loved and lost and her world travels and life experience. Throughout this book Jewel and her father are on a journey to accept each other as souls and when her father sings her a sweet sixteen lullaby the circle is complete.

To me, Jewel is a magical angelic singer who was sent to our earth to remind us of the magnificent creations we are, to remind us to love and to contemplate our deeper existence. The existence of our souls, how we can change the world for the better through our lives and how we can survive this earthly and temporary solitude within a physical body subject to emotional pain and ethical conflicts.

Reading Jewel's short stories, vivid recollections and songs make the world seem a little less lonely. Her writing draws us into her magical world of experience and leaves us wanting to read more.

If you love Jewel's poetic writing style, then I think you will love her poems.

~The Rebecca Review
Listening to Pieces of You and Spirit

Jewel's book is intriguing, original, well written and above all very sincere. She is definitely a good writer, especially when it comes to storytelling, but when she tries too hard she can be a little too wordy. The best parts of this book are the frank accounts of the odd things she's experienced in her life (both before and after fame). The weak links come in the form of analytical passages that don't centre around storytelling. I think this is true in her songwriting. Fortunately, those passages are relatively few and far between, and for the most part she illustrates her ideas about life beautifully through storytelling. Overall, it's an interesting read and a must-see for any Jewel fan.

Reading the reviews about this book, I found most to fall into two categories: 5 star reviews by people who like Jewel, and 1 star reviews by people who do not. This is a fair enough way to rate the book since if a person does not like Jewel, they will probably not like her autobiography. I fall in between the two groups. I am a big fan of Jewel and absolutely loved her new album This Way . I did not, however, love her book.

The format of this memoir is a series of selections from her journal. We see personal glimpses of her life as she sees it. Jewel is reflecting on her life, her childhood, and where she is now. As far as we can tell, this is a very honest book and it is filled with some painful recollections of her childhood, and her family life. She also writes of her best friend and watching her die in the hospital. Jewel has a very open and clear writing style and this is a breeze to read.

I said that I did not love this book, and that much is true. It is not a horrible book, and I do not feel that it is worth a 1 star rating. This is simply a middle of the road book with nothing truly special about it. Had this not been written by Jewel, it would have disappeared quickly and probably not been read. As far as memoirs go, this one isn't anything special. As memoir by Jewel, it is probably only of interest to her fans. And then only to some of them.

A good portion of Jewel Kilcher's aurora is not in the typical things that make a female singer popular: her voice, her looks, her guitar skill, her musical talent, songwriting writing ability, connections with her concert audience, stage presence or fashion flair.

Though she doesn't lack those things, one of her greatest attractions, the one that makes you stop and realize that she's more than another rockstar wanna-be who made it, is the story of her life, her pre-fame life, especially. Even if she never got a record contract and the fame that came with it and made her one of the "elite" few, she still would have been an extrordinary person. She explains that all this book, "Chasing Down the Dawn."

It seems that everything possible that could have happened to one person happened to Jewel. Her young life and childhood is one unusual experience after another, filled with unusual people, and almost unbelievable at times. For example, her grandmother was an award winning writer, her father was abused as a child, her parents got divorced, as a nine-year old she was photographed by a child ponographer/molester, her first crush rode off a cliff on a motorcycle, she made friends with gang members and kids who ate vodka popsicles, her best friend died of cancer, she suffered from kidney problems, she sang for eskimos and gave them their first chance to see blond hair...and that's just half of the list. If we included all the crazy things that she chose to do herself, the story is even more interesting.

I heard someone say about Jewel, "After living a life like that, she almost couldn't help but write about it." It's true.

I'm not really a fan of Jewel's music, I probably never will be. I didn't care about her at all until I started reading her books. One thing that strikes me from both of them is that this girl is actually talented. She's not just a marketable face for her record label, she's actually an artist, a poet, a writer. Literature of such quality is not something I would expect from one of the biggest female stars in the music world. But Jewel is an exception: she's multi-faceted and definitely multi-talented.

Her story gives very good insight on the life of a star. Though it certainly has it's upsides, it's not all stage lights and screaming fans. For all you Jewel-wanna bes who still haven't made it, read this book before you pursue a career as a professional musical entertainer.

Can I say that if buy this book you won't regret it? I can't judge for you. If you don't like this kind of stuff, you most probably will be let down, but personally, I wasn't.

Like her lyrics, the book puts forward more of Jewel's profund, raw thoughts and philosophies. Seeing someone from nothing to something is amazing. I felt a true interconnectedness while reading the ongoings of her life. I especially enjoyed her final entry of the book.
We hear so very little of her family - besides her mother - and it was nice to know how she felt about her brothers and father. She had very honest relationships with them which urged her to be so authentic in her writing, both to music and without.
A simple biography is read but, you come out knowing much more than just Jewel, the girl who came from Alaska and lived in a van.