Customer Reviews

I, Tina

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love Tina Turner's music and I love her as a person now that I know the story behind her incredible life and career. I wish I had found this sooner. I was also surprised to find out she is a practicing Buddhist. Very cool! No wonder she seems like such a centered human being in all of her interviews.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Tina Turner. Since learning more about Tina's spirituality, I also highly recommend a little book by Taro Gold called "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life" which contains many inspirational thoughts based on the Buddhism Tina metions in her autobiography.

I remember first hearing Tina Turner when "A Fool In Love" came out in 1959 and being blown away by the sheer raw power in that awesome voice. For the next two decades, Ike and Tina Turner were household names for R&B fans, and few if anybody outside their inner circle knew the price Tina was paying for being part of the team. An abusive womanizer and control freak, Ike beat Tina with increasing violence over the ensuing 19 years as their fame grew and declined, until Tina finally reached inside herself for the strength to say "Enough".

A question frequently asked is why do women wait so long to get out of such relationships. Tina was bound to Ike by emotional and financial ties and her own insecurity. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don't; who's to say what's waiting on the outside might not be worse than what you escaped from? But one beating too many tipped the scales; for Tina, it was leave or be destroyed.

The story of her flight from Ike with thirty-six cents to her name; the subsequent lawsuits for breach of contract and her comeback to fame and fortune that topped anything she had known when she was part of Ike-and-Tina-Turner is well known enough not to have to recount here; but most of this book is a fascinating and well-written exploration of her childhood, her rise to fame, and the hell of her marriage with Ike, told by many different voices besides hers and Ike's that were witness to it all. We listen to Tina's own voice: "I gave in to myself. I went inside of me to help me. You can do it." We look at Tina now, heading for seventy and still drop-dead gorgeous, and we feel a deep admiration and respect for a very gutsy lady. This book is inspired reading.

Judy Lind

the ironic title of the film version of tina turner's _i, tina_ (_what's love got to do with it_) is answered in this tale of self-love and inner strength. chronicaling turner rise to superstardom from her days as a cotton picker in tennessee to an internationally-renowned rock diva, _i, tina_ is even more compelling that the film version. featuring interviews with everybody from tina's mother to former ikettes to ike turner himself (i don't know how they pulled that off!), the book is a multifaceted look at turner's life. the national coalition against domestic violence says that a woman is battered by her husband or boyfriend, in this country, every fifteen seconds, making domestic violence america's most common, but least reported, crime. while tina's story is all too common to a number of women, it is also probably one of the most inspiring pieces of literature to deal with the subject of domestic violence. if a poor, black girl from nut bush, tennessee can find the inner strength to not only escape an abusive reltionship, but also take on the music industry by making a comeback and the unprecidented age of thirty-seven, what's to say we all couldn't. _i, tina_ will appeal to those who are not music fans, but it's an absolute must read for anyone who has been following her career.

I found this book after seeing a Larry King Live interview with Tina Turner in which she discusses her life and the Buddhist practice she credits with helping turning her life around, Soka Gakkai. This book is the most inspirational life-story of a living person I've ever read!

I've since read and re-read this book a few times, as well as other books that are related to the Buddhism she practices. At first, it was hard for me to believe someone like Tina could also be a Buddhist, but now that I've read more about it I completely understand.

I'm so glad Tina mentioned Soka Gakkai and Daisaku Ikeda in the interview, because she didn't directly discuss them in this book. I also found the BEST book about Tina's Buddhism at Amazon.co.uk, which I highly recommend - it's called "The Buddha in Daily Life" by Richard Causton.

Tina is the greatest! A true rock and roll Buddhist Goddess! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo...

I found this book after reading an interview with Tina Turner in Enlgand in which she discussed her life and the Buddhist practice she credits with helping turning her life around, Soka Gakkai. This book is the most inspirational life-story of a living person I've ever read!

I've since re-read this book a few times, as well as other books that are related to the Buddhism she mentions in the text. At first, it was hard for me to believe someone like Tina could also be a Buddhist, but now that I've read more about it I completely understand.

I'm so glad Tina mentioned in the interview about Daisaku Ikeda, the leader of Soka Gakkai and a prolific Buddhist author as well. I also found a wonderful book about this Buddhism at Amazon which I highly recommend - it's called "The Buddha in Daily Life" by Richard Causton.

Tina is the greatest! A true rock and roll Buddhist Goddess! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo...

I have read this book atleast 50 times.
I,Tina still brings out so much emotion within me.

When I was a small child, back in 1984, I remember the first time I saw the video for, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" As I marveled at the beautiful, tough, street savy woman with the wild hair I kept wondering who she was. I, like many other kids, thought that Tina Turner was a brand new artist. And all I knew was that her voice amazed me and I loved her rock and roll style...

I,Tina gave me a different perspective altogether. This is a woman who has been in the game for nearly five decades. Tina was a Rock and Roll Icon long before I was a twinkle in my father's eye.
The autobiography was incredibly well done. Tina is so candid and open about each and every detail of her life. The more I read the more I began to see Tina outside the parameters of fame and fortune.
And she did pay a great price for that fame and fortune through years of torcher and abuse.

I can't believe any human being(well, I don't consider Ike Turner human)could subject another to that level of sadistic treatment. At times I have had to reread Tina's accounts over and over again because I couldn't believe it! The broken jaw, the broken ribs, strangulation, punching, and beatings with household objects.
Ike was a pure animal. The man was a genius when it came to music, but he is a scoundrel in every other facet of his life. He should cease and desist with the claims that Tina falsifying her story. The accounts from eyewitnesses and doctors are there, in bold print. Ike was an abusive S.O.B. and he should be thankful that Tina didn't buy a gun and pump him full of led!

My question is what human being could endure all of that? My answer was Tina Turner.
This is a woman who, literally, left with only the clothes on her back. She gave up everything. Her career was in shambles; she had no home, four children, and spent a decade living in cubby holes and cleaning houses...Yet, she managed to rise to the top and become an even bigger star than she was before.

There are no words that I can use to describe my adoration for Tina Turner. I am not only a fan of the performer, but also the woman. She truly is powerful.

This book is a true eyeopener for me on domestic violence. Reading this book and also seeing the movie just makes me want to become more involved with finding a means of ending domestic violence.

When anyone hears the name Tina Turner, you don't have to be a fan of her music, or a fan of hers period, but you automatically think AMAZING. I am a huge fan of Tina's, and I just think the life she lived is amazing. The book opens with her being an ordinary girl living in a town that isn't even on the map, and ends with her being the Queen of Rock N' Roll. I am male, but reading of all the abuse she endured, and all the love she never really received as a child, makes me appreciate everything I have, and makes me push myself further to get the things I don't have. Tina Turner is a truly amazing woman, and I would recommend this book to everyone in the world. The saying is True, "Tina Rocks." Love U Tina

Tina Turner's autobiography is the read of a lifetime! The book opens with Tina, then Annie Mae Bullock living the country life in Nutbush Tenn., and closes with her sitting on top of the world, as the Queen of Rock and Roll. In between it talks of the torture she endured at the hands of her ex-husband/partner, Ike Turner. As well as her dramatic comeback of the 1980s. Despite a lonely, loveless childhood, brutal domestic abuse as well as having to start over at age 37, Tina perservered! Her book talks of her painful struggles and the Buddhism that was her light through the darkest of tunnels. I, TINA is honest, intelligent and inspiring, just like the author. A must read.

If there was a book that deserves reading, it has to be "I Tina". This book tells everything about Tina's rollercoater of a life. she has been through everything no human should go through.

Tina's courage to "move on" is touching. I think the paperback had more impact on me than the movie. The book was so frustrating in many ways. One major frustration has to be the switch to "Private dancer". Why I say this is because the suspense got so thick at the 1st reading. For the 2nd major reason, I think that the pain and suffering she went through was unbearable for the reader.

Tina finally picked up the pieces of her broken life and moved on. That's where she totally dumped those pieces into the trash. I found the photos of different points in her life amazing. We see her as a teenager, along with a childhood picture of her sister Alline. There are also a couple of pictures of Tina's mom. The most interesting are the pictures of her career with the vicious Ike Turner. You can literally see the pain in her eyes, as she stares trance-like at the ceiling.

Things look up when we see Tina in the "Private dancer" days. The story turns around and she reflects on her feelings of pride and fame. She held onto her courage, which is what I look for in a biography. The book is everything it's meant to be. I call it a great buy for a birthday gift, considering it's at a great price. After reading it, I am ready for something new, "IF" Tina decides to rewrite another. Go buy this book.