7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Cautionary Tale, December 19, 2008
This review is from: Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World (Hardcover)
As a teenager, I'd been a huge fan of The MMC, and had been sort of shocked when Britney exploded onto the music scene in 1999. I'd heard the "stage mom" rumors about Justin and Britney's mothers, and I was interested to see how Lynne would defend herself.
And it's not a great defense.
Having grown up with Southern Christian parents, I find it hard to believe that Lynne Spears was as naive as she claims to have been, particularly when it came to the '99 Rolling Stone magazine cover.
Lynne writes, "What I saw was Britney in a bra and hot pants, sitting on her bed . . . 'Let's stop now,' I said, flustered and uncomfortable." She goes on to say, "We assumed we would have final say over which pictures were chosen. Besides, they took so many cute shots, why would they want this one . . ?"
When you think Rolling Stone, do you think 'cute' or 'hot'?
Hm.
According to the book, also present at the time were Britney's agent, Larry Rudolph, and her father. Between the three 'managing' adults present at the photo shoot for this internationally-known magazine--one that is extremely infamous in conservative Christian circles--not one person would have looked at the contract and demanded to have their say? And beyond all that, Britney was 18 years old at the time. She was making her own decisions. She had a right to. If her parents were as down-home and Christian as we're being asked to believe over and over again, wouldn't they have raised her to at least ask herself the question, "What will my mama think?"
Instances like these force me to question the narrator's sincerity. I believe Lynne is telling us the events in a true light, but I can't quite she's telling us all of her story.
But that's what this book is. It's Lynne's story--she doesn't speak for Britney, Jamie Lynn, or anyone else. That's the way it should be. She does speak openly about her relationships with her parents and siblings, friends, and co-workers. She obviously loves her children and grandchildren very much. But something seems to change when she writes her perspective on Britney and Jamie Lynn's fame, and the paths they took to get there. I don't believe she is withholding things from the reader as much as she may be withholding things from herself.
THROUGH THE STORM gratefully acknowledges many of the sacrifices family and friends have made to the Spears brood, and accepts that compromises were made by many different people, herself included. But above all the fame and blame, this is a story of a mother who desperately wants her children to know the grace, redemption, and fulfillment waiting faithfully for them.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Uninteresting and Poorly Written, November 29, 2008
This review is from: Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World (Hardcover)
I'm glad Lynne Spears did not write a tell-all book about her famous daughters. But what she did write is incredibly uninteresting. A whole chapter on who her girlfriends are? I don't care; do you? Skillful writers have written compelling memoirs about their families without violating privacy. Unfortunately, Lynne Spears is not a skillful writer, nor does she claim to be, and she didn't have a skillful co-author. The book is poorly organized and disjointed. The numerous grammatical mistakes are so glaring as to be distracting. Thomas Nelson publishers did a real disservice to Spears by releasing such a sloppy product.
Apart from the construction mistakes, Spears stated purpose for writing this book--to show her children how much she loves them--doesn't ring true. It seems the book was written to justify her parenting style and the mistakes she's made. It would have been refreshing had she just said so. I can completely understand why she would want to defend herself in print. She's taken a lot of hits in the press and on TV. I think a much more interesting book would have been Through the Storm: A Misunderstood Mother Speaks Out.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An okay read..., September 30, 2008
This review is from: Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World (Hardcover)
This book was an easy read, and I don't regret buying it. However, I wasn't as impressed with it as the other reviewers. For one thing, the book jumped around a lot, instead of staying in chronological order. I really thought it could have been organized better. Second, it got very religious, mainly towards the end. It was almost like she was obsessing over it, since her daughters are doing okay now and she no longer needs to obsess over their careers. I'm a christian myself, buy if I wanted to read a religious book I would have purchased one from a more reputable author-no offense to Lynne! Third, and most important, I still see her as a "stage mom". In one sentence Lynne says she was a normal mom taking her ambitious daughter to normal activities. In the next paragraph she talks about driving to Florida to audition for Mickey Mouse Club, then MOVING to New York for 4 months while Britney starred in a play when she was only 10 or 11 years old! I'm sorry, but a line was clearly crossed somewhere around that time! I don't care how many doors were opening for Britney, Lynne should have closed them until she was older! I have a 10 year old daughter, and I would never allow so many activities and competions. Money and fame aren't aren't everything. Family and education are the most important.
To sum it up, I don't agree with the way Lynne raised her kids, and I feel she's good at playing the "naive" card. However, I'm still glad I gave the book a chance and tried to see her point of view.
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