Review by Booklist Review
One night in 2003 while alone on her couch after digesting chocolate-chip cookies infused with more cannabis than she realized, Grammy and Oscar-winning musician and LGBTQ+ leader Etheridge went through a unique hallucinogenic high and a spiritual awakening. With that as the beginning, she recounts important aspects of her life. Growing up as "a nobody from Kansas," Etheridge sought the validation, approval, and love of her chilly mother only to receive silence or, worse, discouragement. Etheridge describes dropping out of Berklee College of Music in Boston to concentrate on writing her own songs, briefly returning to Kansas, then moving to Los Angeles. She discusses sibling sexual abuse, the lack of gay role models when she was growing up, the difficulties of parenting, serious health issues, and living through the pandemic. Most of all, this is a survivor's guide not only about beating cancer, but also coping with the tragic death of her son who died of an opioid addiction in 2020. The singer's many fans will appreciate her honesty in this compassionate and gentle memoir of self-realization, self-empowerment, and self-healing.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Etheridge follows up 2001's The Truth Is... with a frank look at her life and career. Born in Kansas in 1961, Etheridge had a difficult childhood: her older sister began sexually abusing her when she was six or seven, her mother had debilitating depression, and Etheridge herself struggled with an early realization that she was gay. Music provided an emotional outlet and, eventually, a lucrative career. She's especially good at linking the lyrics of her best-known work to the experiences that inspired them: "Bring Me Some Water," for example, came from a place of insecurity about a nonmonogamous partner ("I would have my share of dating more than one woman at a time, but when I was with Kathleen, I wanted her to be all mine"). Most affecting, though, are the sections about Etheridge's son, Beckett, and his descent into opioid addiction. In 2020, Beckett died of an overdose at age 21, and Etheridge writes wrenchingly of her slow-moving project to forgive herself for his death and focus on the "warmth" she gleans from his memory. This clear-eyed look at life, loss, and art-making resonates. Agent: Yfat Reiss Gendel, YRG Partners. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Etheridge (The Truth Is…: My Life in Love and Music) has been living, loving, and singing throughout the highs and lows of her career. In this self-narrated memoir, she reflects on the many challenges of her life--from being sexually abused by a family member to broken relationships, breast cancer, and the untimely death of her son Beckett from opioid addiction. Along with these stories, she treats listeners to songs (some performed here for the first time) inspired by these events, adding beauty to what could otherwise be a difficult listen. She also spends time discussing the difficulty of being a lesbian icon, raising her family in a world that often viewed her with suspicion and hostility. Her narration lets listeners hear her vulnerability and connect with her gritty determination. She shines as she describes her spiritual awakening, which led to her realization that to live fully, one must embrace love and joy as well as pain. VERDICT Longtime Etheridge fans and those new to her work will be blown away by her music and grace-filled, courageous personal narrative.--Elyssa Everling
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
New Age--tinged memoir by lesbian rock icon Etheridge, recounting the highs and lows of a long career. To paraphrase French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, "I am a spiritual being having a human experience," writes Etheridge. She's also a survivor of many a rough patch, from seeking the approval of an emotionally distant mother who considered her queer identity a "psychological illness" to kicking cancer and enduring a couple of very ugly breakups--and, worst of all, the death of a son to a fentanyl overdose. Etheridge's book of revelations begins on a heady note, her mind on a hard-earned vacation courtesy of a whole bunch of pot-laced cookies. She had an epiphany that "love is within us and all around us" and that maybe she didn't have to try so hard. Still, for all the past-life-regressing and consultations of astrological charts, the author seems to be a get-it-done, practical-minded Midwesterner with no end to her work ethic. Would-be songwriters stand to learn quite a bit from studying her process as well as the pointers from those who taught her--e.g., a jazz guitarist who instructed, "Doesn't matter what notes you play. Just never go out of time." It took a while for Etheridge to hit the big time, but she amassed enough material over years of hard work that she could field an at-home pandemic concert series every night for a month without repeating herself. Another lesson she discusses is the importance of connecting with one's spiritual being, "assisted, of course, by ingesting a lot of cannabis." On that note, Etheridge serves up a meaningful, even helpful elaboration of Don Miguel Ruiz's famed "four agreements," the last of which should form the heart of anyone's life practices: "Just do your best, always." A must for Etheridge fans, with plenty of lessons for striving musicians. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
