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A Natural Woman: A Memoir Audio CD – Unabridged, April 10, 2012
Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time. A Natural Woman chronicles King's extraordinary life, drawing readers into her musical world, including her phenomenally successful #1 album Tapestry, and into her journey as a performer, mother, wife and present-day activist. Deeply personal, King's long-awaited memoir offers readers a front-row seat to the woman behind the legend.
The book will include dozens of photos from King's childhood, her own family, and behind-the-scenes images from her performances.
- Print length14 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGrand Central Publishing
- Publication dateApril 10, 2012
- Dimensions5.25 x 1.5 x 5.75 inches
- ISBN-109781611133639
- ISBN-13978-1611133639
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Product details
- ASIN : 1611133637
- Publisher : Grand Central Publishing; Unabridged edition (April 10, 2012)
- Language : English
- Audio CD : 14 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781611133639
- ISBN-13 : 978-1611133639
- Item Weight : 11.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 1.5 x 5.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,627,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #24,410 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #24,412 in Books on CD
- #33,631 in Women's Biographies
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Twelve years in the making and I can see why. Carole has always strove to create quality in anything she did. She exemplifies the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity. But in this book, I came to count on the fact that she would somehow always land on two feet. As if she were writing songs, each chapter had a flow, a build, tension, and resolution.
WHAT a page turner! I'm not a fast reader but I peeled through nearly 500 pages in two days (well, I was up to 2am last night to finish...). It was such a beautiful, personal account of her life. Fully vulnerable, fully open. Watching Carole develop from humble (yet precocious) beginnings into a full on legend was a wild and deeply satisfying ride. She was candid about her insecurities as a young girl, small in stature, younger than her peers, always wanting to be part of in crowd, always striving to please her parents. I found her modesty to be most appealing and admirable, especially in the face of her brilliant combination of musical talent and spot on emotional expressiveness. She just said it like she felt it.
Clearly her early habitual musical exposure (banging on D above middle C without end!) allowed her to make the piano an utterly natural extension of her mind. This is something an adult musician can't buy with all the money in the world. Carole is the confluence of so many positive qualities and influences that her eventual legendary status was almost to be expected. Her musical genius emerged over the years despite a turbulent personal life. She ultimately discovered her power as an independent woman, transcending 4 partners of varying degrees of dysfunction and merit. I was left to wonder of her partners along the way, "how could you NOT want to be with this amazing, beautiful, passionate woman forever!?", and yet I suppose her demanding career was doubtless tough competition! Still...!
Though the intense demands of her career did pull her so often from her children, I found her unswerving dedication to her 4 (and her grandchildren) to be heartwarming. And look how they turned out; there is no better testament to her job as mother than this. I commend her for that.
Carole seemed to view adversity (in retrospect) as an expanded ability to empathize -- even falling from a 60 foot cliff gave her the "ability to understand what it was like to be in off-the-chart pain". For an "encore" some years later she fell from a 15 foot stage in the dark (after performing with Bob Dylan) onto concrete! I felt so bad for her (must've have been horrid at the moment).
Her passionate expressiveness I found most appealing (as a man, as a human being). That her writing was as masterful as her musical phrasing comes as no surprise. I also must say that her encounters with so many other legends was exciting to read as a fan, especially James Taylor. She let us be the "fly on the wall" and I thank her for that rare privilege. How fully cool that Carole unceasingly gave credit to every single person who contributed to her success; from the roadies, to the sound techs, to the "cats", to her children, to her parents, to her neighbors, to the people on the subway, the list goes on and on...
Though far from the world of music, I thought the intentionally abreviated account of her drawn out court battle to preserve private rights to her Idaho land was yet another indicator of her keen intellect and dogged determination in the face of adversity. I can only imagine how infuriating and frustrating that bureaucratic nightmare must've have been. But justice prevailed!!
Thank you Carole! For a book on humanity, for such an intimate, authentic account of your journey into the hearts and minds of so many happy fans around the world -- and for putting your own heart so much into everything you've created (including your amazing family).
Five stars, no doubt about it.
With "A Natural Woman" I find that (as I often do with other biographies written entirely by the artist), there is a tendency to be slightly less than forthcoming, to omit important details from time to time, or to briefly summarize many years of experiences which may be of real interest, particularly to fans. If you've read Sheila Weller's "Girls Like Us", you will get a more explicit and detailed description of many of the same episodes discussed in Carole's book. Understandably, there is a great deal of time in "A Natural Woman" devoted to the "Tapestry" sessions (but much of this information has already been discussed by others or by Carole in her live interviews over many years.) Sadly, the subsequent years (1972-1976) following "Tapestry" are basically "glossed over" in a single sentence. Carole merely provides a list of the albums which followed "Tapestry" and gives few details of her life during her most successful era, which seems a missed opportunity particularly for those interested in her music. Instead of providing long explanations about the "Tapestry" sessions, I would have been even more interested in knowing about what it must have been like (from her perspective) to have suddenly been thrust into the limelight, about her life in L.A. during those years and about the process she followed to create the many remarkable album projects which followed on the heels of Tapestry's success. Instead, she more or less skips from "Tapestry" right up to the year where she decided to leave L.A. for the wilds of Idaho.
The last sections of the memoir (perhaps the final 50 pages or so) seem more rushed and fragmentary, as if Carole might have been in a hurry to finish after 12 years of working on the book. At one point during the opening set of her "Living Room" concert in front of a live audience, she finds herself daydreaming during a song and having a lengthy contemplation about the meaning and existence of God. While there is no reason to doubt that these types of scenes actually took place, the writing here seems a bit more contrived...as if her editors may have been giving her advice on how to wrap up the book with as much insight and vision as possible. Other sections, particularly a colorful chapter describing her experiences with the New York City subway, seem more candid and spontaneous.
Also, what I recently find a little disappointing is how artists increasingly release multiple editions of their work in an effort to improve their sales. For example, they release a "Kindle" edition of the book, followed shortly thereafter by the release of an "enhanced edition" of the same book, which forces those who are dedicated fans to buy a second copy of the work to simply get another set of photos or an additional music track or special video. In the case of "A Natural Woman" the hardback and Kindle edition were released on the same day. Then in a week or so another Kindle edition for Ipad was released, including 60 additional photos, two music tracks and a "making of" video which was not made available to those who bought the book on its release date. Also, there is now an audiobook edition of "A Natural Woman", which includes other material not available in the first two or three formats. This happens increasingly with album releases as well, where artists release one version of the album and simultaneously or shortly thereafter release another version of the same work with two additional tracks. I guess by getting fans to buy multiple copies of the same work they can increase sales during the first few important weeks following its release.
Overall, "A Natural Woman" is an entertaining and often insightful read, particularly if you are interested in Carole King, her life and her contribution of popular music and songwriting.
The book traces her life from her childhood in Brooklyn to her early days working, not in the Brill building (but close), to recording Tapestry and the life-changing success that album brought her to her move to rural Idaho to her most recent projects. Along the way, we get to know her parents, grandparents, husbands, boyfriends, children, fellow musicians, songwriters and business associates. We also learn about the environmental and humanitarian causes that Carole King is involved in and, in one case, started. Ms. King is a remarkable woman who's talent, intellegence, curiosity and concern about the world around her is an inspiration.
Last week, Carole King was presented with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress. The prize is awarded to songwriters and the Gershwin brothers set very high standards with their well crafted songs. Carole is more than deserving of the prize. She joins fellow songwriters and previous recipients Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and the late Hal David. Pretty good company!
Top reviews from other countries
„Carole King. A natural woman“ ist mehr als eine Autobiographie. Sie ist auch eine Zeitreise durch Amerika der 40-2000er Jahre. Natürlich werden historische Ereignisse lediglich angerissen aber man spürt die Entwicklung, die Amerika macht und welchen Impact dies auf den Mensch und die Künstlerin Carole King hat.
Es ist eine Zeitreise durch Musikgeschichte. Carole King gibt Insider-Einblick in ein immer größer und härter werdendes Business. Ich habe mich vorher nie mit Songwritern beschäftigt und bin seither süchtig danach zu googeln, wer welchen Hit geschrieben hat (Spoiler: Carole King und Gerry Goffin haben sehr sehr viele Hits geschrieben). Treffen mit den Beatles oder Joni Mitchell werden ebenso geschildert, wie die Errungenschaften anderer Künstler ausführlich erläutert werden. Nur über Woodstock gibt es nicht viel zu lesen – da war Carole King nämlich nicht. Schade eigentlich.
Und es ist die Geschichte einer Frau, die sehr früh ihr Talent entdeckt und, was für die Zeit sicherlich nicht einfach war, eigenständig genutzt hat. Auch gibt Carole King sehr ausführliche Einblicke in ihr Privatleben. Früh Mutter geworden, bis Anfang der 80er ganze vier Mal verheiratet, schließlich Mutter von vier Kindern und Besitzerin einer Range in Idaho hat sie auch eine Menge zu erzählen.
Ich bin oft dagesessen und konnte im Teil 3 oder 4 kaum noch glauben, dass dies die gleiche Frau ist, über die ich im Teil 1 gelesen habe. Flowerpower vs. Petticoat. Und man kommt nicht umhin manchmal den Kopf zu schütteln und zu denken: Oh Carole.
Wie bei jeder Autobiographie muss man sich vor Augen halten, dass es am Ende dennoch die subjektive Sicht der Autorin ist. Es ist ihr eigene Leben welches Sie erzählt aber es gibt sicher Akteure, die manche Anekdote anders erzählen würden. Es fehlt nicht an Selbstreflexion und auch nicht an Selbstkritik. Das gefällt mir und das macht die Biographie sehr authentisch. Einige Passagen über die technische Details für die Aufnahme von LP’s waren mir persönlich zu lang und ausführlich aber sie lassen sich gut querlesen…
Alles in allem eine Autobiographie für viele Zielgruppen und wenn man etwas über die amerikanische Musikgeschichte lernen möchtet ein absolute must-read.