More like a coffee table book than an actual biography. Lots of photos, which is great but photos alone does not make for a real biography. A bit sad the one of her in her apartment hanging out with Billy Idol and Pleasant Gehman wasn't included. It is a stretch to say Todd Oldman wrote this book. He compiled some Joan Jett interviews from over the years and also interviewed her and then put them all together in chronological order. I could have done that. You could have done that. Still, there are some interesting bits about the struggles Joan went through during her career. This book made me want to read an actual biography about Joan. This is a good accompaniment to a a biography of Joan, but not really a biography in it's own right. Three stars for all the awesome photos. Lots of great pictures here and interesting commentary from Joan, her producer, and Kathleen Hanna. There are even some childhood photos included - it's pretty weird to see Joan before she had black hair and a leather jacket. The book is very well put together and artful, lending it the same feel of integrity that all of Joan's projects have. Having recently seen the Runaways biopic, I found this book to be a good companion for that. It sort of fills in the gap that I saw as a flaw in that movie, which was too much Cherie and not enough Joan! Am I the only one wishing that movies of this type would forget the fragile blonde girl and focus on the tougher, more interesting dark-haired girl instead? For starters, someone needs to go remake Grease as "The Betty Rizzo Story." Nothing against Olivia Newton John - I do have much love for her - but Stockard Channing's character is much more complex, interesting, and, in my opinion, smokin' hot. Similarly, Joan Jett went on to blaze trails for women in rock, yet the movie's main focus is Cherie Currie, who more or less falls off the map. Admittedly, the movie was originally based on Currie's autobiography, but still, it's called "The Runaways," not "The Cherie Currie Story." It seems logical that the movie's main focus would have been the member that went on to the greatest success. So here's hoping that this book will inspire enough interest in Joan Jett's career that there will one day be a "Runaways 2: The Joan Jett Story."
Do You like book Joan Jett (2010)?
a very basic set of memories. Some great photos. An easy read.
—Roro
