Society's Child
Janis Ian
Reviewed by J. A. Jance
I asked to review SOCIETY'S CHILD because I've long been a fan of Janis Ian's music. People who have been to book signings may have heard me end the presentation with my version of her song, "At Seventeen." Her music sustained me during a very difficult time in my life, but I've learned from reading this book, that her music has sustained her as well. Not because that's what she does to make money but because that's what she must do — for her soul, and for her very survival.
Janis Ian was a pop-star rocket doing solo concerts at fifteen and a high-school drop-out has-been at twenty. She has bounced from the heights of stardom to the depths of financial despair where being able to buy warm clothing from a thrift store counted as a miracle to be savored.
This is not a warm-fuzzy ride. Her story is gritty and told in a direct, unflinching manner. Readers expecting a glitzy tell-all will be disappointed. This is the story of a performer who remained undaunted despite the racist hecklers who attempted to drive her off her first concert stages to the UN nitwits who blackballed her because she had performed in South Africa even though she had insisted on performing at mixed-race venues.
This is a profile in courage from someone who grew up with real life FBI agents dogging her family's every step. Her life and death confrontation with a drug-crazed, abusive husband is chilling and, unfortunately, all too familiar. The steady barrage of betrayals by one trusted friend and associate after another would have crushed a lesser spirit. And yet, in spite of it all, including several life-threatening health crises, Janis Ian has maintained and persisted, making one unlikely comeback after another. She is truly a rock-and-roll version of the Unsinkable Molly Brown.
But make no mistake — Janis Ian is a writer, nothing more and nothing less. For her, writing and the need to write, is both a blessing and a curse. She needs to write as much as she needs air to breathe. SOCIETY'S CHILD is the story of someone who has actually suffered for her art, and in practicing her art, she has made all of us — and this reader in particular — the richer.
Order SOCIETY'S CHILD from
Amazon
Read an Excerpt from SOCIETY'S CHILD
About the Reviewer:
J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-eight mysteries, including the popular J.P. Beaumont, Joanna Brady, and Ali Reynolds series. Her most recent Ali Reynolds mystery is HAND OF EVIL. Her thirteenth Joanna Brady novel, DAMAGE CONTROL, was published in July.
Visit her online at www.jajance.com.
Order DAMAGE CONTROL from
Amazon
Read an Excerpt from DAMAGE CONTROL