Rating: 
Summary: Read it to Dawn
Review: Like her lyrics, the book puts forward more of Jewel's profund, raw thoughts and philosophies. Seeing someone from nothing to something is amazing. I felt a true interconnectedness while reading the ongoings of her life. I especially enjoyed her final entry of the book.
We hear so very little of her family - besides her mother - and it was nice to know how she felt about her brothers and father. She had very honest relationships with them which urged her to be so authentic in her writing, both to music and without.
A simple biography is read but, you come out knowing much more than just Jewel, the girl who came from Alaska and lived in a van.
Rating:
Summary: Jewel Kilcher - Chasing Down The Dawn...
Review: Not Many Of Today's Musicians Write Lyrics That Speak To You In A Way That Expresses Their Most Intimiate Thoughts...Jewel Kilcher Is Certainly One Of Them...In This, Her Second Book, Jewel Writes Not Poetic Tales Of Her View Of The Wwrld, But Childhood Stories That Speak To Us Deeply, And Without Any Interference...Her Tales Seem To Capture The Reader With Utmost Charm And Charisma Which Attracts From The Heart...A Must Read Book For Any Jewel Kilcher Fan...
Rating: 
Summary: A gift from Jewel, to you
Review: Obviously, Jewel loves the act of writing, she seems to be writing all of the time. This book is a collection of some of her reflections about her life, past and present. You can get a feel of how she came to write such touching and profound lyrics, how she came to be the human person she is. Some fragments are funny, some are deep reflections about events and relationships of her life. To have the courage to publish such personnal thinking and descriptions can only come from her belief that somehow, we all have to face similar struggles in our lives. Those who think Jewel is a sell-out and dishonest girl who benifit from playing on some people's sensitive chords and only write trite stuff will just find here one more reason to hate her. Those who are moved by her lyrics will be touched by the content of this book and it will certainly bring out points to meditate about their own life. The content here is not about glamour and superficiality, it is about getting to understand her and is almost like actually knowing her personally. Defenitly, a gift to those who appreciate her work.
Rating:
Summary: A Visionary For Our Time
Review: Once again Jewel amazes me with her wonderful tales and poetic expressions. This new book of hers, Chasing Down The Dawn, is full of memorable stories and anecdotes from her life. The pictures of her self and her family are a kind of home photo album that bring you closer to the artist's heart. On reading this book I had the feeling that I was sitting in Jewel's living room with her and she was telling me stories about her childhood and her success as an artist. As always Jewel manages to lay bare her soul in a most entertaining way - I believe this is a book well worth any readers attention, even if they're not a total Jewel fan. There's much insight into human nature in its pages. And I feel better off for having read it.
Rating: 
Summary: nothing special, but somewhat interesting
Review: Reading the reviews about this book, I found most to fall into two categories: 5 star reviews by people who like Jewel, and 1 star reviews by people who do not. This is a fair enough way to rate the book since if a person does not like Jewel, they will probably not like her autobiography. I fall in between the two groups. I am a big fan of Jewel and absolutely loved her new album This Way . I did not, however, love her book. The format of this memoir is a series of selections from her journal. We see personal glimpses of her life as she sees it. Jewel is reflecting on her life, her childhood, and where she is now. As far as we can tell, this is a very honest book and it is filled with some painful recollections of her childhood, and her family life. She also writes of her best friend and watching her die in the hospital. Jewel has a very open and clear writing style and this is a breeze to read. I said that I did not love this book, and that much is true. It is not a horrible book, and I do not feel that it is worth a 1 star rating. This is simply a middle of the road book with nothing truly special about it. Had this not been written by Jewel, it would have disappeared quickly and probably not been read. As far as memoirs go, this one isn't anything special. As memoir by Jewel, it is probably only of interest to her fans. And then only to some of them.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book from a insightful person.
Review: Serious Jewel fans have always known that there is a mind of great compassion and intelligence behind the media hype surrounding this wonderful performer. Unfortunatly she often gets sterotyped as a "pop star", a position that she never tried to acheive, but has nevertheless been thrust upon her. It is too bad, because she has much more in common with Bob Dylan and Janis Ian then she has with Madonna. I was ignored her when she first came out precisely because of the pop star image. Then when I was suffering from a severe depression brought on by the suicide of a close friend, I discovered her second CD "Spirit", I'm usually not too big of a folk music fan, but her gentle, and optimistic attitude toward life were just what I needed to hear at the time. Reading this book, I realized why her music is so moving, she is a person who has really suffered in life. Growing up in abject poverty, living with an abusive parent, and being made to feel inferior because she had a learning disorder, these experiances have shaped a very strong, beautiful and determined soul. She also comes across as a very cultured person who knows a great deal about art, philosophy and literature. This is an astonishing achievement, considering the fact that, given her background, she must be largely self-taught. I have to wonder about the people who wrote negative reviews, one of them says that this book is bad poetry, which means that they must not have read it, because it in fact contains very little poetry. Another implies that Jewel fans are uneducated, well I'm a honors college student, and I adore her, and I know of one Harvard graduate who has put up a web page of her quotes, because he admires her. You can look it up on Yahoo. In other words these people do not know what they are talking about and, therefore, should not be taken seriously. People who are conforable with themselves do not nurture obsessive hatreds of celebrities. Actually, the only flaw in this book is the occasional bursts of overly flowery prose, but this is common with first time published writers, and there is no reason that Jewel should be held to a higher standerd then the rest of us in this regard. I urge everyone to take a look beyond the MTV-manufactured hype surrounding this amazingly multitalented artist, and I want to thank Jewel for sharing herself with us.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Inspiring
Review: There are various articles and booklets about the talented writer, singer, and song writer, Jewel Kilcher. CHASING DOWN THE DAWN is different because it consists of full color snap shots of her life from her perspective. Stories from her childhood in Alaska all the way to her shows right before the book was published are presented in a hypnotic, poetic prose. It is almost as if she is sitting in a chair telling her story to a good friend, who happens to be you. Everything from growing up in Alaska to surviving constant tours, her mother and father, people that left impressions along the road of life... The story is very inspiring, and I highly recommend it to any Jewel Kilcher fan.
Rating:
Summary: "Lions and tigers and bears oh my!"
Review: This book was an easy read. It's more of a memoir than anything else. Fans of Jewel will probably adore it. I picked it up because Jewel reminds me of a friend I once had. Reading about the various people the author has met and some of her experiences over the years, I was reminded of a lot of other people I have met and places I have been. There isn't anything spectacular here, but it is an interesting book.
Rating:
Summary: Jewel's Life and World
Review: This is a sort of autobiographical journal by Jewel. She talks about growing up in Alaska, her early beginnigs as a singer, songwriter and musician, and her life on the road on tour. Many personal anecdotes in here which Jewel fans will find interesting. You'll get a good sense of how Jewel thinks and feels about her rise to fame, and just about things in general, including past events and memories which she recounts from her life. And yes, she's very intuitive and thinks a lot. The book is illustrated throughtout with Jewel's simple and delightful little drawings. There are also lots of beautiful photos in this book. David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"
Rating: 
Summary: Prose and poetry, set to the rhythms of life....
Review: Welcome to a world set to the ever-changing rhythms of an artist's life. Since childhood, Jewel has turned to her own short stories, vivid narratives, and starkly honest writings to revisit the past, chronicle the many characters she's encountered, and trace the intricate, unpredictable patterns of her days. In Chasing Down the Dawn, recording artist, actress, and bestselling author Jewel opens her intimate journals to create a vivid montage of the people, places, relationships, and passages that colored the life she came from and marked the last magical, turbulent, and ultimately transformational year. Drawn from her remarkable chronicle of life on the road during the Spirit World Tour, this unforgettable collection of freeze-frames captures unusual images from Jewel's childhood in Alaska, her beginnings as a struggling artist, and her challenges as a daughter, sister, and woman. Jewel paints an unblinkingly honest picture of the exceptional journey that carried her to the world's stage. Here, as if pulled from a stack of snapshots, are Jewel's moment-by-moment observations on life as she now lives it: the pleasure of sold-out performances and the pressures of her industry .. the sweetness of love and bitterness of loss ... friendship, freedom, and the small miracles we ourselves create. And herein a book that allows the reader a rare glimpse of life's turning points as if viewed from over the author's shoulder -- are Jewel's deeply personal insights on the events that shaped her understanding: her parents' divorce, her experience of poverty, the healing of her difficult relationship with her father, and the development of her unique talent. With the publication of her bestselling collection of poetry, A Night Without Armor, Jewel established herself as a light on the literary horizon. With acutely observed, elegantly written depictions of the musicians, lovers, bikers, strangers, celebrities, and characters that inhabit the singer/songwriter's world, illustrated with Jewel's own drawings and never-before-seen photographs from her family archives, Chasing Down the Dawn is more than a collection of vignettes, observations, and stories. It is a finely wrought mosaic in prose and poetry, set to the rhythms of life.
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