Rating: 
Summary: The Legacy of Janis Joplin
Review: Having grown up in the same part of Texas just five or so years after Janis, I initially picked up this book to see what the author had to say about Pt. Arthur, Texas. No real surprises there I suppose because the area was just as bleak and discouraging as the book described it (and is even more so today). Most of the inseucrities so vividly described and explained in this book resulted from the growing-up days that Janis spent on the Texas Gulf Coast. Between the lack of support from her peer group and from her own mother, Janis never had much of a chance to grow into a stable, self-confident woman.The saddest part of her story is the way that Janis never recovered from those early days and the way that she tried to compensate for her insecurity by creating a character by the name of Pearl through which she could live her life. This is vividly explained and detailed in the book and is probably why the book left me feeling so sad. But despite all of her own problems, Janis did make a positive impact on the world of music and that's more than most can say. This is a detailed account of the short life that Janis more or less "enjoyed" and of the impact that she had on various other lives along the way. I never realized at the time just what a pioneer she was in the way of breaking new ground for female singers. Looking back through the eyes of the author it is easy to see that without Janis having done her bit, the evolution of female lead singers may have taken a good deal longer than it did. I recommend this book both for those who lived the times with Janis and for those who have only heard about the 60s. This is a good piece of history. My only criticism is the way that the book occasionally gets bogged down in too much detail pertaining to music contracts, appearances, etc. but it is well worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: The Legacy of Janis Joplin
Review: Having grown up in the same part of Texas just five or so years after Janis, I initially picked up this book to see what the author had to say about Pt. Arthur, Texas. No real surprises there I suppose because the area was just as bleak and discouraging as the book described it (and is even more so today). Most of the inseucrities so vividly described and explained in this book resulted from the growing-up days that Janis spent on the Texas Gulf Coast. Between the lack of support from her peer group and from her own mother, Janis never had much of a chance to grow into a stable, self-confident woman. The saddest part of her story is the way that Janis never recovered from those early days and the way that she tried to compensate for her insecurity by creating a character by the name of Pearl through which she could live her life. This is vividly explained and detailed in the book and is probably why the book left me feeling so sad. But despite all of her own problems, Janis did make a positive impact on the world of music and that's more than most can say. This is a detailed account of the short life that Janis more or less "enjoyed" and of the impact that she had on various other lives along the way. I never realized at the time just what a pioneer she was in the way of breaking new ground for female singers. Looking back through the eyes of the author it is easy to see that without Janis having done her bit, the evolution of female lead singers may have taken a good deal longer than it did. I recommend this book both for those who lived the times with Janis and for those who have only heard about the 60s. This is a good piece of history. My only criticism is the way that the book occasionally gets bogged down in too much detail pertaining to music contracts, appearances, etc. but it is well worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Radical feminist interpretation of life & times of Janis
Review: How truly thrilling to read a biography of Janis Joplin from a radical feminist historian. The research is impeccable, the writing clear and engaging, but best of all is that for the first time a story of the 60s has been successfully conceived and narrated. Everyone from the 60s generation as well as young people today, particularly young feminists must read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Times are a Changin'
Review: I found this book to be quite interesting on the level of an historical and cultural analysis of Janis's life. Echols manages to write an objective biography on Joplin that does not get too sentimental or depressing, as have other biographies on Janis. This biograpy provides one with an education on the late 50s/ early 60s (on the level of history and lifestyle); however, it is not as personable as other biographies. Overall a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Janis: Sweet Paradise
Review: I have just recently finished reading my first book about the legendary blues-rock singer, Janis Joplin. Now that I have finished Alice Echols' Janis Joplin - Scars of Sweet Paradise I want to recommend this book to other readers anxious to read a good and highly-detailed book about this person's life. What really makes Scars so interesting is the fact that Miss Echols really helps the reader to understand what was going on in Janis' life by entertainingly explaining the growing cultural rise and fall of the 1960's. Alice Echols doesn't miss a beat whether she's writng about Janis' horrendous days in Port Arthur, Texas(where she grew up), her early days in San Francisco, her days with Big Brother and her other bands, or her sad spiral towards her death. So please, if you are reading this review go to your nearest bookstore immediately and buy Alice Echols wonderfully interesting and well-written book, Janis Joplin: Scars of Sweet Paradise.
Rating:
Summary: Takes a little piece of heart
Review: I like a quote that came later in this book, "She wasn't always happy, but she went for broke and changed the rules for all of us. In that sense she was bigger than she could have hoped." In hindsight, Janis was really a pioneer, especially for women. And historian Alice Echols does a good job of bringing this idea to the fore. She gives us a realistic picture of the life of Janis Joplin, showing us she was a real person, and bringing out the tension for a woman of her time and age--between wanting to be married (the white picket fence vision) and wanting to develop a career. The one thing I didn't care about this was its sometimes gratuitous revelations of who slept with whom. Although I think Janis's sex life was part of her rebellion, I don't think it defined who she was--as the book sometimes seems to imply. On the other hand, to give the author credit, it was easy for me to identify with Janis as a person and fellow Capricorns may readily find identification with her loneliness and her aspirations. This book also seems to give us a true picture of the time and, especially, the tragedy of drug abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Takes a little piece of heart
Review: I like a quote that came later in this book, "She wasn't always happy, but she went for broke and changed the rules for all of us. In that sense she was bigger than she could have hoped." In hindsight, Janis was really a pioneer, especially for women. And historian Alice Echols does a good job of bringing this idea to the fore. She gives us a realistic picture of the life of Janis Joplin, showing us she was a real person, and bringing out the tension for a woman of her time and age--between wanting to be married (the white picket fence vision) and wanting to develop a career. The one thing I didn't care about this was its sometimes gratuitous revelations of who slept with whom. Although I think Janis's sex life was part of her rebellion, I don't think it defined who she was--as the book sometimes seems to imply. On the other hand, to give the author credit, it was easy for me to identify with Janis as a person and fellow Capricorns may readily find identification with her loneliness and her aspirations. This book also seems to give us a true picture of the time and, especially, the tragedy of drug abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Takes a little piece of heart
Review: I like a quote that came later in this book, "She wasn't always happy, but she went for broke and changed the rules for all of us. In that sense she was bigger than she could have hoped." In hindsight, Janis was really a pioneer, especially for women. And historian Alice Echols does a good job of bringing this idea to the fore. She gives us a realistic picture of the life of Janis Joplin, showing us she was a real person, and bringing out the tension for a woman of her time and age--between wanting to be married (the white picket fence vision) and wanting to develop a career. The one thing I didn't care about this was its sometimes gratuitous revelations of who slept with whom. Although I think Janis's sex life was part of her rebellion, I don't think it defined who she was--as the book sometimes seems to imply. On the other hand, to give the author credit, it was easy for me to identify with Janis as a person and fellow Capricorns may readily find identification with her loneliness and her aspirations. This book also seems to give us a true picture of the time and, especially, the tragedy of drug abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it. Best overall story of her life and the times.
Review: I loved it. Not only do you get a comprehensive and inciteful look at Janis Joplin's life, but great observations on the evolution of folk music to rock music in the 50s, 60s and 70s. This lady really did her researh. A page-turner to the end.
Rating:
Summary: The "Forgotten"
Review: In a very real way Janis Lyn Joplin is very much a "forgotten". You hardly ever hear her stuff on radio- with the possible exception of "Me and Bobby McGee". And for my money, her one and only (and unforunately, posthumous) Number 1 is quite thoroughly unrepresentative of her as an artist or person. Forgotten Janis Joplin, like another Forgotten Janis- Janis Martin- the "female Elvis". Some colleges apparently now include Janis as a feminist icon, or at least woman of note, and at least some interest is now being restored in her as a major figure in popular cultural history. Echols' work is a very well written chronology of the first major female rock star's short life. There is no sensationalism, no unsubstantiated rumour that isn't stated as being so, and no attempt by the author to over-psychoanalysis her subject. You come away from this book with an understanding as to the enormous talent that Janis possessed, and how dealing with it with her insecure mindset ultimately led to her very untimely demise. It is also clearly the most credible, and creditable biography of Janis currently available: Amburn's book is clearly sensationalist; Myra Freidman's (including the revised edition) comes from someone who didn't know Janis first hand that well; Dalton does not cover enough ground, and is more of a personal account; and sister Laura's "Love, Janis" is antithetical to Amburn- a glossing over of the sex and drugs in favour of just how nice, but misunderstood, Janis was. Echols also frames her subject within the context of the times in which she lived. Again, no judgement, no sensationalism. Another prick for the bubble of the illusion of the Woodstock myth that the "hippies" were all innocent flower people. The Sixties were a tough time for many who flocked to Haight-Ashbury. The book is also eminently readable; in short, a first-class primer of the "skyrocket chick" who died at the age of 27 trying to live up to her own projected self image- an image that was virtually the total opposite to the real, white picket fence wannabe from Port Arthur, Texas that was Janis Lyn Joplin.
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