Rating: 
Summary: confessions.
Review: A good portion of Jewel Kilcher's aurora is not in the typical things that make a female singer popular: her voice, her looks, her guitar skill, her musical talent, songwriting writing ability, connections with her concert audience, stage presence or fashion flair. Though she doesn't lack those things, one of her greatest attractions, the one that makes you stop and realize that she's more than another rockstar wanna-be who made it, is the story of her life, her pre-fame life, especially. Even if she never got a record contract and the fame that came with it and made her one of the "elite" few, she still would have been an extrordinary person. She explains that all this book, "Chasing Down the Dawn." It seems that everything possible that could have happened to one person happened to Jewel. Her young life and childhood is one unusual experience after another, filled with unusual people, and almost unbelievable at times. For example, her grandmother was an award winning writer, her father was abused as a child, her parents got divorced, as a nine-year old she was photographed by a child ponographer/molester, her first crush rode off a cliff on a motorcycle, she made friends with gang members and kids who ate vodka popsicles, her best friend died of cancer, she suffered from kidney problems, she sang for eskimos and gave them their first chance to see blond hair...and that's just half of the list. If we included all the crazy things that she chose to do herself, the story is even more interesting. I heard someone say about Jewel, "After living a life like that, she almost couldn't help but write about it." It's true. I'm not really a fan of Jewel's music, I probably never will be. I didn't care about her at all until I started reading her books. One thing that strikes me from both of them is that this girl is actually talented. She's not just a marketable face for her record label, she's actually an artist, a poet, a writer. Literature of such quality is not something I would expect from one of the biggest female stars in the music world. But Jewel is an exception: she's multi-faceted and definitely multi-talented. Her story gives very good insight on the life of a star. Though it certainly has it's upsides, it's not all stage lights and screaming fans. For all you Jewel-wanna bes who still haven't made it, read this book before you pursue a career as a professional musical entertainer. Can I say that if buy this book you won't regret it? I can't judge for you. If you don't like this kind of stuff, you most probably will be let down, but personally, I wasn't.
Rating:
Summary: Chasing Down The Dawn
Review: Chasing Down The Dawn (by Jewel Kilcher) Reader Review
Harper Entertainment, 2000
Reviewer: Karen Unglaub from Noble High School, North Berwick, Maine.
The autobiography Chasing Down the Dawn, by Jewel Kilcher, is notes and paragraphs about Jewel's life from when she was 10 until she was 18. It tells about her parent's divorce and how it was a total shock. How she and her 2 older brothers and her dad moved far away, leaving there mother standing sobbing. All to start a new life, and get on with the old one. She and her father would go into clubs and sing together a few times a week. Jewel met a few, lot of unusual people, but they helped open her eyes to the variety of life. She would talk amongst the men and women, and they gave her respect, because she was a very mature young lady. She writes a lot of short poems that are separate from the usual text; she includes a lot of her own drawings in the autobiography too.
She encounters first love, and leaves him. She always needed more than just a boyfriend to pretend to love her. She thought she was in love with him. She was only in love with the idea of being in love, and had to leave him to find her real prince in shinning Armour. (She has also a book of poems, A Night Without Armour) Her father began going to bars quite frequently to sing and meet ladies. She would accompany him and sing by his side on stage. Her father protected her from ridicule.
Not until she was sixteen, that she ventures out into bars all alone to sing and earn her way out of poverty, for just one day. She made just enough money to cover her bus tickets food and then she kept the left over few dollars, and used it for what she had to. Her father trusted her and knew that she was very mature, and allowed her to go out on her own and experience club life of her own. She got gigs, because she was cute, refreshing and had a folk style that was different than the grunge that was in that era. Her name finally was spreading around the cities, and she was signed to a label to make an album, and go on tour. She now was getting noticed in the street, while she was trying to write in peace and quite. It would frustrate her; she had pressure from the label to keep writing all of her new songs. She liked to write about people, so she would watch people on the street, and jot down poems and phrases. It got so hard once she was getting recognized, because she lived to stay in the hidden and watch from the sides. Now she couldn't look at them secretly, because they were already looking at her!
She would go back home to Alaska, and feel very uncomfortable; her father would want her to join the village's hot shower outside. That was held at her house. They made a shower. She would not join. She would go after. They also had to share a phone line too. She would share it with 7 different families, and she felt that they were always eavesdropping. Also of the other hand, she felt most relaxed at home after she felt the most relaxed at home, in her fathers many acres. She was free to write and not be noticed by anyone at all, except the cattle. She got accustomed to famous life, and was thankful. The autobiography leaves off with her talking about life. "Life is all about rhythm... And Time is not a line, it's a loop."
Strengths
This autobiography is very detailed and had many poems that provide a deeper insight about her life. The book does what it should; it invites you into her life, shows you around and lets you out with a goodbye. This book has many photographs. It shows the good and the bad. Life on the road without makeup after being awake for 20 hours. And her in a field laying in the grass with one of her many horses. She shows pictures of life in the city, and life in the country. It shows random people, and her most loved ones. She includes a lot of her own art in the book too. She draws pictures of naked women, that are bearing their souls, nothing to hide and completely honest and pure.
Weaknesses
The autobiography is not in chronological order. It bounces from thought to thought, as her mind does. She questions herself, and contradicts herself quite often, and left me still to wonder how she is feeling. The only feeling I can conclude is confusion, much like I was when I read the book. She touches on subjects that she never went back to, but it kept you wondering, much like life does. Aside from the normal text, I liked the format of the book. The font was big enough to read, and wasn't boring. It had a different look to it; you didn't feel like you were reading a "boring book for English class". But the format was also mixed up; it would jump from a chapter to a whole bunch of pictures in the middle of nowhere, but an interesting experience. Looking at the experience of reading this, I think that it mad me look more at the world and what feelings that I am going through, and that everyone is different, but more the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Showing She's Only Human...
Review: I have just recently finished this book; I think it is just amazing how a person can choose to be so open and honest about the positives and the negatives in their life. I found that in reading this book, it is still possible to allow yourself to be so open and vulnerable and to know some people will respond in the same fashion. Jewel seems to tell all in this book and there was one part in particular that even surprised me- read it and find out. There still is the presence of good and uplifting forces in this world but one needs to look a little harder and deeper... Jewel gives off a sense of security and a feeling like she knows she isn't alone like a kindred spirit. It is books like "Chasing Down the Dawn that let you know there is a real and truthful account of life in her own words out there to be read.
Rating:
Summary: Showing She's Only Human...
Review: I have just recently finished this book; I think it is just amazing how a person can choose to be so open and honest about the positives and the negatives in their life. I found that in reading this book, it is still possible to allow yourself to be so open and vulnerable and to know some people will respond in the same fashion. Jewel seems to tell all in this book and there was one part in particular that even surprised me- read it and find out. There still is the presence of good and uplifting forces in this world but one needs to look a little harder and deeper... Jewel gives off a sense of security and a feeling like she knows she isn't alone like a kindred spirit. It is books like "Chasing Down the Dawn that let you know there is a real and truthful account of life in her own words out there to be read.
Rating:
Summary: --- Explore Jewel ---
Review: I'm sorry if my English is not as good as yours, I'm from Germany, but I have the english version of this premium book.
If you don't know Jewel I'd rather say you: don't buy this book. It describes Jewels life on tour, her homeland, Alaska. It's not as cold as many people think, it's a nice, natural piece of earth, at reading it I fall in love with it a little.
In this book there are some very nice pics of her family (all seems to be cowboys) and Alaska.
It also describes the bad sides of her life. For example what happened to her teenage love, I had to read it again to be sure. Or the lose of her best friend Jacqui, which had a explanation of the religions of the world that is the best I ever heard.
There are too some paintings of Jewel that are pretty sweet. It's good that you have the original version of her books. I have the book "A night without armour" in a version English, german. And that's sometimes really bad translated. If you really want to know something about Jewel BUY IT!
And if you think: Great woman, forget it! Her boyfriend is a rodeochamp.
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: 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: 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: Jewel Fans Will Enjoy This Book
Review: This books is a compilation of experiences and stories from Jewel's childhood up through adulthood, as well as experiences from the road. I find her childhood and upbringing in Alaska fascinating so I had a hard time putting the book down. She shares with the reader bits about her relationship with her family and friends, the glamour and gloom of being on tour, and how she became the artist she is today. As you'll read from the book you'll see her talent was in her genes. There are wonderful photographs from her childhood up through adulthood and her writing seems to come right from her heart. I really enjoyed the book and insight into her life and recommend the book to fans who enjoy Jewel's music.
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