My major was in creativity, with an A in survival.
YA'LL
I just finished reading Dandelion by Catherine James, and omg. I urge everyone out there to go get it immediately! I won't even try to write about it myself, because my thoughts are constantly in a jumbled mess. But she is one of the most inspiring, if not THE most inspiring, people I've ever read about. I can't believe I waited this long to read it. Why didn't anyone slap me??
This is the best, most thorough review I've found:
Catherine James has lived eight lives in 57 short years and her Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit (St. Martin's Press) devastates with emotional sabotages that seem so outrageous that you swear you must be reading fiction. I read the advance copy in one sitting, blown away by the poignancy and ease with which Miss James shares her years of perilous plight. The abuse she suffers at the hands of her Hollywood femme fatale mother Diana reads like Mommy Dearest meets Piper Laurie’s character in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. Chapter after chapter she is left pummeled by another emotional battering from someone close to her. Even when she’s able to finally run away from tortuous reality, which is one of her early blessings, she encounters emotional hardships that rival any I’ve read or seen in film. Only her grandmother Mimi - one of the few normal eccentrics she encounters - is courageous enough to try to shield her beloved granddaughter from harm’s way, although she ultimately loses her.
To say that she was trapped in a house ruled by a witch would be a gross understatement of the human condition. Her mother continually tortures her both physically and emotionally, whether it’s tying her to a chair or locking her in a closet to keep four-year-old Catherine in line so that Mom might socialize on the town without worry. Or not feeding her and making her swill hot sauce or dishwashing soap for punishment. Poor young Catherine is not out of harm's way until she is finally able to run away from her forever. And not until the very end of the memoir is there any contrition from Mom, as though that would suffice the years, though Ms. James emotionally detached herself from her shamelessly narcissistic and destructive mother years earlier. She continually denies her daughter’s safety in all areas of parenthood. You’d be hard pressed to find such abuses in today’s family courts.
Thankfully she is befriended by many wonderful and colorful characters along the way who help shine a brilliant light on her budding spirit, including such very famous folks as Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, and Roger Daltrey, to name but a few.
From the musically charged ’60s of Los Angeles to Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York to the swinging parties of London and back to the woodsy solitude of Connecticut, mature beyond years Ms. James crisscrosses America seeking solace in a tranquil corner.
Her unlucky-in-love character remains optimistic even when her life seems to be spiraling out of control. Time and time again you are certain the fates will finally cast a favorable light on such a courageous soul. But it is not to be.
Even as a pregnant teenager, she is able to rise above her condition and find the silver lining in a seemingly desperate situation. When Denny Laine, her son Damian’s father, once of The Moody Blues, Ginger Baker’s Airforce, and Paul McCartney’s Wings, swoops her up, you think she’s turned the corner. But the physically abusive rocker only adds more heartache and pain to the young bruised beauty’s tale.
Her supremely dysfunctional family will remain with you long after you’ve finished this book. And her triumphant spirit will make most readers take stock at how petty most of life’s seemingly unfair inequities might actually be quite trivial in comparison. Dandelion deserves to be picked from your local bookstore shelf immediately. - Dusty Wright
WERD.
And because no one can write quite like Miss Pamela can:
Dandelion tells the courageous nine-lives tale of an exquisite beauty’s great escape from a turbulent childhood, free-fall into the revolutionary rock music scene, a child raising her own child amidst chaotic upheaval. Audacious and dauntless, Catherine James maintains her sweetness and vulnerability, even when facing down her demons. From the Hollywood heyday to swinging Mod London, to the streets of Greenwich Village and back again, she takes us to shadowy and brilliant places, introduces us to ghastly and illustrious characters, sprinkling heartfelt wisdom and insight on every page. -- Pamela Des Barres
So GO GET IT, FRIENDS! You will not regret it! But if you must wait, Amazon claims that a paperback version will be coming out September 2nd. Which just so happens to be the day after a paperback version of Pamela's Take Another Little Piece of My Heart comes out, with a cover I am hopelessly in love with, and a new foreword by the always dazzling Mr. Michael Des Barres. I also just found out that on September 1st, Pamela's Let's Spend the Night Together will be out on paperback. How wonderfully this all worked out! Of course I can't quite rationalize getting Dandelion or LSTNT again in paperback form, but I will go and gawk at them in the stores. ...Piece of My Heart, on the other hand - YOU BEST BELIEVE I AM SNATCHING THAT UP. My used copy is very 80s and a bit, you know. Used. Or I guess it was the early 90s. With an 80s flair. I'm excited to have a shiny new glamorous copy. And it will be the perfect time to reread it.
In conclusion, I leave you with this. Having watched this video numerous times before actually reading the book, once I got to this chapter, there were giggle fits all over the place.
PS, isn't it great how I've gotten on this sudden LJ UPDATING kick? idk
I just finished reading Dandelion by Catherine James, and omg. I urge everyone out there to go get it immediately! I won't even try to write about it myself, because my thoughts are constantly in a jumbled mess. But she is one of the most inspiring, if not THE most inspiring, people I've ever read about. I can't believe I waited this long to read it. Why didn't anyone slap me??
This is the best, most thorough review I've found:
Catherine James has lived eight lives in 57 short years and her Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit (St. Martin's Press) devastates with emotional sabotages that seem so outrageous that you swear you must be reading fiction. I read the advance copy in one sitting, blown away by the poignancy and ease with which Miss James shares her years of perilous plight. The abuse she suffers at the hands of her Hollywood femme fatale mother Diana reads like Mommy Dearest meets Piper Laurie’s character in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. Chapter after chapter she is left pummeled by another emotional battering from someone close to her. Even when she’s able to finally run away from tortuous reality, which is one of her early blessings, she encounters emotional hardships that rival any I’ve read or seen in film. Only her grandmother Mimi - one of the few normal eccentrics she encounters - is courageous enough to try to shield her beloved granddaughter from harm’s way, although she ultimately loses her.
To say that she was trapped in a house ruled by a witch would be a gross understatement of the human condition. Her mother continually tortures her both physically and emotionally, whether it’s tying her to a chair or locking her in a closet to keep four-year-old Catherine in line so that Mom might socialize on the town without worry. Or not feeding her and making her swill hot sauce or dishwashing soap for punishment. Poor young Catherine is not out of harm's way until she is finally able to run away from her forever. And not until the very end of the memoir is there any contrition from Mom, as though that would suffice the years, though Ms. James emotionally detached herself from her shamelessly narcissistic and destructive mother years earlier. She continually denies her daughter’s safety in all areas of parenthood. You’d be hard pressed to find such abuses in today’s family courts.
Thankfully she is befriended by many wonderful and colorful characters along the way who help shine a brilliant light on her budding spirit, including such very famous folks as Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, and Roger Daltrey, to name but a few.
From the musically charged ’60s of Los Angeles to Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York to the swinging parties of London and back to the woodsy solitude of Connecticut, mature beyond years Ms. James crisscrosses America seeking solace in a tranquil corner.
Her unlucky-in-love character remains optimistic even when her life seems to be spiraling out of control. Time and time again you are certain the fates will finally cast a favorable light on such a courageous soul. But it is not to be.
Even as a pregnant teenager, she is able to rise above her condition and find the silver lining in a seemingly desperate situation. When Denny Laine, her son Damian’s father, once of The Moody Blues, Ginger Baker’s Airforce, and Paul McCartney’s Wings, swoops her up, you think she’s turned the corner. But the physically abusive rocker only adds more heartache and pain to the young bruised beauty’s tale.
Her supremely dysfunctional family will remain with you long after you’ve finished this book. And her triumphant spirit will make most readers take stock at how petty most of life’s seemingly unfair inequities might actually be quite trivial in comparison. Dandelion deserves to be picked from your local bookstore shelf immediately. - Dusty Wright
WERD.
And because no one can write quite like Miss Pamela can:
Dandelion tells the courageous nine-lives tale of an exquisite beauty’s great escape from a turbulent childhood, free-fall into the revolutionary rock music scene, a child raising her own child amidst chaotic upheaval. Audacious and dauntless, Catherine James maintains her sweetness and vulnerability, even when facing down her demons. From the Hollywood heyday to swinging Mod London, to the streets of Greenwich Village and back again, she takes us to shadowy and brilliant places, introduces us to ghastly and illustrious characters, sprinkling heartfelt wisdom and insight on every page. -- Pamela Des Barres
So GO GET IT, FRIENDS! You will not regret it! But if you must wait, Amazon claims that a paperback version will be coming out September 2nd. Which just so happens to be the day after a paperback version of Pamela's Take Another Little Piece of My Heart comes out, with a cover I am hopelessly in love with, and a new foreword by the always dazzling Mr. Michael Des Barres. I also just found out that on September 1st, Pamela's Let's Spend the Night Together will be out on paperback. How wonderfully this all worked out! Of course I can't quite rationalize getting Dandelion or LSTNT again in paperback form, but I will go and gawk at them in the stores. ...Piece of My Heart, on the other hand - YOU BEST BELIEVE I AM SNATCHING THAT UP. My used copy is very 80s and a bit, you know. Used. Or I guess it was the early 90s. With an 80s flair. I'm excited to have a shiny new glamorous copy. And it will be the perfect time to reread it.
In conclusion, I leave you with this. Having watched this video numerous times before actually reading the book, once I got to this chapter, there were giggle fits all over the place.
Click to viewPS, isn't it great how I've gotten on this sudden LJ UPDATING kick? idk