Ann Angel

Read:
Bad Hair Day by Lauren Myracle - This story was very, very weird. I think she tried to use extreme weirdness for impact, but it didn't make the story good, just strange. I like strange things, but this seemed like a cop-out for thinking of a really interesting story.

Cheekbones by Ellen Wittlinger - I liked this one much more than the first story. The ending of this one was a little too cliche, but the rest of the story was really interesting - it offers a peek at the world of modeling, as well as the whole mother/daughter drama and search for identity.



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While Janis Joplin's career is well known still today, Ann Angel does a wonderful job piecing together Joplin's life story from Joplin's former friends, lovers, and co-workers. There are beautiful detailed photographs throughout this book to she the accuracy for what Angel has written about Joplin. Because of the layout of this book, it would be an excellent book to a reluctant non-fiction reader. There are several pages with more photographs than literature. Though Joplin had been dead 40 years when this book was published, many times it felt like she was writing the book herself. Anyone who has studied Joplin in depth knows the struggle she had with her drug and alcohol addictions, eventually causing her death at the early age of 27. This book highlights however, the legality of drugs were different in the 1960s. Many drugs were experimental at this time and there hadn't been any research to show their negative effects.

In a culture where we can easily find out almost any detail about celebrities, it would be interesting for young people to contrast the differences between now and then. It was years before the public was aware of all of Joplin's struggles. After reading this book I re-watched live footage of her amazing performances, trying to imagine what it was like to be on of the first true female rock stars. Joplin helped pave the way for females in music today.

In the end of her book, Angel includes a timeline for Joplin's life until 2009 where the American Music Masters Tributes Joplin with Lucinda Williams performing a song about Janis. The many interviews and quotes about Joplin including letter Joplin wrote to her family, truly show the whole picture of Joplin's life. This is very well documented, but written using simple text, easy for young adults to grasp.… (más)