"Girls Like Us" by Sheila Weller - Book Review

Female pop culture icons don't elicit much sympathy. Because they seem to have it all (money, fame, rewarding careers, younger boyfriends) it's hard to believe they'd ever be as insecure, lovelorn, unfulfilled, or downright needy as ordinary schlubs like you and me.

But if back catalogue CD sales or album downloads spike this year for Carole King, Joni Mitchell, or Carly Simon, they'll have author Sheila Weller to thank. Her latest book stirs up curiosity about - and sympathy for - these three iconic women by reminding us that underneath it all, they're really Girls Like Us.

Weller scales down their monumental accomplishments by ushering us past the bigger-than-life images of Carole, Joni and Carly as the quintessential earth mother, the brilliantly original poet-artist, and the sexy, free-spirited singer-songwriter. She takes us backwards in time by recreating their difficult childhoods, wistful and yearning teen years, and confusing young adulthoods using intimate details gleaned from interviews with friends and associates.

A compassionate yet unrelenting biographer, she peels back the highs and lows of each woman's career with the same wary care that one might exhibit in removing the delicate, papery skin from an onion. And like that bittersweet bulb, what's revealed inside may reduce you to tears.

Who became pregnant in her early 20s, gave her baby up for adoption and kept her secret buried for years? What man were all three women involved with to varying degrees? Who tolerated a marriage in which her husband openly acknowledged an ongoing adulterous affair and supported a child born out of wedlock? Who was the 'ugly sister' who wasn't supposed to become famous and successful? Who was the person the Beatles most wanted to meet? And who was the inspiration for compositions that eventually entered the lexicon of classic rock and pop?

Weller's Girls Like Us blends rock history, feminism, social and political commentary, and girl chat into an addictive brew. It delves into the groundbreaking work of these women who, note by note, lyric by lyric, single by single and album by album elevated female singer-songwriters and put them front and center stage. It reads like a novel, feels like a confession whispered by a close friend, and yet doesn't devolve into tabloid-style gossip.

For women 'of a certain age,' Sheila Weller has told the story of our lives as recorded, transcribed, and sung by the three women who got 'it' and got us - the songwriters who lived through what we were living through and, despite wealth and fame, weren't immune to heartbreak, loss, and the yearning to recapture true love once again.

And for the rest of us, Weller has traced a quiet musical revolution that transformed the standard love song from the chaste, innocent, hand-holding ballad of the 1950s to the messy, raw, intellectual and intensely personal revelation it is today. And the transformation happened in large part through the songwriting of King, Mitchell, and Simon.

The book is a testament to their place in the history of rock, pop and folk music. And the fact that all three continue to release albums speaks volumes about their longevity in a career field bookended by one-hit wonders and rock gods and goddesses dead before their time.

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon may or may not appreciate being linked together in a single combined biography. But for readers like us, Girls Like Us triples our satisfaction.

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon
- and the Journey of a Generation
by Sheila Weller
Hardcover, 584pp. ISBN: 978-0-7434-9417-1
Atria Books/Simon & Schuster April 2008