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I was really excited to see this in the Biography section of my local library. I was definitely disappointed. It was more a strange psychoanalysis of Joni by someone who has never met her, based only on her lyrics and interviews that other people had done with her. It also contained way more theory from psychologists and philosophers than I was expecting in a Joni Mitchell biography: it was more Jung than Young.

Through the Introduction and Acknowledgements, it becomes clear that the author, Katherine Monk, would really not have been interested to write a Joni Mitchell biography on her own--it was an assignment. I'm sure this happens, but it seems like Monk's only credentials for writing a Joni biography are that she's a writer and she's Canadian. She makes some strange remarks about being Canadian, such as saying that Joni has large Canadian teeth. I'm not really sure how that's a Canadian trait.

I enjoyed that the book gave background information on some of my favorite Joni songs, and I found myself going back to listen to some tracks with a new perspective, which was the best part about reading the book. Monk also gained some credibility with me when she mentioned that "A Case of You" is her favorite Joni song, because it's my favorite, to.

Monk has some original thoughts and backs them up with information from Joni's work or interviews, but it reads more like a really long undergrad paper than an engaging biography. It felt more like a discussion of Nietzsche with a little Joni thrown in!