Book Review: From this Moment On – Shania Twain
13 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Book Review: From this Moment On – Shania Twain
Despite having been very much in the public eye for about a decade, the very private Shania Twain had been able to keep her private life private. It likely would have remained that way but for the dramatic breakdown of her first marriage. This event forced her into a period of reflection; the place from which the autobiography ‘From this Moment On’ was written.
Currently at #18 on The New York Times best-sellers list (hardcover non-fiction), the book offers a detailed chronicle of her poverty-stricken childhood, her early start playing in bars (very early; she was nine years old), the first few years in Nashville, the collaboration with Mutt Lange and the rise to global stardom. The accounts of domestic abuse make for uncomfortable reading but, together with the raw emotions displayed while recounting her parents’ fatal car accident and especially her painful divorce, it leaves you to marvel at how much a person is able to cope with. The brutal honesty, complete with personal e-mails sent at the time, when recounting the betrayal by her best friends is courageous. It takes a strong person to admit to having been a broken human being.
The early years in Nashville will provide a very recognizable story for many a musician. The debut album with PolyGram Records (now Mercury Nashville) was not the dream start she was hoping for with the label controlling the whole record start to finish. With the collaboration with Mutt Lange came three record-smashing albums: The Woman in Me (1995), Come on Over (1997) and Up! (2002) and, finally, artistic freedom. But with the diverse musical tastes on those discs came the backlash from country radio and the country music media. Barely a decade ago, her music was considered ‘not country enough’. How things have changed!
Two things about this book stood out. The career achievements are underplayed (there is no boasting), and at no point does she pretend to have all the answers for fellow victims of abuse and betrayal. Shania Twain has simply offered her story, partly to preserve an account for her son Eja to read when he’s old enough, and partly as a possible inspiration to others who have faced, or are facing, extreme personal tragedies.
A remarkable story by a remarkable woman.
Liv Carter
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
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