Coming Home to Myself Summary and Reviews

Coming Home to Myself
by Wynonna Judd, Patsi Bale Cox

Coming Home to Myself
List Price: $7.99
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Author: Patsi Bale Cox, Wynonna Judd
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-06-05
ISBN: 0451218086
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Signet
Product features:

Book Reviews of Coming Home to Myself

Book Review: Not an Interesting Person, Not an Interesting Memoir
Summary: 1 Stars

You may be fooled by the many positive reviews about this book, which I believe are mainly by Winona's hard-core fans. For fans, anything from their idol is interesting. However, if you are not a fan, you should skip this one.

We live in a time when ghost writers are available for any rich or famous personality to tell their stories. With their communication power, these books are sure to get a good audience. This is unfortunate, because now one doesn't need to know how to write, nor to have a good story to tell before publishing. I wonder how many great authors are still unknown for lack of opportunity to publish, while books about "stars" abound.

Wynonna's book has basically three parts:

1) Her crazy, gold digging mother destroys her childhood and adolescence by using her as a child singer in a country music career. Wynonna is basically a prop in her mother's show, what a doll is to a ventriloquist. She grows up without developing any maturity, insecure and codependent.

2) Wynonna as an adult is wildly successful. Because of her mother issues, she has weight problems, spends millions in an irresponsible lifestyle, and doesn't manage her life, her career nor anything else. She is a 30 year-old teenager. Monster mommy still stays in backstage, pulling her strings and manipulating her.

3) Wynonna is almost 40 (yawnnnn...) and finds a psychology clinic which helps her to have some very basic ideas about how to control her life. She marries a guy who is sane and helps her to have some (just a little) independence from monster mommy. Now she is free to enjoy her millions of dollars and millions of adoring fans.

It is very hard to empathize with Wynonna. She basically never had a problem in her life besides her mother. After 10 pages, the reader wants to scream: "get rid of the witch of mother ! It is all her fault !" But Wynonna can't see that.

Her mother is a calculating, super ambitious, manipulative witch who would sell her soul for some success. She absolutely controlled her daughter and destroyed her psychological development. However, Wynonna is so timid that she just refuses to deal with the subject for 40 years. Even in this book, which is supposed to be the tale of her liberation from mom, she just can't face the very clear fact that her mother is a bad person. I know it is hard to say that about your mother, but then, if you can't face it, why write the book after all ? It is just so hypocritical.

The other problem is that Wynonna's life is not inspiring. I like memoirs because we usually find there tales of courage, of exceptional trials or unusual situations. Wynonna's life, however, apart from the singing career which she doesn't detail nor analyze at all, is just boring. How can anyone sympathize with her problems, like not being able to control her spending millions of dollars in useless junk ? Or having people to do just anything for her? I wish I had those problems.

The psychological solutions she presents are also extremely basic, with techniques like "mirroring", where you just repeat back to them what the other people say, in order to improve communication. It sounds silly and artificial, the way Wynonna does. One would better buy psychologist Erick Erickson's books about these techniques.

Wynonna still lives the life of a teenager. She is one of those new age Christians (she even goes to Hindu ashram) who sees a super special meaning in everything that happens to her, regards her life as a "journey", sees her songs as "life altering works of art", her casual feelings as "elevated encounters with her inner self" (I am paraphrasing). She thinks too highly of herself and her experience. She really needs a reality check.

If you want a good biography of a female singer, buy one from Janis Joplin or Edith Piaf, that is the real thing.


Biographies & Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in 2009 100 AUDIOBOOKS PART 1
The Virtues Of Aging (Library Of Contemporary Thought) ImageThe Virtues Of Aging (Library Of Contemporary Thought)
Ballantine Books; Published: 1998-01-01; Unknown Binding; Book
Best price: $5.04
Breaking The Silence. ImageBreaking The Silence.
by Mariette & COMMIRE, Anne. HARTLEY
-; Published: 1988; Hardcover; Book
Firehouse ImageFirehouse
by David Halberstam
Hyperion; Published: 2003-05-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.70
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Glory of Their Times : The Story of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It ImageThe Glory of Their Times : The Story of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It
by Lawrence S. Ritter
Harper Perennial; Published: 1992-03-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops: $14.95
I Am Spock ImageI Am Spock
by Leonard Nimoy
Hyperion Books; Published: 1996-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $54.99
Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life ImageAaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life
by Aaron Spelling, Jefferson Graham
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2002-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops: $18.95
Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles ImageForever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles
by Michael D'Antonio
Riverhead Hardcover; Published: 2009-03-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.93
Price in other shops: $25.95
Out on a Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality and Love ImageOut on a Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality and Love
by Shirley MacLaine
Atria; Published: 2004-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.55
Price in other shops: $14.00
Autobiography of a Yogi : Includes Bonus CD ImageAutobiography of a Yogi : Includes Bonus CD
by Paramahansa Yogananda
Self-Realization Fellowship; Published: 2006-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.86
Price in other shops: $12.50
The Teacher Who Couldn't Read: One Man's Triumph Over Illiteracy ImageThe Teacher Who Couldn't Read: One Man's Triumph Over Illiteracy
by John Corcoran
Kaplan Publishing; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.65
Price in other shops: $14.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Judds - Their Final Concert [VHS] ImageThe Judds - Their Final Concert [VHS]
MPI Home Video; Release date: 1992-04-22; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $18.99
Price in other shops: $19.98
What the World Needs Now Is Love ImageWynonna Judd - What the World Needs Now Is Love
Release date: 2003-08-05; Music CD
Best price: $4.39
Price in other shops: $7.98
Ashley Judd: Crying on the Inside ImageAshley Judd: Crying on the Inside
by James L. Dickerson
Omnibus Press; Published: 2002-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $19.95
Love Can Build a Bridge ImageLove Can Build a Bridge
by Naomi Judd, Bud Schaetzle
Fawcett; Published: 1994-08-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: $7.99
Collection ImageWynonna - Collection
Release date: 2004-05-04; Music CD
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops: $9.98
Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime ImageWynonna Judd - Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime
Release date: 2005-09-27; Music CD
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: $18.98
Music in High Places - Wynonna Live in Venice ImageMusic in High Places - Wynonna Live in Venice
Release date: 2002-06-18; DVD
Best price: $2.42
Price in other shops: $9.97
A Classic Christmas ImageWynonna - A Classic Christmas
Release date: 2006-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $1.07
Price in other shops: $7.98
Wynonna - Her Story, Scenes From a Lifetime ImageWynonna - Her Story, Scenes From a Lifetime
Release date: 2005-09-27; DVD
Best price: $12.73
Price in other shops: $19.98
Sing-Chapter 1 ImageWynonna Judd - Sing-Chapter 1
Release date: 2009-02-03; Music CD
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops: $18.98