Lynne Spears with Lorilee Craker
Through the Storm
Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Nashville, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59555-156-6
Memoir 206 pages.

I should start off by admitting that I don't pay much attention to pop stars. If the radio is on, it's usually tuned to NPR so I rarely hear popular music. I also don't watch T.V. Therefore, my exposure to the phenomenon of Britney Spears has been fairly limited. I do not, however, live under a rock. I know who she is, and like just about everyone else, I've heard the stories reported about Britney's troubles and triumphs. Yes, also I heard about the Jamie Lynn's pregnancy and recall the ironic and/or sarcastic connections made between this upcoming book and the parenting skills, or lack thereof, of Lynne Spears.

One thing Through The Storm is not is a book on parenting, so get off that dead horse right now. It's more a mother’s explanation of her family, albeit her very notable family. Mrs. Spears recounts her life and marriage and, as you might imagine, the birth and raising of her children. She touches on the large moments in their lives, but keeps the focus on her perceptions and reactions to the events. To its credit, Through the Storm is not a Tell-All in disguise, and it does offer a perspective of events that I suspect is absent from the frantic reporting on the Spears family. And yet, the book is still very much about Britney Spears and, to a lesser extent, Jamie Lynn.

The story is, in essence, both inspiring and tragic. A young woman from very humble beginnings ends up with a daughter whose talent changes all their lives, and not always for the better. There is indeed a dark side to what was a fairy-tale rise to fame. As to any claims that Mrs. Spears pushed Britney into her career, I can only say that long before Mrs. Spears attempts to address the issue, it was plain to me that Britney Spears was one of those children who did not need to be pushed. There are simply kids who are like that. From an early age, they burn with passion, whether it be for writing, football, science, or, even, singing. Given what she had on her hands, Mrs. Spears did a remarkable job.

That said, I had a lot of trouble getting through this book. It was often painfully difficult to read. Thankfully, it's not very long (206 pages). This book offers no personal insight whatsoever, no sense that its author has thought deeply about anything. It's written in such a simplistic manner that by the end of chapter one I wanted to tear out my eyeballs. That didn't change until the final two chapters, which were quite riveting despite there being massive logical gaps in the narrative.

There's no meat to this story. It's vapidly written and even more vapidly told. If Mrs. Spears has anything but superficial insight into herself or her children, it's not presented in these pages. Both girls are held up as idealized, sparkly and numbingly saccharine Stepford-esque daughters. You'd think her children were nothing but sweetness and light during their entire childhoods. And how could that be? They grew up in a house with an alcoholic father, where money was tight and their mother was doing whatever it took to keep them together financially and spiritually. Everyone involved in such a family pays a price, fame or no fame. And that's without the incredible stress of Britney's notoriety.

Through the Storm offers a perspective missing from the sensationalized reports of the Spears family, but unless you don't mind reading a book written at a fourth-grade level, this is a pass.

Labels: Book Review