Mitchell is one of a handful of women in her era who were invited into the music world’s clubby little definition of genius, and Powers has the chops to explain exactly why that was so, both through her virtuosic writing on Mitchell’s musicianship and creativity and through a sophisticated interrogation of the gender and race politics of the era. She shows us how we can love an artist like Mitchell and let her be human, too, how we can understand her genius from — forgive me, Joni — both sides now ... Powers isn’t a biographer, she asserts on Page 2, she’s a critic, and she didn’t ever interview Mitchell for this book. That status frees her to write in a way that doesn’t trade creative independence for access ... eading Powers is like hearing one of Mitchell’s signature open tuning chords, an adaptation she developed because of polio’s effects on her left hand. The book, like the chord, doesn’t resolve neatly — it asks questions that ring on.
Remarkably insightful ... Keeping a distance pays great dividends here. Powers proves an adroit codebreaker for the uniquely complex cross-pollination of romantic ennui, class consciousness, spiritual striving and occasional narcissism that characterizes the full sweep of the Joni Mitchell enterprise ... Astute ... It is a great compliment to Powers’s ebullient style that her accruing sense of fatigue and wonder around her subject never reads as less than fascinating. Visceral prose, pure fusion.
A highly personal, even confessional, 400-plus-page meditation on Mitchell’s life and work ... Admirably, she appears to have read everything written about Mitchell ... Will be catnip for readers who would enjoy spending a weekend with a chatty music-critic friend, with everyone talking excitedly, even obsessively, about Joni Mitchell.
Luminous, knotty and timely ... Ms. Powers finds precisely the right ways to discuss Joni’s occasional "cultural appropriations" ... Readers will welcome her skeptical view of orthodox accounts of Ms. Mitchell’s "instant brilliance" ... The memoir aspect sometimes obtrudes—too much information—but most often provides conclusive firsthand evidence for the prosecution or the defense, depending on which side Ms. Powers is litigating, consonant with her subject’s confessional songs.
A discursive narrative that is peppered with critical theory and personal self-questioning ... Powers roams freely and associatively across Mitchell’s life and work, often drawing similarly surprising parallels between the artist’s past and present ... A counterweight to the myth of "Joni the unimpeachable treasure that many feel so compelled to protect.
Works to show the mess of Joni Mitchell—to dismantle the folk-princess myth that characterized Powers’s first encounters with Mitchell’s oeuvre ... The only conversation Powers forgoes is that with Mitchell herself, deemphasizing proximity as a means of reaching toward some personal objectivity ... The narrative that Powers creates functions as a travelogue on the open road; much like music, it has no choice but to unfold in time. Though its medium is chronological in nature, it is never a forced chronology. Powers moves as close in time with Joni as she can, as close as any of us can to telling a linear life story, especially one of an artist who was committed to constantly revisiting, rewriting, and re-reflecting on her pasts.
A sweeping study of Mitchell’s life and work that swerves familiar touchstones to create a vibrant, multifaceted portrait of a music enigma ... With its vivid narrative hopscotch, Powers does dazzling justice.
Powers traces the artist’s life from childhood to the present day with curiosity, context and compassion, using Mitchell’s often nomadic existence as a template to try to understand her life and legacy ... Hardly the first book about Mitchell and won’t be the last, but it fills a necessary gap in the library of tomes dedicated to her work. Powers has crafted a travelogue of one of the greatest artistic journeys ever taken, and it’s a pleasure to go along for the ride.
Experiencing this book is more akin to wandering down a scenic path than traveling a timeline of someone’s life, and there is no other musician better suited for this style of biography than the ever-changing Mitchell. Powers’s highly anticipated title lives up to the hype and is sure to be on many lists of the best books of the year.
