Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World
Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World
We all want our children to succeed. What happens when they do? Britney Spears wanted to sing ever since she was a little girl. But the years of sacrifices, auditions, performances, albums, fame, and paparazzi left the little Louisiana family swept up and spun around, and nothing turned out the way anyone ever imagined or wanted. Now Lynne shares the inside story of the Spears family as only a mother can. Through the Storm takes readers outside the narrow orbit of the Hollywood glitterati. Lynne shares how fame forever changed their family; her regrets letting managers, agents, and record companies direct the lives of her children; the challenges that shaped Lynne and Jamie’s failed marriage and how they affected Bryan, Britney, and Jamie
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Crossroads: Britney Spears: Movie Tie-in Jr Novelization (Crossroads Film Tie in)
Britney Spears is the ultimate pop star of “generation now”. CROSSROADS is her first major feature film–a coming of age “dramedy” with music.
By turns poignant and playful, CROSSROADS is about three childhood friends, grown apart. One is a brainiac [Britney]; one a status-seeker; one a burnout. During an unplanned cross country journey, they rediscover the bonds of friendship. Scholastic’s CROSSROADS novelization features souvenir photos from the film.
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A Cautionary Tale,
As a teenager, I’d been a huge fan of The MMC, and had been sort of shocked when Britney exploded onto the music scene in 1999. I’d heard the “stage mom” rumors about Justin and Britney’s mothers, and I was interested to see how Lynne would defend herself.
And it’s not a great defense.
Having grown up with Southern Christian parents, I find it hard to believe that Lynne Spears was as naive as she claims to have been, particularly when it came to the ’99 Rolling Stone magazine cover.
Lynne writes, “What I saw was Britney in a bra and hot pants, sitting on her bed . . . ‘Let’s stop now,’ I said, flustered and uncomfortable.” She goes on to say, “We assumed we would have final say over which pictures were chosen. Besides, they took so many cute shots, why would they want this one . . ?”
When you think Rolling Stone, do you think ‘cute’ or ‘hot’?
Hm.
According to the book, also present at the time were Britney’s agent, Larry Rudolph, and her father. Between the three ‘managing’ adults present at the photo shoot for this internationally-known magazine–one that is extremely infamous in conservative Christian circles–not one person would have looked at the contract and demanded to have their say? And beyond all that, Britney was 18 years old at the time. She was making her own decisions. She had a right to. If her parents were as down-home and Christian as we’re being asked to believe over and over again, wouldn’t they have raised her to at least ask herself the question, “What will my mama think?”
Instances like these force me to question the narrator’s sincerity. I believe Lynne is telling us the events in a true light, but I can’t quite she’s telling us all of her story.
But that’s what this book is. It’s Lynne’s story–she doesn’t speak for Britney, Jamie Lynn, or anyone else. That’s the way it should be. She does speak openly about her relationships with her parents and siblings, friends, and co-workers. She obviously loves her children and grandchildren very much. But something seems to change when she writes her perspective on Britney and Jamie Lynn’s fame, and the paths they took to get there. I don’t believe she is withholding things from the reader as much as she may be withholding things from herself.
THROUGH THE STORM gratefully acknowledges many of the sacrifices family and friends have made to the Spears brood, and accepts that compromises were made by many different people, herself included. But above all the fame and blame, this is a story of a mother who desperately wants her children to know the grace, redemption, and fulfillment waiting faithfully for them.
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|An okay read…,
This book was an easy read, and I don’t regret buying it. However, I wasn’t as impressed with it as the other reviewers. For one thing, the book jumped around a lot, instead of staying in chronological order. I really thought it could have been organized better. Second, it got very religious, mainly towards the end. It was almost like she was obsessing over it, since her daughters are doing okay now and she no longer needs to obsess over their careers. I’m a christian myself, buy if I wanted to read a religious book I would have purchased one from a more reputable author-no offense to Lynne! Third, and most important, I still see her as a “stage mom”. In one sentence Lynne says she was a normal mom taking her ambitious daughter to normal activities. In the next paragraph she talks about driving to Florida to audition for Mickey Mouse Club, then MOVING to New York for 4 months while Britney starred in a play when she was only 10 or 11 years old! I’m sorry, but a line was clearly crossed somewhere around that time! I don’t care how many doors were opening for Britney, Lynne should have closed them until she was older! I have a 10 year old daughter, and I would never allow so many activities and competions. Money and fame aren’t aren’t everything. Family and education are the most important.
To sum it up, I don’t agree with the way Lynne raised her kids, and I feel she’s good at playing the “naive” card. However, I’m still glad I gave the book a chance and tried to see her point of view.
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|Uninteresting and Poorly Written,
I’m glad Lynne Spears did not write a tell-all book about her famous daughters. But what she did write is incredibly uninteresting. A whole chapter on who her girlfriends are? I don’t care; do you? Skillful writers have written compelling memoirs about their families without violating privacy. Unfortunately, Lynne Spears is not a skillful writer, nor does she claim to be, and she didn’t have a skillful co-author. The book is poorly organized and disjointed. The numerous grammatical mistakes are so glaring as to be distracting. Thomas Nelson publishers did a real disservice to Spears by releasing such a sloppy product.
Apart from the construction mistakes, Spears stated purpose for writing this book–to show her children how much she loves them–doesn’t ring true. It seems the book was written to justify her parenting style and the mistakes she’s made. It would have been refreshing had she just said so. I can completely understand why she would want to defend herself in print. She’s taken a lot of hits in the press and on TV. I think a much more interesting book would have been Through the Storm: A Misunderstood Mother Speaks Out.
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|If you liked the movie….,
If you liked Crossroads the movie, you will love the book! The book is almost identical to the movie, but it goes deeper into the characters and story line which is nice. I found this book very interesting and could not put it down! For a fan of the movie i loved this book because it really develops the characters and plot well.
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|Crossroads,
Crossroads is a great book and I would recommend this book to others. The author of the book is Jenny Markas. In the book Lucy, Mimi, Kit, and Ben went on a road trip to Los Angeles for a dance competition. I will read this book one hundred more times. That is how much I liked the book. I liked it because it was full of adventure.
I think the book started in an excited way because the first sentence of the first chapter besides the prologue said “I love to sing.” I thought it would be exciting because I love to sing too. I don’t think it contains action or suspense besides the part when they argue. I think the main character shows strength because before she leaves she doesn’t tell her dad where she was going or when she will be back. I do think the book ends in a surprising way because Lucy’s dad lets her stay and do the dance competition.
I think the author is trying to say that you shouldn’t take off without telling anyone. I knew that when Lucy’s dad woke up in the morning and found out that she wasn’t there and he got worried that something happened to her. So do you think you want to read it now?
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