Just Skimmed Through STORMS

[McTrouble]

Originally Posted by getTusked

This is what I have learned from reading this thread:

1. Carol Ann Harris clearly causes distress/trouble/confusion for just about everyone on this board.

2. Take this book with a huge bag...actually more like a dump truck full of salt (if I ever read it).

3. Lindsey tried to take Stevie's top off and I got excited

4. Everybody is glad that "Viv" is back.


I'm glad I joined the ledge. Always entertaining!

Hello! But I'm not really back, well not full time!

[luminol]

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I'm new and just finished reading Storms Sorry to be so behind the band wagon....!

I found the book to be entertaining, though I thought the level of detail in Carol's direct quotes from 40 years ago was laughably impossible... though, I actually do not dislike her after reading her book (I actually rather like her more than I thought I would!).

One thing I wanted to comment on is that I don't think she took cheap shots at Stevie much at all. There were a few moments (the birthday comment, for one), but on the whole, I thought she actually praised her frequently and also stood up for her creative prowess during the scene when Lindsey ripped apart Storms (the song) during the Tusk sessions. Just my feeling from the read.

It does paint quite the complex picture of Lindsey...

Again, sorry to bring this back up 3 years later, but I felt compelled to chat about the book with others who have read it since I just finished it

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by luminol

I actually do not dislike her after reading her book (I actually rather like her more than I thought I would!)Again, sorry to bring this back up 3 years later, but I felt compelled to chat about the book with others who have read it since I just finished it

We are flattered when a new member searches out an old thread rather than starts a new one. This is the way we intended it to be. The cool thing about any good book is that, to its reader, it can be a new story, as if it were just written. Another new Ledgie could read this book 10 years from now and then add their comments in this thread.Therefore, no need to apologize. Welcome to The Ledge. We value your opinions.

A few months ago Carol Ann friended me on facebook. I've come to enjoy her posts. She is trying very hard to please the FM fans while reminding us that she too is a fan.

[lovethemac1]

Personally, I just loved her book. When I looked at her facebook site though, I couldn't help but wonder what her husband must think of it................it's dominated by Lindsey.

[welcomechris]

Carol Ann Posted This Today

Post by Carol Ann Harris.

[brickney723]

Oh wow, that's on her Facebook. I've heard of a lot of fans being friended by her on FB..

So adding to the rest of her story: "And then he plays his new songs.. songs filled with the angst of lost love, desire, passion and anger for and about… his ex-girlfriend." So romantic.

[luminol]

I really enjoyed the book, too. I read it pretty quickly. I am rather intrigued with Carol Ann afterwards!

Thanks for sharing the Facebook post, welcomechris, and for the welcome, vivfox!

[bombaysaffires]

Here's the thing-- if Carol really wrote the book to deal with and heal from and address the domestic violence issue, then that's the book she should have written. What I mean is, she should have gone through her story of her time with Lindsey, but in telling it she should have applied her wisdom gained over time to point out where she should have recognized the signs of trouble in that relationship, what she would have done differently knowing what she knows now, and so on. Have some INSIGHTS. Instead, what we got was a gushy, breathless fangirl account that has some serious inaccuracies. There is no reflection in the book.. it's like really she wants to impress you with how she was somehow part of the band. Yes she was in the circle around the band. Yes she may well have supported Lindsey emotionally by catering to him during those years. What I would have be interested in were her thoughts about all that NOW-- why did she so willingly give up her self to be in that relationship? What did she do after she broke up with him to get back to a normal life? What were the red flags she missed? I mean, we all see them clear as day in her story and she never acknowledges them. Maybe a better editor could have helped it. who knows.

[nicole21290]

That lack of reflection was one of my major issues with the book (apart from deliberately omitting and changing the truth to imply a certain dynamic/whatever that evidently wasn't true....). She just seemed so strangely naiive about a lot of things. I felt like it was a young woman (who saw herself as, alternately, Lindsey's victim and his saviour) writing it, not someone much older who'd had a life since then and had THOUGHT about it. Instead, we get sections that really do read like flowery fanfiction.

And that's fine. Obviously, the conversations are constructed from memory and errors will slip through the cracks. Her attitude NOW, however, to anybody who thinks there might be errors is the huge claim that not a single WORD in that book is untrue. Which is just... Well, it's silly.

And I may be holding a little grudge because of her public insults to me but heigh ho, I maintain her position on the issue of truth is somewhat childish.

[Nicks Fan]

She also tried to add me as a friend on Facebook last year but I refused simply because I think it is weird to be friends with the ex of a mucisian you admire. There are friends of mine who are friends with her and also Kirsten Buckingham and I find it creepy. Why would you want to be friends with these people. I think that takes the level of fandom to a new degree of crazy.

[SisterNightroad]

I read this book on Google books a year ago and as an aspiring psychologist I found it insulting, detrimental and prejudicial to abuse victims and even people that never got abused because it romanticize an unhealthy relationship and lifestyle.
I got the feeling that she wrote her real views on what happened and the publisher wanted to take advantage of it, pushing the most scandalous details to get the most money possible and to the point of not caring about the effective accuracy of the facts.
By the way I don't think that Carol is bad or mean, I think she really delusionally believes that her book can be of example, it's really possible people have written to her because the book helped them but, if it did, it helped them in not ever wanting to do anything that Carol did.

[Nicks Fan]

What troubles me is that she actually thinks this book is some healer for victims of abuse. That is a very dangerous thing to say because nowhere in that book do I find any real serious words of wisdom or advice for someone who is suffering from abuse.

[Danigirl]

Carols' book was one of my favorites of all the FM related books I've read. Yes, money was a factor c'mon, it makes the world go round! As far as the abuse, Carol was a 21 year old young woman, I can say that how she portrayed her experience is how many young woman would given her situation and age at the time. It's a very unique experience to be the gf of a member of one of the biggest bands in the world. I really admire the fact that instead of allowing many years of callused bitterness (although I'm sure there was some) to cloud the true emotions she felt at the time, she told it how it was, and I found that authentic. Speaking personally, I could relate in many ways to how she felt being in an abusive relationship. Maybe that's why It hit home?

In some sort of weird way vindication even closure might have been the driving force as opposed to just monetary gain. I'm glad I got to read about that side of Lindsey, and I don't judge him in the least bit because we all make mistakes and have our own struggles we're dealing with. Because Lindsey is so private, I actually really appreciated learning the good the bad and the ugly from someone as close to him as Carol.

The one that irked me... Carol gosh darn it, you slept with Dennis Wilson! She couldn't be upfront with it and in doing so made me discredit her a bit.

[SisterNightroad]

I think that if really Carol wrote the book with that kind of vindication on mind than it should be held even less as a good help for people that suffered abuse.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by Danigirl

The one that irked me... Carol gosh darn it, you slept with Dennis Wilson! She couldn't be upfront with it and in doing so made me discredit her a bit.

She says Dennis had a secret crush on her and that she found out YEARS later(maybe even recently) that DW had stolen a pic of her and had it in his private collection.CAH says she did not sleep with Dennis and I believe her. Who would it hurt now if she were to tell people that she did?