My pet name for Carol Ann many years prior before the book was released was "Crack Whore" (because of her well documented substance abuse issues and penchant for drama/lying), and I still call her that after reading the book
. The book didn't change my opinion of her for one reason alone: she never admitted any wrongdoing in any circumstance in her book, and instead painted herself as a wholly naive victim. The reality is
nobody was innocent in the Mac's inner circle in the '70s and '80s, period. They all made mistakes, they all did horrible things to themselves and each other, etc.
Anything that surprised me? Carol Ann's retelling of Lindsey's health issues. I didn't realize he was an epileptic. Lindsey's anger issues didn't surprise me, Carol Ann had been telling of those for more than a decade. Plus, Lindsey is highly emotive, has a complex where he feels unappreciated and uncredited, he famously assaulted Stevie ON STAGE on the Tusk tour, etc. Lindsey seems like he could quite easily be a dark, moody person in private.
I still greatly enjoyed the book, despite Carol Ann's craziness. It's a trashy, fun, deliciously gossipy read. Carol Ann's run ins with Stevie Nicks were especially hilarious... I adore the way Carol Ann realistically painted Stevie as a batsh!t crazy b!tch... which you just KNOW she really had to be at the height of her fame
. I think the general atmosphere Carol Ann painted of the dynamics of the band was probably quite accurate. They all loved to play pranks on one another, tried to one up one another, their egos battled, they loved to do as much drugs as they could ingest, spent wildly, and just in general did as much stupid sh!t as they could.
So that's my two cents. I don't think you can take any particular story Carol Ann says as being completely accurate, but I still think she paints a true picture of the band. I still think Carol Ann is completely nuts. And not a whole lot in the book surprised me.