Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World by Lynne Spears, Lorilee Craker

Book Review of "Through the Storm" by: Lynne Spears & Lorilee Cracker By: Amanda Bradburyby mandasparkle

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July 01, 2009: This is not a tell all book behind Britney Spears' life, but it does offer a lot of insight into her world and her families world and how she journeyed to where she currently is in life. This book was very enlightening and informative about family, friends and life. You will learn a lot more than you think by reading this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the motherly advice from Lynne Spears. By reading this book you can gain a better understanding of her and her whole family. You get the full story behind her life from beginning up until now. You can see that they are real people, rather than what the media and paparazzi make them out to be. You'll read about their trials and tribulations, hard times and difficult situations and come to realize that they too are not perfect people and that they are in fact just as real as you and me. The overall message of the book is to convey the message of their story and Lynne wrote this book as a tribute and gift for her family, both children and grandchildren. In this book you notice that she is a very spiritual and strong willed southern Christian woman and you can tell that she clearly wants to convey her beliefs and faith to her children and grandchildren. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a deeper look at the real and genuine people of Lynne's family. I am a book review blogger for Thomas Nelson Publishing Company. If you would like to become a book review blogger too go to the following site: brb.thomasnelson.com Also, check out the prodcut page for "Through the Storm" at http://www.brb.thomasnelson.com/blogger/resources/9781595551566

hmmm...what can I say about this book. Let's start with what I already knew and what is it that I knby VioletCrush

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March 02, 2009: When you read a memoir or an autobiography it is very difficult to separate the person from the book. Judging the book is judging the person writing it. I'll try not to but it might be a little difficult here.

I knew absolutely nothing about her mother. This book is more about her life and how she faced the difficult times. She clears at the beginning of the book that this book does not contain any gossip. I did not start this book in intention of getting any inside scoop, I just wanted to know how an extremely successful pop star who had everything could throw away her life like this. As I said I really like Britney Spears.

Lynne Spears was born in a small town in Kentucky, Louisiana. She was very close to her mom who was a war bride from London. I think she had one sister Sandra and a brother Sonny. There is in fact a lot on Sandra in the book. Lynne married Jamie Spears and gave birth to Brian after a short time. After that she had Britney and 10 years later, an unplanned child Jamie Lynn(named after herself and her husband). Jamie was an on-off alcoholic and Lynne had to struggle with managing the finances and also worrying about her relationship with her husband. Although I have read a lot of reviews which said she tried to blame Jamie for many things that went wrong, I don't see it that way. Living with an alcoholic is very difficult and something that has permanent consequences on any family. I don't think there was a blame game as far as Jamie was concerned.

Britney was very talented and loved performing since she was really young. Although the tabloids said she was a stage mom and wanted to gain fame and wealth through her daughter, Lynne Spears denies it. She says she never pushed her daughter into something she didn't want to do. As she puts it, 'doors opened and we just walked in'. As Britney became famous after her single 'baby one more time', she lost control of her daughter. She left everything to Britney's managers and the record company.

After a while, she and Britney were estranged. She does not really go much into why and how. When Sam Mufti came into the picture she decided to take control of the situation with the help of her husband persuaded the court to put a restraining order on him. I felt really uncomfortable and sad after reading the section on Sam Mufti. I never liked him in the first place and reading the book has intensified my dislike.

Lynne does not give any more information on Britney than the tabloids did and that's something I really liked about the book. She has also written some really disturbing incidents concerning the media which were really shocking. She says although she knew fame comes with a price, she didn't know how big the price would be.

Conclusion: This book is a good reminder of how a perfectly normal, close knit family from a rural American town can go through when they are thrown into sudden fame and scrutiny. I think the real purpose in writing this book was to clear her side of the things (although Lynne says it isn't), but that's how the book comes across. From the way I see it, Lynne and her family was incapable of handling the package that fame comes in. The only accusation I'll throw on her after reading the book is being too passive and naive. I think she did her best with whatever she had and the only way she knew how to. I have more compassion towards Britney and her family now and I really hope that Britney manages to...