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| Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac | 
enlarge | Author: Carol Ann Harris Publisher: Chicago Review Press Category: Book
List Price: $24.95 Buy New: $16.47 You Save: $8.48 (34%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (68 reviews) Sales Rank: 122591
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published) Media: Hardcover Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 400 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5 Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 1556526601 Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421660922 EAN: 9781556526602 ASIN: 1556526601
Publication Date: July 1, 2007 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
?At the epicenter of Fleetwood Mac?s inner circle, Carol Ann Harris experienced all of the brightness and darkness of the rock ?n? roll lifestyle. She has brought it to life in a beautifully written, passionate classic.? ?Danny Goldberg; Fleetwood Mac insider;former head of Atlantic, Modern, Mercury, and Warner Bros; and author, How the Left Lost Teen Spirit As the girlfriend of Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac?s singer and guitarist,Carol Ann Harris was the consummate insider. Here she leads fans into the very heart of the band?s storms between 1976 and 1984. From interactions between the band and other stars?Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and Dennis Wilson?to the chaotic animosity between band members, this memoir combines the sensational account of some of the world?s most famous musicians with a thrilling love story. Illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, the parties, fights, drug use, shenanigans, and sex lives of Fleetwood Mac are presented in intimate detail. With the exception of one brief interview, Carol Ann Harris has never before spoken about her time with Fleetwood Mac.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
  Domestic Violence goes unheeded far too often November 2, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this back when it first came out and even though it's not a great masterpiece, it touched me in many ways. I got the back as a gift from my own abuser and read it at the height of the abuse. I left my abuser for the first time just days after finishing the book. Unfortunately, abused women take an average of seven tries before they escape. Carol Ann Harris is a very different person from me. I'm not fashionable or trendy, but like her I was a good music loving girl from the midwest when I moved to LA and got involved with a musician. My husband wasn't nearly as famous as Lindsey Buckingham, but he and his semi famous best friend have used their little bit of fame to torment me. I receive hateful emails from their fans that I've never even met. People tell me that my ex husband couldn't possibly be an abuser because his music is so pretty. People side with him because it's cooler to get backstage passes by sucking up than it is to be on the outs with the abused ex wife.
I'm a big Buckingham fan, but I do believe he was abusive with Harris. And I know how it feels when fans are so enamored with artists that they'd rather not know the ugly truth. I enjoyed her book and I'm glad she spoke up. It's hard to speak out against abuse. Most abusers are charming and only abuse their significant others. Thus, the victim, who is already being attacked at home, is further attacked when people don't believe her. Being a talented guitarist shouldn't be a "get of jail free" card to abuse women. Sometimes, speaking out and standing up for the truth is tough.
  The fascinating - if not unbiased - story of rock's biggest drama October 27, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'll be honest and say that I've never read any of the other biographies that document the Fleetwood Mac story, so if you're trying to decide between Storms and another Fleetwood novel, I can't make a knowledgeable recommendation of one over the other. However, I can say that Storms, despite it's often cliche writing and sometimes irrelevant details, does a good job of capturing the emotions and drama of Fleetwood Mac.
The novel begins with Carol Ann Harris' introduction into the Fleetwood world, right before the release of the album Rumours. As a result, the book does not document the famous recording sessions of the Rumours album, nor does it discuss the Peter Green era in much detail. Also, the writing at times feels forced, and Ms. Harris too often results to cliches involving fairy tales. Still, there are certainly times where the writing is effective, and the more of the novel you read, the more the story becomes centerfold as opposed to the writing style.
The stories told are downright amazing - from Lindsay Buckingham accepting his AMA while on quaaludes to the unbelievably interconnected relationships and affairs that took place, Storms is fantastic at showing just why Fleetwood Mac is known as the most dramatic band of all time. As someone who tends to shy away from extreme drama (think the OC), I was surprised at how engaged I was by all the drama. In large part that may be because there is such great music behind it all. The band's new direction in the album Tusk is told extremely well, and there is are great insights into the band's individuals. While Lindsay comes across as an abusive and terrible person, Ms. Harris does a fine job of showing both his sides. She also depicts Stevie Nicks in a less than favorable manner, often showing her to be nothing more than a self-centered and unintelligent woman. While her opinion is definitely biased, she seems to have altered her opinion of Stevie by book's end.
Finally, to address the complaints of other readers, Carol Ann Harris does include information about what she was doing apart from the band. While several readers have been frustrated by her lack of detail about shows and the music itself, it's not unexpected that she would tell about her own experiences as well. While I will agree that the information about her modeling career can be dull, it should come as no surprise that she wants to include her own endeavors. Also, at times, her personal life leads to issues with her relationship with Lindsay, so overall, I'd say that the book DOES NOT get sidetracked with Ms. Harris' ego. In fact, the biographical sleeve of the novel says that she's gotten married in her years since. I would've appreciated an epilogue that satisfactorily showed where she took her life after her breakup with Lindsay.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the whole book is that Ms. Harris still seems to think that she's lived a blessed life. How naive she seems to be! At one point, she says that she and Lindsay spent a drug-free vacation in Hawaii... except for the alcohol, pot, and cocaine. She still does not realize that she was not blessed to be surrounded by Fleetwood, but rather that she's lucky to have had such success after the fact.
Overall, I would say this novel is well worth the read.
  IF YOU'RE REALLY BORED... THEN YOU'LL BE SURE TO LIKE THIS!!! October 10, 2008 0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you find yourself really bored then pick up this pubescent piece of work. The only good thing this book really delivers is all the name dropping this embarassing insecure author has to offer. It's evident from the get go Carol Harris is very jealous of Stevie Nicks because she can't help herself from trying to name all her short comings that you realize what a fool and sad person she really is. FAMOUS PEOPLE BEWARE: the person you think that loves you may be secretly taking in all the moments that should have been kept private, and taking notes no less, to display them to the world for their own monetary gain. She couldn't do it on her own so she decides to use "real" famous people to do her dirty work. That makes Carol one of the most hated i'm sure, and rightly so. But as long as the money comes in from this over-rated trash, who cares how you treat others, right!! You'll be sick to your stomach how insecure she is. Over and over she reminds us how her life revolved around Lindsey Buckingham. That she gave everything she had. That being there for him was the only thing that mattered. Ugh, this woman does not know how to get a life. I don't blame Lindsey one bit for his temper tantrums. Being around this woman would drive any man to it. I only got half way through this book because I couldn't stand the woman any longer, I can't imagine being in a relationship with her would do. (be sure to read my review on the album TUSK)
  A self absorbed piece October 2, 2008 1 out of 6 found this review helpful
C Harris has written a book that I found on the whole dubious. On one hand I do believe her in her accounts of the craziness of the period, the band and her intense relationship with Lindsey. However I just found it all too hard to believe her detailed conversations and depictions of events. But more than anything it's Harris depiction of herself in the book which is completely ridiculous. She tries to portray herself as a naive innocent girl who just 'loved her man' and didn't understand the world she was in. In reality she comes across as a complete coke fiend, who loved the lifestyle and on many occasions mentions how she dressed in the best fashion and was accustomed to living the high life.
On the plus side Harris does reveal many events of Fleetwood Mac from 1977-1984, ie AMAs, the Rolling Stone shoot, the Nicks-Fleetwood affair yet these events come across as one sided and on other occasions just untrue (some accounts conflict with interviews I have read given by members of FM). It feels like there is only one side of the story being told here and its aim is to make Harris look like an 'angel'.
Furthermore the complete lack of self awareness and hindsight into Lindsey's relationship with her, specifically the abuse and moreover his relationship with Stevie is perplexing. Even after all these years she seems to not acknowledge the intense connection that SnL had during that period (in parts it even feels like a SnL affair is going on under her nose) or how destructive Lindsey, the 'musical genius' (watch out - that phrase is used on almost every page), was to her.
Sure in parts it's entertaining and I actually enjoyed it for the most part. It is an easy read but every now and then I had to take a break because the writing is so repetitive and cliche-ridden. However once finished I felt that the book was poorly written, flaky and just lacking any real honesty
  whoa.... September 14, 2008 6 out of 7 found this review helpful
i was rivited to this book from the time i got this book from the library until the time i put it down.. i read it in about three hours... i was simply fascinated and scared by the whole story ... and yet not terribly surprised at what was revealed... i have no reason to feel that she would lie about anything that would have happened during the time that she and lindsey were together... i kind of feel that at first it may have been a rebound romance for lindsey, but it grew quickly into a romance of dependence on both of their parts, full of romance, drugs, and violence, and issues with stevie, and the fact that she put up with it for five years was amazing in itself... she lived with him for five years, put up with his abuse, was at his beck and call, and put her own life in physical and emotional danger... she told this honestly and i am sure that she feels much better for having told the truth after so many years... hopefully she told the primary people involved that she was writing this before she wrote it....
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