a beautiful telling of her real honest truth

Ich bin froh es gelesen zu haben. Nicht unbedingt, weil es gut geschrieben ist, auf deutsch funktioniert es nicht so gut. Es geht auch wenig um Britneys Karriere und Erinnerungen an ihren Weg als Popikone. Sondern um ihre Perspektive zu erzählen zu all den Klatsch und Tratsch Geschichten, die wir über sie im Kopf haben. Diese Frau musste zu viel mitmachen, weil sie sich anderen Menschen unterordnen musste, bis hin zur totalen Fremdbestimmung. Und trotzdem ist sie so zurückhaltend und fast schon zu höflich, um ihren Emotionen freien Lauf zu lassen.

Und Justin kam noch viel zu heil bei der Story raus.

Genuinely reads like a horror novel at times, especially to someone (me) who was wholly unaware of how Britney's conservatorship came to be. The writing came feel a bit repetitive at times, but I'm so incredibly glad this woman is now able to tell her story. 

F- the patriarchy. Five stars. 

Coincidentally I read this book in the same week I watched episode 4 of The Penguin, which tells the story of Sofia Falcone’s gaslighting, forced institutionalisation, imprisonment and torture. 

We’re not supposed to feel bad for rich powerful privileged women right? 

Well, dammit, men will find a way regardless. To control, to silence, to gaslight, to abuse. 

Britney is certainly not the first woman celeb in history to go through this, and indeed many women have experienced this and worse, but this story matters so much. For these themes to come through in a bestseller by someone who the tabloids (i.e. abusers of the precious right to free speech, which others in the world are denied and die for) and streaming services love to exploit could be a good way to get these issues on the table in a big way, which is difficult for the “little guy” to achieve. Britney got the chance to publish a guaranteed bestseller and used her platform to highlight lifelong patterns of these issues. 

I will admit that I am not a very critical reader: I find something to like in almost everything I read, I can read almost any genre, and I tend to be especially forgiving of autobiographies/memoirs, because public figures are seldom the best writers! 
Britney is not a writer. But she tells her story authentically, with much reflection and what feels like a difficult honesty. The pacing is not slow and she doesn’t really belabour any points. Where she does refer to certain chapters of her life a lot, such as her relationships with Justin & Kevin, or her father’s many flaws, it’s clearly because those affected her profoundly, and she had a lot to say that could not be said before. Tbh I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. She describes the awful things that happened to her while admitting to her own faults and apologising. 

After the forced mental “treatment” and rehab, violation of privacy, denial of basic rights, after all the content made without her consent, after having no control of her life for so long, after her creativity and passion were repeatedly stifled, after tabloids provoking then exploiting her merely to keep media shareholders rich, it’s great to hear her own voice.