Ms. Hen reviews Rememberings

Rememberings

Sinead O'Connor

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2021

Ms. Hen has been a fan of Sinead O'Connor since she was fifteen years old. She originally liked her because their names are almost the same, and people used to call her Sinead. Ms. Hen threatened to shave her head bald, but instead she cut her hair very short. That was a long time ago. She has not followed Sinead's career all through her life, but she was interested in reading her memoir.

The beginning of the book is about Sinead's childhood in Dublin, in which she describes her parents getting divorced, getting beaten by her mother, and her life as a juvenile delinquent. She writes about her need to steal anything that wasn't nailed down, including money from charity boxes that she carried around asking for money.

She also writes about the men in her life, and her experiences in the music business. A section of the book is on what all her songs are about, which Ms. Hen thinks is interesting, because when most people listen to music, they like to make it about themselves. Sinead writes about her time in rehab and being pursued by Dr. Phil. She also talks about her desire to become a health care assistant, because she was always treated kindly by them when she was in the hospital, which Ms. Hen thinks is beautiful.

This book is written in a rather haphazard way. The beginning of the book, about her childhood, is written in first person present tense, and it's similar to ANGELA'S ASHES or PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA by Roddy Doyle, about a dysfunctional Irish childhood. The other parts of the book are written like a straight narrative, and have a different voice than the first section. 

When she talks about the music business, she writes from a woman's point of view of how difficult it was being so young, and having older men in charge of her career. When she writes about her children, she writes with love.

Ms. Hen has knows that the people she admires: musicians, writers, actors, might not be what they appear to be to her. She has been a fan of Jim Morrison for a long time, but she thinks if she had ever got a chance to meet him, she probably wouldn't like him. She's not sure if she would like Sinead. She seems like a tough woman, and she knows they have things in common, but she's not sure if she would like her, because she thinks Sinead would either laugh at her or kick her butt, or maybe both.

This book is eye-opening, and fascinating. It's worth reading if a person is a fan, and it's a picture of a woman who has always tried to do what she wanted. She doesn't care what the world thinks of her, or what I think of her, she is going to live her life the way she wants, and neither you nor I can stop her.