I've loved Tori Amos' music since I was a little kid, so I thought this non-fiction book sounded interesting. Amos is obviously a gifted writer, but this felt a bit all over the place to me. Some of the book is analyzing the lyrics of some of her songs, some of it is a call to action against right-wing government, and some of it is a memoir about grief and losing her parents. I think I would have gotten more out of this if it was just focused on one area. It felt scattered and hard to follow at times because of this. Her style is also a tad out there for me (she refers to her Muses a lot), so this probably isn't one I'd recommend to most people.

I adore Tori Amos, and her life story is inspiring and fascinating. I am not usually one to like autobiographies from celebrities, but am so glad I made an exception for this one.

This had some good advice about the creative process and living an artist's life—of course it does! Tori is truly living her Wise Woman archetype.

This book is a good reminder of Tori's genius and general under-ratedness. God, I love this woman.

5 "primordial, humanitarian, at times a bit grandiose" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, Tori Amos and Atria Books. This was released May 2020. I am providing my honest review.

Tori Amos has been in my life, in the background since my early twenties. To begin I want to link you to my favorite Tori song...a song not talked about in this book but for me that was healing and continues to be played frequently in our home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pEfC...

That song was played one night when I was twenty (1991) after having been abandoned by my unhappily married lover. I went to my favorite lesbian haunt where two very kind women took me under their wing and brought me home and introduced me to Tori's album Little Earthquakes. An evening of wine, clove cigarettes and lovemaking started to heal my wretched heart. When this song came on....we listened to it about twenty times until my sobbing heart was soothed. Tori was often played at the feminist and queer organizations I volunteered at and I was able to witness her three times in concert where this piano chanteuse let loose and unleashed such longing and ferocity within me. She never was in my pantheon of goddesses but definitely has made a significant impact on me over the years.

In this book, Tori explores her political beliefs, her artistry, her ancestry, her spirituality. What came out loud and strong for me here is that Tori is a powerful Intuitive, a musical mystic and a conduit for immense artistry. I sometimes disagree with her but I have a firm belief in her decency, her genuineness and her genius. She talks about playing for powerful political men in piano bars in her teens, female genital mutilation, sexual assaults, connects to the natural and divine worlds. She talks about her love of the piano, her connections to Christian and more universal spiritual forces, her connection to her Muses, female solidarity and the love she has for her husband and son. She has an immense respect for others and sometimes an inflated sense of her own influence on world events. I realized that I sometimes avoided Tori for she looks injustice in the face...sometimes with words and sometimes with harsh piano chords. I am not courageous like Tori and I want to drown myself in Puccini, or dance to Kylie Minogue or cry with Dusty Springfield. Tori though remains in the background of my life and I suspect that she would be just fine with that....

Thank you Tori for being a person of principles, a person of substance, a person of respect and being a part of my own personal story....

I love Tori Amos and tried to love this book but I couldn't. I had trouble getting into it and staying interested, I

I will start out by saying that I'm a Tori Amos fan. I have enjoyed her music for years, and they are the soundtrack of certain eras in my youth. This book is a stirring and passionate work, which makes me want to be more informed and involved. It ties some song lyrics and the history of their creation to current events and brings some of the great injustices in the political and global world into sharper focus. Resistance is part memoir, part history education, part call to involvement in the issues that plague our globe, and part celebration of the spirit of humanity. The parallels between her songs and political issues are striking and I found this a powerful read.

I am not a fan of Amos's music, but I was still able to appreciate this memoir which explains the political and social current events that inspired the muses who help Amos write her lyrics.

Resistance by Tori Amos is a fascinating book, part memoir, personal reflections, and musings from one of the most influential artists of the past several decades. The book is separated into vignettes and song lyrics spanning the entirety of Amos’s career. The parts I enjoyed the most were her reflections on personal experiences and politics. I didn’t like the parts about the artistic process and music as much, but probably would have appreciated these if I was a young musician. Where this book soared were her accounts of personal experiences and touring. Being in New York on 9/11 and what came after, healing and hate. Her experiences with her mother and death were especially affecting. I loved learning what inspired certain songs. I listened to the audiobook, which was well-read by Amos. As her song lyrics are included, I would highly recommend listening to each song listed prior to each chapter. Overall, a fascinating book that will especially appeal to fans of Tori Amos.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I picked up this book because I have been a fan of Tori Amos since the 90s, and I've sort of lost touch with her music for a few years, so I thought it would be a good way to get reacquainted with her and what she has been doing recently. Unfortunately, this wasn't the book I was expecting, but it was still an interesting read. It wasn't really as much about Tori or her writing process, but more so about how she was affected by current events and politics, and relating her songs and writings to what was going on in the world at the time she was writing them. I enjoyed reading about Tori's personal experiences and songwriting, more than the portions of the book about 9/11 or politics, but all in all this was a good read, especially if you are a fan. I am grateful to NetGallery and Atria Books for an ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Now I did not know much about Tori Amos before reading this other than I remember some of her music from the 1990s and early 2000s so this was entirely new to me. This memoir really focuses on how Tori's own experiences and those of the people she meets drive the creation of her music. Each chapter links a song and the story that drove its inception. So often it seems that people seek Tori out to tell her their own stories of struggle and pain that then fuel her. The songs she focuses on in this book are ones that stemmed from stories of oppression and survival.
This was a very different style of memoir from what you normally read. Usually they are about an overall "here is my life" in chronological order where as Tori has structured it to begin with her playing piano in a gay bar at the age of 13 to her experience for September 11th and playing in a more modern/oppressed Russia al the way to the death of her mother and getting through that.
If you are interested in more process less scandal based memoirs or want to ready about a strong female role model grab this one.

I’d love to say I loved this but sadly, that is not the case. Resistance is a title I requested on Netgalley purely out of curiosity because I’ve been a huge Tori Amos fan since I was 16. Alternating between essays on her interpretations of the politics of the Reagan and Bush eras or the craft of songwriting and song lyrics printed wholesale not always but frequently feels unfocused and weak. I tried to imagine someone who isn’t a superfan reading this and... it’s not clicking. I’ve loved music memoirs in the past from artists that I’m not a huge fan of so I know it’s possible! Resistance never knows if its primary aim is to explain inspiration behind certain songs, provide on-the-road political commentary, or be a manifesto for young artists. It could have done all of these things but as it is, it never weaves any of its arguments together. The politics of the books are a pretty juvenile “Republicans bad, Democrats good” where apparently there are no complaints about the US on the global stage during Clinton or Obama years.

Did I hate this book? Actually no! There’s no way to overstate how special Tori’s music has been to me, especially during my teen years coming to terms with my identity and loss of faith. I loved hearing her stories from her time playing in piano bars in Washington DC as a teen and having an open ear to political gossip. Her takes on art as craft you have to work at consistently even when it feels like inspiration isn’t there is helpful to hear especially in a year like this where creativity feels so low. I want to hear the story behind every one of her songs so this is absolutely a book for me but at the end of the day, I don’t think it stands on its own merit as a book. If you’re already a fan, pick it up! If you’re not... go listen to Boys for Pele instead.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was received as an ARC from Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I learned a lot about Tori and her background all from this book and I knew her music very well and it's all about empowerment and standing up for what you believe is right. Her words were so powerful and the involvement she had with the #metoo movement and being so affected by the #timesup movement gave me a rude awakening on how our reality is. Despite all of the hardship she went through, she still managed to create a movement throughout her journey and embrace the resistance no matter the cost. Loved how this book was structured with Amos' most powerful songs and it's sure to send a strong message to anyone that reads it.

We will consider adding this title to our Biography collection at our libraries. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

The thing that I like about Tori Amos' music is I cannot relate to every song that she writes. That is because her music is so personal to her. You can relate to some and empathize with others, but they are her songs. This books gave some insight to her story behind the music and gave me a little glimpse into what these selected songs meant to her.

I have been a Tori Amos fan for about 25 years. I love everything she does. Her music has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. I thoroughly enjoyed her book and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan.

I love Tori Amos and I absolutely loved this book. Each chapter is from one of her songs and it tells where the song came from and what it's about. I really loved this book and think any Tori Amos fan would too.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Please don't judge this book based on my one star review. When I got this book from Netgalley and publisher for a review, I wanted to use it as a way to get into Tori Amos. I've always admired her as a person and artist, but rarely sit down and listen to her music. Resistance isn't for the casual fan. This book is for a true Tori Amos fan.
Each chapter is based around a song. It starts with the lyrics and then goes into a story about it and it's place in the world.
Since I don't have a connection to these songs, the words didn't mean as much. I would listen to the song for the first time as I read about it.
A true fan would have gotten so much out of this. I wish more artists made books like this.

I had a hard time with Resistance by Tori Amos at first but then fell in love. Her honesty about the hard work involved, that sometimes the music falls into your lap but other times it is pure work to get the message from the Muse. Tori used her music through the political agendas to show what was and is real for all b of us and to open our eyes to the atrocious things still being done.
#Netgalley #Resistance #Atria books

*Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for the advance copy. Greatly appreciated!*

I've been a huge Tori Amos fan since she first came out when I was eight years old. While I haven't heard much of her latest albums, her older stuff is still in constant rotation.

It helps going into this knowing a little bit about how Tori feels about her songs and her approach to song writing. Her eccentricity shines throughout this book and, at times, it can be confusing as to what she is talking about. It's similar to her pervious memoir, Piece by Piece, in that way. Pretty confusing unless you understand her world.

The structure of the book was great and helped me keep things in context, but I was disappointed in her song choices. There was only one track from Boys for Pele and a handful between Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink. Still, it was nice to hear the personal stories behind these songs and learn more about her relationship with her parents, especially her mother.

Unfortunately, this book did not make me want to seek out the newer songs she wrote about that I hadn't heard yet, but I will continue to enjoy her older stuff and be on the lookout for her next album.

I really enjoyed this book by one of my favorite artists Tori Amos. Learning bits about where her songs came from and how they were created was very interesting. She’s much more in touch with her spiritual side than I ever knew and I found that fascinating. A must read for any fan or artist.

Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage from Tori Amos is both a deeply personal book as well as a political (in the broad sense) book.

I remember vividly the first two times I saw her perform. I say two because they were about two weeks apart so they kind of blend together for me. 1992, small venues in New Orleans and Baton Rouge (I was at LSU at the time). My birthday is September 26 and the first show was in early September as I recall and a friend took me as a gift because she knew I really liked Little Earthquakes. So a couple weeks later when she was in Baton Rouge I made a point of going again. Blown away both times and because of the venue size she was able to meet some of the fans, so that was great as well. But to be honest, to be sitting anywhere near the front feels like she is singing directly to you at times. So, yes, this review is written from a fan's perspective. Even after eleven shows I still get excited to think about seeing her again.

This book uses her songs and lyrics coupled with both her life experiences and society's issues to demonstrate that the personal is absolutely political. What I found appealing was how she did not try to make each section into some grand cultural statement, though some certainly made such statements. But when something was far more personal than societal that was the direction she took. Ultimately, all of the personal, from DC clubs to the passing of her mother, helps to create the person she is, which is someone with an eye on the big picture and cultural topics.

One of the many wonderful things about her songs is that they are not always simple and straightforward as far as what they are about. Between multiple listenings and interviews, most fans learn what she is referencing and singing about. But for most of us we also connect through our own avenue into each song. And it is not hard to maintain both perspectives, her initial intent and our initial reception, while each deepens with repeated listening. This book highlights, I think, just that quality. She explains what she was thinking when she was writing it, and often how she views that song now. Those are not always identical in the same way that she is no longer the same person she was. This opens each song up for us to both better understand her and her songs, but also to feel that we are "allowed" to read what we need to read into those songs.

The writing is almost conversational, which works very well in this case. This is less a single narrative than it is the reader sitting down and having a meandering conversation that, while headed in a general direction, takes some detours and side trips. Fans will certainly enjoy this feeling, and I think most other readers will enjoy it as well. If you prefer a rather traditional linear memoir, this might not suit you quite as much. Though I will say that I think you'll still like the book, you'll just wish it had been more like what everyone else does. For those of us who like Amos' music, it is precisely because she isn't like everyone else, so we will like this approach.

The political statements are here, but if you don't want to feel like you're being hit over the head with it you won't, it is not heavy-handed. In fact, it all flows from song to life experience to lessons learned to those lessons applied to others. I understand that Tori also reads for the audiobook version, which I think will be phenomenal.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.