12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
check your expectations at the door, 20 Aug 2003
By Duke Marine - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The End of Innocence: A Memoir (Paperback)
I think the only thing that could ruin this book is wrong expectations. I came into it thinking "Ooh a book by Cher's daughter! Cher is God so I should read it!" and when I found out it was about her lover Joan's battle with cancer I was like, "Aw, sad! This is gonna be depressing!"
neither expectation proved true!
By the end of the book I not only did I have a deep respect for Chastity Bono as her own person, not just Cher's daughter, but I was deeply inspired by the story and life of Joan! The book is really a very inspiring tale of love and life and everday, universal struggles (despite the fact its mainly about fame, the music industry, battles with cancer, and the struggles of lesbians). Its really a very triumphant book whose only fault is the fact that it was written by someone so young so the ending comes all too soon. I hope for a sequel!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's her life..., 12 April 2004
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The End of Innocence: A Memoir (Paperback)
No better way to find out who Chastity Bono is than to read her story in her own words, written in her own way. It's not sugar coated and painted as a pretty picture. It doesn't focus on her Mother, and her life wasn't a fairy tail sort of life. Hers was a life full of struggles. A major one her relationship with Joan. Anyone else ever take care of someone with a terminal ilness? All when she was very young. The cancer patient gets the Morphine to dull their pain, and the shot to help them sleep, but their friend in the cot next to them gets nothing to dull their pain and fears, and nothing to help them through their many sleepless nights. At home, they give the shots and clean the bed sheets. The sad part is many do not get so much as a thank you, and the patient gets the flowers. That is not meant to take away from the patients suffering. But, what her book brings out is the fact that many times the care takers and loved ones are suffering because it is a hard and emotionally draining job, and for them there is no relief.
How else to give you a sense of who she was, other than to tell exactly what she was going through and how she felt, and ultimatly how she dealt with it all. It is not a feel good book. It's just an honest story and a quick read.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A personal autobiography of great love, grief, & courage, 6 Sep 2002
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The End of Innocence: A Memoir (Hardcover)
The End Of Innocence is the personal memoir of Chastity Bono, the daughter of the famous entertainment celebrities Cher and Sonny Bono. With the literary assistance of Journalist Michele Kort, Chastity Bono recounts her lesbian love and partnership with Joan Stephens, as well as the horror of watching the woman she loved succumb to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The End Of Innocence is strongly recommended reading as deeply personal autobiography of great love, loss, grief, courage, and the will to live one's own life on one's own terms.