The Woman in Me

From the bits and pieces of what I'd hear about Britney's conservatorship, I knew this situation was fucked. But I didn't know just how fucked it all was and not even 60% of the way through I was this close to wishing death on everybody. I'm so serious. This got me so fucking heated. I've never been a die hard fan or anything. I honestly went into it not thinking I'd be as emotionally invested as I was.

I think everyone knows what it feels like, or can at least imagine, having something you love ripped away from you. That was the feeling I was connecting to most. Everything, in my opinion, that was branded as evil or bad during her breakdown is explained away by that feeling. You don't get to take away someone's children and expect them to be fine. You don't get to imprison them and expect things to be fine.

As for the writing itself, it's pretty basic memoir stuff! Conversational with a sprinkle of cliches in there. Sometimes it felt repetitive but I also think you earn the right to be repetitive when you've been gaslit and exploited over and over. That repetition IS the story. My major complaint is that some of info feels thrown in and it moves so fast (in a not good way). I just wanted certain moments to slow down so we could get a sense of what was happening physically and in her mind when it happened. The best moments in this book were when Britney gave details/imagery of major moments in her life. The one I would probably reference is when she takes one of her kids into the bathroom until the SWAT team has to come. While it's not a long scene, it truly explores how she felt and doesn't feel thrown in. There's one moment where she writes about being in a car and almost driving off a cliff. I remember reading this and being super confused. It felt like it came out of nowhere. And I wasn't even sure what was going on...like physically? I think this could've had one more look through to ensure all the details were relevant. But at the end of the day, if Britney thinks they are then they are.

I was mostly interested to hear about the conservatorship aspect of the book. This was no doubt the most gripping part. But it was also cool to see Britney call out the people that helped her (and the people that harmed her) and speak on moments of her career that shes never spoken on before.