Review – Love, Janis by Laura Joplin
Blues Rock Queen's Sister Reveals Janis Through Letters
May 24, 2009
“I’m awfully sorry to be such a disappointment to you…but I really do think there’s an awfully good chance I won’t blow it this time…please believe that you can’t possibly want for me to be a winner more than I do”
The excerpt from a letter home to mom could be any 23 year-old’s, but this one was written by Janis Joplin in 1966, from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, on the verge of stardom. More than two dozen complete letters to her family and friends are what form the core of Love, Janis, a 1992 biography by Joplin’s younger sister Laura Joplin. A new edition was published in 2005 with additional letters.
Joplin's Letters to Family & Friends Form the Core of Love, Janis
By intertwining the letters with a combination of relatively well-known information about Janis and the more inside views of family and close friends and musicians, Laura Joplin is able to give us a fresh perspective on Janis Joplin, decades after her accidental drug-related death at age 27.
Early on in Love, Janis, Laura Joplin explains the impetus for writing the biography: Having held onto her grief for 16 or 18 years because (she later realized) “it seemed like the last thing I had of her,” an angry outburst followed by ridding herself of all of Janis’ things, led to a newfound freedom and an epiphany of sorts. Free of her grief, she says “I could not be content with anything less than a full understanding of her life, her choices, and her times.”
Even those just vaguely aware of the life of Janis Joplin know that hers was a short but wild ride, the stuff of rock and roll legend both musically and personally. Unfortunately, over time Janis’ sex, booze and drugs lifestyle has come to nearly outshine her stunningly powerful blues rock performances.
Laura Joplin Doesn't Sugarcoat or Make Excuses For Janis
It might have been easy for her sister to take a set-the-record-straight tact in authoring a new biography, or at least offer excuses for Janis’ behavior. Instead, Laura Joplin chooses an honest assessment, allowing the reader a view from inside the family, but sugarcoating nothing. This is a story written with some anger, perhaps a bit of jealousy, but mostly with love.
An example comes from a fairly well-known episode in Joplin’s public life. In the summer of 1970, at the height of her fame, Janis was preparing to attend her tenth high school reunion in hometown Port Arthur, Texas, where her family still resided. A now-infamous appearance on The Dick Cavett Show had Janis beaming, telling how happy she was to be returning, especially in light of how poorly she’d been treated, how they’d “run her out of town, out of the state.”
The truth, however, was that while she may not have been a popular student (and she often purposely tried not to fit in) she was not really alienated and there were plenty of locals proud of her accomplishments, even if they could not relate to her lifestyle. Indeed, the reunion committee all but rolled out the red carpet for her, inviting the press, and asking what they could do for her.
This was the situation Janis found herself in upon returning, an embarrassing one of her own making, and it was 21 year-old Laura who Janis brought along to the reunion as a sort of deflection. Privately, Laura surprised her famous sister by admonishing her on the very public comments.
The reader is privy to Janis’ acknowledgement of her mistakes, apologizing with head bowed, but through the eyes of a sister who feels just as much empathy and love for a sibling as she does anger. Along with the insight of the previously unpublished letters, it is moments like this that makes Love, Janis a valuable addition for Joplin fans.
Joplin, Laura. Love, Janis, 2005 (1992) Harper Collins, New York, 414 pages. (ISBN: 978-0-06-075522-5)
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