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The Myth of Tori
The Myth of Tori is not just a biography — it’s a mythic archive of one of modern music’s most visionary voices. Drawn from nearly two decades of research and over a thousand interviews, this book traces Tori Amos’s evolution as an artist, mystic, and woman who redefined what creative freedom can mean. Told in her own words, through conversations that span continents and decades, it captures the humor, depth, and holy defiance that made her an icon. With original artwork by Ryan Obermeyer and a cover photograph by Loren Haynes, The Myth of Tori is both a chronicle and a communion — the sound of an artist becoming her own legend.
295 pages, Hardcover
Published February 22, 2019
4 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Jason Elijah
39 books8 followersJason Elijah is an author whose work explores the intersection of consciousness, psychology, and the sacred. His books invite readers into an intimate encounter with the hidden architecture of the self—how identity forms, conceals, and reveals its own light.
Jason Elijah collaborates with artificial intelligence as a creative mirror, expanding the reach of perception and deepening the dialogue between human and technological awareness. Together, this partnership gives rise to a new form of transformative literature: works that awaken self-understanding and illuminate the evolving landscape of consciousness.
His titles include Mirrors: Reflections of Self and Society, The Fifth Lens: Awakening Beyond Self and System, Devils & Gods: Beyond Heaven and Hell in an Age of Narcissism, The Pornographic Soul: How Commerce Rewired Desire and Conscience, The Thirst: Liberation from the Addictive World, The Pattern Keepers: Autism, Perception, and the Hidden Order of Mind, and Masks: Revealing the True Self, among others. Together, they form an expanding body of writing devoted to humanity’s unfolding evolution in mind and spirit.
Through his journal Signal & Spirit, Jason Elijah continues to explore the poetic, social and psychological dimensions of awakening, inviting readers into a living conversation about what it means to see clearly and live truthfully.
Jason Elijah collaborates with artificial intelligence as a creative mirror, expanding the reach of perception and deepening the dialogue between human and technological awareness. Together, this partnership gives rise to a new form of transformative literature: works that awaken self-understanding and illuminate the evolving landscape of consciousness.
His titles include Mirrors: Reflections of Self and Society, The Fifth Lens: Awakening Beyond Self and System, Devils & Gods: Beyond Heaven and Hell in an Age of Narcissism, The Pornographic Soul: How Commerce Rewired Desire and Conscience, The Thirst: Liberation from the Addictive World, The Pattern Keepers: Autism, Perception, and the Hidden Order of Mind, and Masks: Revealing the True Self, among others. Together, they form an expanding body of writing devoted to humanity’s unfolding evolution in mind and spirit.
Through his journal Signal & Spirit, Jason Elijah continues to explore the poetic, social and psychological dimensions of awakening, inviting readers into a living conversation about what it means to see clearly and live truthfully.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 14, 2023
The Myth of Tori is a quite brilliant approach to a fan-made biography: It was shaped from Tori’s perspective, pieced together with her own words from over a thousand conversations with DJs, TV hosts and journalists from around the world, to form a narrative spanning from her early life, to Y Kant Tori Read, up through Scarlet’s Walk.
It was edited by Jason, who runs yessaid, one of the last surviving Tori Amos fan sites, and one can’t review this book without addressing the drama first. He made the mistake of taking pre-orders (and payment) before he had finished writing it, and vastly underestimated the time it would take to complete the project—I pre-ordered the book in 2012, and received it in 2019. Needless to say, plenty of people got impatient, and there were cries of scam. With that said, as frustrating as the wait and often lacking communication was, the end result is a beautiful, limited edition, 300-page hardcover book that came with a matching bookmark. Loren Haynes provided an outtake from his iconic 1994 SPIN cover shoot for the book cover, it features gorgeous pencil drawings by Ryan Obermeyer in every chapter, and Tori herself wrote out the book title in her own handwriting. (*)
While the idea is brilliant and the physical product is a nice keepsake, the execution was unfortunately often lacking. Some quotes are so well-known, I knew exactly what interview they were from, or I could hear Tori saying it, but that’s part of what made this partly dense and hard to read—in order to remain true to Tori’s words, everything was kept verbatim, so it’s very conversational in tone, and frequently repetitive, since she tended to tell press the same things over and over again in slightly different ways. I spaced the reading out over two and a half months, and I still noticed the repetitions, and the tiny print and walls of text didn’t help the readability. All the chapters feature quotes on each of the songs, with Little Earthquakes following the original demo tracklisting, which makes total narrative sense, and being the only one that also includes some b-sides. From the Choirgirl Hotel follows the booklet tracklisting, which also works well, but for some odd reason, Spring Haze is missing in the To Venus and Back chapter; it’s the only album song that is not covered, so I’m pretty sure that it was an oversight, and not a deliberate choice.
The early chapters, covering her life before her musical career took off, were the most fascinating and insightful, and I especially enjoyed the chapters on From the Choirgirl Hotel and Strange Little Girls, while the song-by-song section of Tori’s masterpiece Boys For Pele was particularly disappointing—the book was a bit of a mixed bag, and there were sections that were a real slog to get through. On the whole, I’m however glad I got it; I learned some new things, and enjoyed the time I spent with Tori’s voice swirling around in my head. Whatever one may think of the end result, The Myth of Tori was a labor of genuine love, and I thank Jason for the service he has provided for the fandom for some twenty years now—if nothing else, I hope my purchase of this book helped keep the most comprehensive Tori-archive out there going for a little bit longer.
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(*) In hindsight, it’s perhaps worth noting that no sources, credit, or payment was given to the people who wrote the published work Jason is now, in 2023, profiting from, thanks to more easily available digital copies being sold through Amazon. The first edition was a very limited hardcover run for which the price tag covered the production and shipping costs only—a labor of love. Now, it’s a different story. This came to light long after I had purchased and reviewed my copy, but it’s an important addendum.
It was edited by Jason, who runs yessaid, one of the last surviving Tori Amos fan sites, and one can’t review this book without addressing the drama first. He made the mistake of taking pre-orders (and payment) before he had finished writing it, and vastly underestimated the time it would take to complete the project—I pre-ordered the book in 2012, and received it in 2019. Needless to say, plenty of people got impatient, and there were cries of scam. With that said, as frustrating as the wait and often lacking communication was, the end result is a beautiful, limited edition, 300-page hardcover book that came with a matching bookmark. Loren Haynes provided an outtake from his iconic 1994 SPIN cover shoot for the book cover, it features gorgeous pencil drawings by Ryan Obermeyer in every chapter, and Tori herself wrote out the book title in her own handwriting. (*)
While the idea is brilliant and the physical product is a nice keepsake, the execution was unfortunately often lacking. Some quotes are so well-known, I knew exactly what interview they were from, or I could hear Tori saying it, but that’s part of what made this partly dense and hard to read—in order to remain true to Tori’s words, everything was kept verbatim, so it’s very conversational in tone, and frequently repetitive, since she tended to tell press the same things over and over again in slightly different ways. I spaced the reading out over two and a half months, and I still noticed the repetitions, and the tiny print and walls of text didn’t help the readability. All the chapters feature quotes on each of the songs, with Little Earthquakes following the original demo tracklisting, which makes total narrative sense, and being the only one that also includes some b-sides. From the Choirgirl Hotel follows the booklet tracklisting, which also works well, but for some odd reason, Spring Haze is missing in the To Venus and Back chapter; it’s the only album song that is not covered, so I’m pretty sure that it was an oversight, and not a deliberate choice.
The early chapters, covering her life before her musical career took off, were the most fascinating and insightful, and I especially enjoyed the chapters on From the Choirgirl Hotel and Strange Little Girls, while the song-by-song section of Tori’s masterpiece Boys For Pele was particularly disappointing—the book was a bit of a mixed bag, and there were sections that were a real slog to get through. On the whole, I’m however glad I got it; I learned some new things, and enjoyed the time I spent with Tori’s voice swirling around in my head. Whatever one may think of the end result, The Myth of Tori was a labor of genuine love, and I thank Jason for the service he has provided for the fandom for some twenty years now—if nothing else, I hope my purchase of this book helped keep the most comprehensive Tori-archive out there going for a little bit longer.
-----
(*) In hindsight, it’s perhaps worth noting that no sources, credit, or payment was given to the people who wrote the published work Jason is now, in 2023, profiting from, thanks to more easily available digital copies being sold through Amazon. The first edition was a very limited hardcover run for which the price tag covered the production and shipping costs only—a labor of love. Now, it’s a different story. This came to light long after I had purchased and reviewed my copy, but it’s an important addendum.
February 20, 2023
Please do not buy this book. It consists of other people’s writing about Tori and interviews with her, none of which he got permission to use. He included my published work here, including work I myself did not receive payment for.
Most of the content is free online. He pretty much printed it out, slapped on some covers, and threw it on Amazon under his own name.
I have alerted Tori’s management and don’t know what action they’ll take.
If you want to read my published work with/about Tori, let me know and I’ll gladly email to you. It’s just a handful of articles, but at least it’s legal.
Most of the content is free online. He pretty much printed it out, slapped on some covers, and threw it on Amazon under his own name.
I have alerted Tori’s management and don’t know what action they’ll take.
If you want to read my published work with/about Tori, let me know and I’ll gladly email to you. It’s just a handful of articles, but at least it’s legal.
January 31, 2020
I so appreciate this book and its editor Jason Elijah for putting it together. Tori's words about her creative process and spiritual exploration, much like her lyrics, remain ambiguous and open to interpretation. While that might be frustrating for some looking for concrete tips or explanations about the meanings of songs, it reinforces my love for her and her ability to be incredibly authentic to self without being driven by ego - she is in collaboration always, with the muses, with the audience, with history and place. It is inspiring for me as a writer and encourages me to forge my own path, as idiosyncratic as it may be, because it was Tori's faithfulness to self which launched her decades long and still fascinating career. It also encourages me to take the multitheistic approach when it comes to spirituality - we need not be tied to anyone else's idea of who we should be. I loved this book so much as both a Tori fan (Ear With Feet) and as someone in the process of becoming myself, particularly in terms of transforming trauma into creativity.
April 30, 2019
Such an amazing book. Taking her words and piecing them together to form a narrative of her life from childhood to YKTR up through Scarlet's Walk. It is so insightful and really makes you long for more. She is such an amazing talent and reading her thoughts and meanings behind her music is so fascinating and intriguing this flew by too fast. I wish this was an ongoing thing to chronicle her career until the end. A beautifully done book that was well worth the wait it took to assemble. So glad I have it.
January 12, 2020
Horrible! Nothing but plagiarism from other sources. Isn't this illegal?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews