Her Mother's Daughter: A Memoir of the Mother I Never Knew and of My Daughter, Courtney Love

by Linda Carroll

From Publishers WeeklyCarroll, a writer and therapist, bore quite a cross in rearing her fiery, unstable daughter, the rock icon who sets this memoir in motion by trumpeting her pregnancy. Fearing a "curse of the firstborn daughter," Carroll is seized with the urge to seek her own biological mother and mend a tattered matrilineal line. She discloses her past with a sprawling account of Catholic schools, friendships, romances and pregnancies in 1960s San Francisco, in prose mired with detail but often wry and touching. Carroll's social-climbing adoptive parents seem at best ambivalent, at worst cruel. In 1993, after Courtney's rise to fame and stormy estrangement from Carroll, the author finds her biological Paula Fox, the acclaimed children's author who became pregnant as an abandoned teen. The two are kindred spirits, and it's a heartwarming twist that the act of writing, on many levels, becomes Carroll's portal to her past. The promise of dish on Courtney and the emotional reunion with Paula—along with Carroll's tender wit and poignant honesty (Courtney's siblings saw her "as glamorous, but with sharp claws and teeth")—will keep readers soldiering through.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From BooklistDespite the suggestive subtitle, Carroll's memoir is far less tell-all than it is her personal recollections of growing up feeling alienated from her adoptive family, her peers, and her religion. Born with an inquisitive mind, Linda has trouble relating to her tightly wound adoptive mother, Louella, and her sexually abusive adoptive father, Jack. While her friendships with other girls are deep and stable, her relationships with men prove to be much more complicated. Carroll finds herself pregnant at 18 by a man she does not love, but she marries him and gives birth to a girl, Courtney. The marriage does not last, and Carroll spends the next decade in search of happiness, marrying twice again and going as far as New Zealand as her relationship with Courtney deteriorates. Years later, when Courtney is pregnant with her own child, Carroll finally seeks her own birth mother and is surprised to discover she is renowned writer Paula Fox. A thoughtful memoir of one woman's coming-of-age in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.See all Editorial Reviews

Genres: Memoir, Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2006

About the author

Linda Carroll, MS, has worked as a couple's therapist for more than 30 years. In addition to being a licensed psychotherapist, she is certified in Transpersonal Psychology and Imago Therapy, the highly successful form of couple's therapy developed by Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt. She is also a master teacher in the Pairs Psychoeducation Process, a nationally-recognized relationship education program for couples. She is also a coach by Skype and telephone.

Linda was born and raised in San Francisco where she spent her first 25 years. She has also lived in Nelson, New Zealand and Eugene, Oregon .
She teaches workshops and delivers keynote addresses throughout the United States and is a frequent speaker at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

Linda lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with her veterinarian husband, Tim Barraud, and their dog, a Jack Russell Terrier. She has five children and nine grandchildren. In 2006, her memoir, Her Mother's Daughter, was published by Doubleday. In 2008, Remember Who You Are was published by Conari Press in San Francisco Her recent book, Love Cycles:The Five Essential Stages of Lasting Love was released in the fall of 2014 by New World Library.
Find her on the web at lindaacarroll.com or lovecycles.org

Reviews

[Stephanie]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge Courtney Love fan. I love her music, admire her defiance, and share many of her shortcomings. So when a friend passed this book along to me, I eagerly pounced on it in the hopes of gaining insight to my favorite singer.

Admittedly, I got sucked in from the first page. Not for its sparkling prose, not for its juicy revelations, but for its sheer narcissism. The fact that Linda Carroll is a therapist blows my mind. If I were one of her patients and read this book, I'd run to the nearest psychiatric ward in hopes of having my mind wiped of all traces of her.

The entire book is basically an apologia for Courtney by her mom. Apparently, Linda wants to distance herself from her daughter's troubles while cashing in on her fame. From the start, Carroll is perplexed by Courtney's bad behavior. How could such a sweet, loving person like Linda have given birth to a human tornado like Courtney? Well, Ms. Carroll, let me cite some examples from your own book:

1) Your 4 -- count 'em, 4 marriages -- that took your family from pillar to post. FYI, kids don't like having a new dad every 3 years. I realize you may have missed this subtle point while studying to be a social worker, but it's one worth considering when confronted by your daughter's anger.

2) Your total self-obsession. Gee, it's too bad that your 5 children weren't sympathetic while you worked to find yourself throughout the 60s and 70s. The fact that you have 20 more years life experience than them shouldn't matter a whit. I mean, what's the point of creating a stable foundation for your children when you've got the heart of a child yourself?

3) Your bizarre expectations that Courtney should have fit in with your ever-mutating family values. For instance, when your rock star daughter proudly presented you with a fur coat for Christmas, it might have been nicer to say "thanks" than insulting her for bringing animal products into your home. I mean, how the hell was she supposed to know that your newest husband was a PETA supporter? She'd never met him before. BTW, your penchant for adopting your latest lover's causes, then summarily abandoning them as soon as the relationship ends, is not a sign of maturity. If you don't believe me, go and ask any group of sixth graders. They'll tell you the same thing.

4) Your totally disingenuous outrage over Courtney's attention-grabbing antics. "Oh, my God, I can't believe my daughter flipped the bird at a rock concert. Where did she learn such disgraceful behavior? Say, you wouldn't happen to know any agents who could shop this tell-all book around to the major publishing houses, would you? It's hot stuff...I even tell highly personal stories about my grandchild!"

5) Your complete oblivion as to what a rotten mother you truly are. "I was a great mom! Just ask 3 of my 5 kids that are still speaking to me! If you want to hear about a really bad parent, pull up a chair. I'll regale you with a bunch of sob stories about my own mom -- what a bitch!!!"

After reading this sordid book, I took a long, hot shower. I felt as though I had immersed myself in a bucket of scum. I was sorely tempted to consign HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER to the trash bin, but ended up selling it to the local used book store. My reason for passing it on was simple: it serves as a testament to Courtney's resilience.

By the way, if you want to read a good book about a troubled mother-daughter relationship, I highly recommend Deborah Spungen's AND I DON'T WANT TO LIVE THIS LIFE: A MOTHER'S STORY OF HER DAUGHTER'S MURDER. Unlike Linda Carroll, Spungen is able to own up to her own limitations as a mother while lamenting her daughter's troubled life. Too bad Linda Carroll didn't read that book before writing this piece of garbage. Then again, it probably wouldn't have helped. Narcissists like this can never identify with anyone else. That's what makes them so special!

[Gato Negro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just plain awful. The fact that this woman is writing books and currently working as a therapist (!!!) when she lacks total compassion and insight about her own life and her own children is very freaking scary. I would have been embarrassed to publish this book as she glibly tells of her life wherein she essentially jumps from bed to bed and continues to reproduce kids that she leaves all over while she globe trots with her latest conquests, while still married...I found no love for her character whatsoever - childhood sexual abuse, dead baby, okay, those are extremely tough things to deal with but the fact that she lacked the intestinal fortitude to take her down a better path (and/or cease going after her best friends' husband!) makes me totally unsympathetic. The most telling part of the book for me came when her adopted son visited a family and refused to come home (at the ripe old age of 7, I think...) and she basically said, okay, so be it...and the family adopted him from her! Is it any wonder her firstborn (Courtney Love) is so filled with rage? I understand the babydoll dresses and Baby Jane-style makeup now, as she was completely robbed of her childhood having to live with a mother like this. I was horrified the whole time I read it.

[Kitty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no interest in being an author bully, but as a warning: I am going to be a blunt as I possibly can here. As a psychotherapist myself, this book makes me queasy. This narcissist attempts to paint herself as a wide-eyed innocent who either "didn't know any better" as a parent, or was the victim of her own supposedly disturbed child. Don't be fooled. She might be able to pass off past behavior as naivete, but to be a practicing therapist and lack any kind of insight? I call bullshit. If she owned up to the atrocious mistakes she made it might be easier to forgive her blatant neglect-- and outright abandonment-- of her children. But her frequent assertions that she was an unwitting victim throughout her life, and her inability to take any kind of responsibility for her own behavior make her not just unlikeable and unforgivable, but downright scary. The fact that she is currently a practicing therapist is even more terrifying. I would not be surprised in the least if she has been sued at least once for malpractice. (And maybe she has. I'm not going to waste my energy trying to dig up that information.) People like this are why everyone thinks therapists are "crazy." Thanks, Linda!

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not surprised that this woman is courtney love's mother

[Pandora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story about how Courtney's mom was a far from typical housewife. Lots of insights for real courtntney fans, others might find it a bit of a struggle.

[Stefani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mysteriously, vintage Courtney Love interviews have been recirculating in my YouTube lineup for no rhyme or reason other than it's the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's untimely death. Despite my professed hatred of the '90s as they were happening, I am now viewing this decade through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, and feeling very reminiscent for grunge-era music, smeared makeup, torn baby doll dresses, and Doc Martens. Which brings me to why I checked this book out of the library. I forgot how much I adore Courtney Love—mostly for her honesty, but also because she's the last of a dying breed of wacked-out celebrity who's intelligent and creative, yet terribly flawed and fucked-up and not afraid to admit it. She's probably not as wacked-out as she once was during her non-sober years, but she's still doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks of her and I respect that immensely.

Anyway, this book is basically garbage because we get very little insight into Ms. Love. Instead, we get a memoir of her mother, Linda Carroll, who happens to have had an interesting life growing up in San Fran in the 1960s, but, if we're being honest, no one really cares about outside the context of her famous daughter. Also strange is the fact that Courtney Love has not spoken to her mother in years if we are to believe what she says, and that makes the motive behind writing this book even odder. Perhaps she's trying to “set the record straight” on what she perceives are a series of lies perpetuated by her daughter in the media? In any case, Courtney pops up as an minor character in the book, mostly in the context of her bad behavior and difficult temperament from birth. To make a long story short, her mom had her at 18, got married and divorced a few times, moved around a lot, and had a bunch of other children. In between all this instability, her “difficult child” Courtney was shuttled between reform and boarding schools, friend's and stepfather's houses, and perhaps a mental hospital. From what it seems like to me, Linda had the best of intentions when it came to her daughter, but, as others have pointed out, seemed to be overly focused on her own personal growth and interests and less on what was best for her children. Other than that, it's kind of a dull read until you get to the parts where Courtney is doing crazy shit like gorging on a full buffet of junk food in the hospital after giving birth to Frances while Kurt is basically passed out next to her. Rock on.

[Sami Ridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wack-a-doo warning. Conspiracies abound in the following review:

I read this as a companion piece to Hank Harrison’s “Love Kills”, on the skirt of examining Kurt’s passing with “Love and Death”, “Soaked in Bleach,” and “Drugs as Weapons Against Us”, the latter of which joins the former two in suuuuch an interesting light. I wanted to find the connective tissue between Linda’s surrendering of her toddler daughter to a psychiatrist, Hank’s determination to retrieve her, and Courtney’s descent into sex slavery across the globe. I know how nuts that thesis comes across, but this was a good addition to the narrative.

Like everyone’s stated, yes, Linda is a narcissistic head case. From her petty nitpicking of “lesser” beings to her grandiose sexual liaisons to her fairytale retelling of everyone’s wrongs against her, (“what a naughty child you are”, why can’t I be good?) I can clearly see Courtney’s penchant for self-pity, her love of luxury and her hatred for the male sex. I can see her fathers overestimation of his own intuitive powers, his creative gifts, and his true hippie nature.

But so much was omitted, and Linda does a concise, corny job of only including the bits that make her a victim of circumstance. This book can be read as a 40+ year cycle of impulse, consequence, guilt, and helplessness…A true story of denial.

Did Hank Harrison give Courtney acid during her weekend stays with him at three years old, in spite of his passing two polygraph tests in the negative? Why did the psychiatrist Linda hired for Courtney fly to New Zealand to escort her back to the States?

I’d recommend looking into the Drugs as Weapons book mentioned for some suggestions. I believe Courtney followed in the path of a few women who came forward claiming, as children in the 60s, that they were placed into “psychiatric care” and groomed sexually for later years. MK-Ultra was huge in San Francisco during the time. I hoped Linda’s book might illuminate the possibility….and in a way it did.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda Carroll writes about her life as an adopted daughter, her yearning to know her birth mother, her several kids, couple of marriages and moving to New Zealand with her third husband. Her life story is very interesting. She discusses her first born, Courtney Love, but doesn't overburden her readers with a biography of Courtney. She addresses Courtney's eccentricities but doesn't gloss over the fact that Courtney is a very disturbed woman. Carroll stays truthful throughout but doesn't place blame or seek sympathy from her readers either. I enjoyed this book very much.

[H.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was well written, and was a really addictive immersive read. But there are serious concerns as a parent about how Courtney’s mum did things with her. Big red flags with Courtney’s father were there and she didn’t really do anything about them. Another time she sends her away when she’s only nine years old and wonders why Courtney reacts badly to this, she’s really flippant about her going away for 3 months saying it’s not that long but to a child that���s a really really long time without their entire family somewhere away from home. Then she’d taken her to shrink after shrink after shrink, and none had any idea what was going on with Courtney but that there was definitely something but they couldn’t help her. But when one finally said they thought Courtney showed signs of autism (which she’s now diagnosed with) her mum said that it just didn’t feel right to her and that was it, said no more about it and totally ignored it. She just seemed totally wrapped up in herself and her own love life with different men and the book was more about that than finding her birth mother or anything related to Courtney, the title is misleading in that sense. It had a few little snippets here and there and token gestures but very little was actually detailed about Courtney or their relationship. It was very much more about her mother and her life story than anything else and Courtney’s mention was probably moreover to gain sales because to peaks interest by readers expecting way more about Courtney than there is inside.

[Jennifer Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good memoir.

I expected this one to be similar to Deborah Spungeon's "and I don't want to live this life," given the numerous comparisons between Nancy Spungeon and Linda Carroll's daughter, Courtney Love. Parenting is an obvious theme as the title implies, although Carroll's most famous child is not the primary focus. That said, "her mother's daughter" discussed this author's daughter as less of a nightmare child right out the womb, and discusses more about Love as a babe with complex wiring that Carroll felt she had fallen short of being able to address as a mother. Carroll's insecurities and feelings of isolation and insecurity are the prevailing theme of the book, not her daughter's antics or celebrity. "Her mother's daughter" differs from "And I don't want to live this life" in that it focuses primarily on Carroll's own complexities as a mother and daughter of both her adoptive parents and mysterious birth mother, rather than being a book about the struggles with a nightmare of a parenting experience.

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by Courtney Love's mother, famed therapist Linda Carrol. Aside from the Courtney Love part (which I find really interesting, but it's only a part of the story), this is a really interesting book about growing up in San Francisco, coming of age in SF in the 1960's, dealing with a difficult family and adoption, travel and communes in the 1970's, and the way families remember struggles. It also really sheds light on what sad and lonely childhoods both Carroll and Love experienced.

[Grace Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story, dont know why anyone wouldn't love this book.
I am a big Courtney fan and was prepared to hate this book and her mother but after the first chapter I realized this was a very deep,honest, funny and brave woman. By now we know that in spite of her many talents, Courtney does not tell the truth about anything, and I think her mother tells the truth. She does not let herself off the hook, but shows us something deeper and more true about how people develop. She is a great writer and I see where Courntey gets some of her talent, would be such a good movie.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book better. The author is the daughter of an author I like (Paula Fox) and the mother of Courtney Love. The "first daughter" link among this family is strong and could have been expanded upon. A few clues along the way led me to think that this book was written to tell the author's side of the story, which to me sours the "memoir". One sentence near the end confirmed this for me. Was this book written to spite Courtney?

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of raising a bipolar child, the history of mental instability in the female lineage in the family. Doesn't focus on Courtney, which is a good thing here.

[Cary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me really hate Linda Carroll. She even managed to make a scene about Courtney Love grieving for Kurt about herself. She was huffy that Courtney wasn't paying enough attention to her. Awful, awful woman.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this! Not just about Courtney, more about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters. Insightful. Loved Linda’s story & her voice.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

of course i only read this because courtney love's mom wrote it. & because it was kind of about trying to be a mother to courtney love. full (totally embarrassing) disclosure: in the early nineties, i was OBSESSED with courtney love. she was my heroine. i had this huge photo album printed with a sunflower theme (remember when sunflowers were "in"), & i clipped every article or photo pertaining to courtney that i came across & stashed it away in this photo album, where everything inevitably got sticky & gummy because albums like that are not really meant to be used with newsprint & glossy magazine pages. i wore out my first "live through this" cassette because i listened to it about thirty times a day. the year hole played lollapallooza, i convinced my dad to get me tickets to the detroit show as a birthday present (a perk of having a summertime birthday) & to call off work to drive me up there, but the day before the show, i went to county fair, where i got on the wrong side of some other teenage girls, who soundly beat the ever-loving shit out of me. two black eyes, a broken tooth, i looked HORRIBLE. seriously, i was just a mass of bruises & cuts. (it was two on one--very uncool.) my dad naturally wanted to let my cousin miah scalp the tickets, thinking i was in no state to spend all day in the hot sun listening to loud music...let alone be seen by human eyeballs. but i refused to listen to reason. i was forced to hobble around all day & people actually COWERED from me due to my striking resemblence to a horribly abused side of beef, but nothing was going to come between me & seeing hole in concert! obviously, the obsession has faded since then, especially since courtney got all that plastic surgery & really isn't such a great role model for frances. i mean, the reason i liked courtney is because i thought she was a bad-ass tough girl, super independent, capable of holding her own against anyone. i mean, she married the biggest rock star in the world & still made sure that people paid attention to her, & i felt that in 1993 or so, people were paying attention to her because she was smart & interesting & confident, & not because she snagged a rock star husband. man. youthful naivete, i don't even know what to say. bottom line: this book exploits the shit out of courtney, which is twice as distasteful when it comes from her own mom. she also writes about the katharine power thing (quick history lesson: katharine power was a 60s weather underground-style fugitive--though not in the weather underground. she lived under assumed names & aliases for some twenty years before she finally turned herself in to authorities, partially due to her relationship with linda carroll, her therapist. yes, courtney love's mom worked as a therapist. kind of blows your mind, no?)

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her Mother’s Daughter is a memoir by the biological daughter of Paula Fox and the mother of Courtney Love. And yes, they are the same person. Linda Carroll writes her life from her adoption by a childless couple through her reunification with Fox and the birth of her granddaughter, Frances Bean Cobain. She treats her eldest daughter, Courtney, with sensitivity and care; Courtney suffers from bipolar disorder (and if this comes as a shock to anyone, I will be shocked…), but a rare case where symptoms begin at a very early age. In Love’s case, the disorder began expressing itself from the time she was two or three.

I picked this up, to be honest, because Courtney Love is a fascinating crazy person, and I wanted to find out what her mother was like. I discovered that her mother was - and is - a person like any other, who went through an awful lot of things in her tender years and beyond. It was a well-written book of self-discovery that was not diminished or increased by the star power of Love’s childhood. In the end, Carroll writes about herself, and that is just as important as a biopic of Love. This is a good read - disturbing at times, but portrays the triumphs and failures of one woman, who is a daughter and a mother, very well.

[Chantay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can see the certain issues people have with Linda Carroll, her writing can be childish. I can see her side and other points, she makes me scratch my head. The fact that she married so many times and that she had so many kids. I think it's the fact, that she never clearly talked to Courtney nor defined her point of pain, that she just accepted and made her simply out to be a destructive force. I also don't think on the search for herself did she take anyone, but her drama into account. I understand her point with Courtney and how she had to deal with her, I have a personal relationship with someone that is so enraptured and blanketed by their pain and suffering, that they damage the people and relationships around them. It is not easy. I am glad, she found her mother and the connection she needed.

[Ann Ladd · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're expecting this to be a juicy expose, you're going to be disappointed. Linda Carroll's book is a literate, thoughtful, moving account of adoption, growing up Catholic and coming to terms with large life losses and disappointments. That there are some celebrity personages as part of the account is not the main point. This is a very human story - well told - that will encourage and comfort others who find pieces of these issues in their own life passage.

Ann Ladd, psychotherapist

[Katie66 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not put it down, such a honest account of a womans brave struggle to find her roots and herself. Funny, sad, wise and a page turner. reminds me of the Glass Castle.

[Clover Youngblood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Honest, raw writing. A shattering glimpse in the world of Courtney Love, a beautiful story written by her mother.

[Robert McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

While most probably read this for information about Courtney Love, I approached this as a source of information about her mother, Paula Fox, which may incline me against many of the bad reviews here.

Despite her imperfections (as we should treat all people), I found this memoir addictively compelling and honest. Despite having the most interest in that final meeting, I found myself compelled by the meditation upon a life not so dissimilar from Fox's, and equally interesting in its multitudes of experience. All incredibly human: relationships, children, friendships, heartbreak. The insight into the era and history, equally, proved an interesting backdrop to such a personal account. How did these events affect a typical, complicated, flawed (often) single mother?

Some moments, as others mention, are frustrating to read. If your life was on paper, people would probably say the same about the decisions we make and our interpretation of them. I think Carroll's ability to acknowledge her flaws, and ultimately accept her place in Courtney's life, appears bold and truthful.

And small and silly as it was, I didn't expect the sequence with Kurt. The juxtaposition between his stage and off-stage demeanor only made the inevitable phone-call we all anticipate sting like hearing the news for the first time. Equally, the name 'Paula Fox' and her appreciation of her mother's works - understanding, not the anticipated misreading as other reviews suggest - were profoundly moving to me.

It's not a perfect book, all memoirs will be plagued by bias and people are wise to scrutinize or question the narrative. Even I recognised some inconsistencies regarding Paula Fox's meeting with Courtney Love - here, benign; to Fox, vitriolic. However, I think it deserves acknowledgement as a sophisticated memoir nonetheless.

[Andrea Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Linda had such an interesting life and so many children! I wish I could have had a second child. The book also gave me perspective on Courtney’s life and behavior and it explains a lot. She probably has a defiance disorder and no matter how hard you try as a parent, you can’t always fix your kids. They need to fix themselves. I was hoping to hear more about Paula’s life and Linda’s father, what their relationship was like (a one night stand or a longer relationship, why didn’t they get married?). Good book though. (Some tough things to read about Jack)

[Lorri Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Linda evolved thru a lot of bad choices, tough adoption issues she lived with, hard self work and an extremely difficult life with Courtney, my own daughter has autism\aspergers and I know what we lived thru, but Courtney seems extreme!

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging Read

I enjoyed the book an engaging and fascinating look into the past life of Courtney Love's Mother., Linda Carroll. And snippets of Courtney's early childhood and troubles. From her Mothers perspective.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean of COURSE Courtney Love's Mom has had a wild and fascinating life :)

[Amy Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an honest look at how we live our lives searching for answers that are within so deeply that seem too difficult to find. Hope and love is always there.

[Yan Sham-Shackleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sum up a book in one sentence challenge: Courtney is crazy not because of me (but as a reader, it was clear it had something to do with her mother.)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems that both of Courtney's parents took her infamy to the bank. Linda, for her part, has a bit of a worthwhile narrative; mainly in sharing the experience of a 1950s Catholic girl in a young and blossoming San Francisco. (As an aside, if anything makes old school Catholics rethink their resistance to birth control, get a load of this lady! She couldn't shake an upbringing of anti-profylactic indoctrination and, whadya know, becomes pregnant by as many men as possible at every inopportune moment. Even the early loss of one ovary and one Fallopian tube did not deter her breeding, Wtf.) In the midst of spawning, Ms. Carroll meanders across some culturally significant figures, including members of The Grateful Dead before they were The Dead, finding that her birth mom is an acclaimed writer, and -most significantly- birthing the entertainingly insane Courtney Love. Linda sells herself as a well-intentioned, albeit misguided & man-crazy, naive doe-eyed waif, who happened to have an uncontrollable nut bag for a daughter; Courtney Love's PR crew decried the memoir as a "work of fiction," but me thinks the truth is somewhere in the middle. Likely this book contains the truth, but not quite the whole truth, and thus flatters its author considerably. Still not a bad read although slow at times, certainly more highly palatable for those interested in the author's most well known daughter, as the title does allude.