Reviews

Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped by Cissy Houston

shelley_pearson's review against another edition

4.0

Whitney Houston died on my birthday, so the week before my birthday seemed like a good time to listen to this audiobook. I liked Whitney Houston a lot when I was little, but I didn't really know that much about her personal life, or most of the events that her mom talks about in the book. It was kind of a funny book, because Cissy told her own whole life story too, like it's probably a third of the way into the book before Whitney is even born. And Cissy clearly loves Whitney a lot, but she also makes a lot of stuff about herself. Like when she watched Whitney record "I Will Always Love You" and decided it all about her own relationship with Whitney's dad.

I think Robin Miles' dramatic reading really added to how over-the-top it was. You could just hear the disdain dripping when Robyn Crawford or Bobby Brown came up. Every time, she's all "Now, I did not care for Robyn Crawford." OMG Cissy. We know.

So it was kind of quirky, but it was a touching tribute to her daughter, and I learned a lot about Whitney. Cissy described her as such a sweet girl who just wanted everyone to like her. She just seemed so nice and huge-hearted, and it's so sad that she had so many struggles and died so young. I feel like hardcore Whitney fans would already know most of the stuff in the book, but I still recommend it to all fans.

jayvall's review against another edition

3.0

The basic gist of this memoir is Cissy going "I had no idea what was going on with Whitney and those drugs. People told me things but I didn't believe them because I didn't see it with my own eyes." "I'm a don't take no mess kinda woman but I let my kid snort her way into an early grave. If only she would have asked me for help but she didn't." "I can't speak on that because I wasn't there." To which I say, well then what exactly was the point of the book Cissy. There was nothing in there that we didn't already know; hell, that Whitney didn't say herself in those interviews with Diane Sawyer and Oprah. The only two things I learned were

that Whitney had a miscarriage before she married Bobby and she got cut on her face that required plastic surgery

. Everything else was stuff we all knew already.

allbookedup4's review against another edition

4.0

I learned a great deal about Whitney Houston's life, her parents, and her accomplishments. I especially loved the pictures that were used. Gone too soon, but what amazing work she did and gave to others while she was living.