I, Tina: My Own Story

Ms. Tina Turner overcame many obstacles while trying to pursue her dreams. I can relate to her story in more ways than one. I admired her resilience and morality throughout.

This is a hilariously funny, honest, tragic and moving autobiography. It possesses the same sass and zest as, Anna Mae Bullock's (aka Tina Turner) most famous hit "Proud Mary" does. It was so much better than the movie that I now wonder where the hell the scriptwriter's heads were when they turned this book into a movie? The movie should have been renamed "Ike the Impaler" rather then "What's Loves Got to do with it." It was more about Ike and his brutality, than it was about Tina. Tina's life was almost an after thought. There was a lot of "getting beat up," snorting cocaine, and butt shaking but not much of a story. Had the scriptwriters been "up to snuff," the movie version of Tina's autobiography should not have been just a crude statement about male brutality, but should have been art rivaling that of Ray Charles' movie, "Ray." Her story (with or without Ike's brutality) in the hands of a skilled screenwriter is at least as compelling and much more moving than that of Charles'. The book however, is a very different matter, it is about Tina: Ike's portrayal although central to the story, is not the whole story. Tina's life was complex, morally dangerous, dense, layered, honest, and its subtext was always about how to survive in a dangerous challenging environment, and then about how to overcome a life of rejection, abandonment, poverty, discrimination, and male violence, and still accomplish ones dreams; and then get rich and get the hell out of America and move to the South of France as fast as possible. Having similar roots as Tina - growing up on a farm in the segregated South, picking cotton, migrating to St. Louis, being "schooled" in the clubs and "haunts" of East St. Louis, etc. -- made Tina's story all the more personal. However, lacking an education, her life always existed on the edge of a slender thread. How many blacks, equally talented as she, peaked and were never to be heard from again? Even having her talent discovered was almost accidental. All she ever had to bring to the table was the truth of her soul as that was expressed through, not just her singing, but her voice. Her voice was her soul: the wind and the fire, not the sunshine, roses and daisies. While Ike was "using Tina" to prove that he could be a "big time player," Tina was proving that she was a "force of nature," a phenomenon during times that called for a phenomenon rather than for players (whether "Big Time," or otherwise). She played her hand "just right," escaping Ike's clutches at the right time, gone! -- and never looked back! Amen. The real tragedy of this story is Ike, who was destined to be a "small time hustler," because as talented as he was, he had no self-confidence, no self-trust, and he died with a tortured soul, as a small time hustler, only sampling the sweetness of life, while Tina is still savoring it in large gulps, in her mansion in the South of France. What a quintessentially American story! Five Stars

Ms. Turner should be commended for opening up her heart, soul and past to all of her undying fans around the world. Although the movie, "What's Love Got To Do With It" took many liberties in changing the original story for Hollywood purposes, the book and it's raw story-telling brings us right back to the innocent church girl being raised in Nut Bush. MANY congratulations go out to Ms. Turner for succumbing to, overcoming, facing head-on and laughing in the face of adversity, abuse, subjugation and an overall demeaning of the ultimate beauty upon this earth... THE WOMAN.

I have read this book atleast 50 times. I,Tina still brings out so much emotion within me. When I was a small child, back in 1984, I remember the first time I saw the video for, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" As I marveled at the beautiful, tough, street savy woman with the wild hair I kept wondering who she was. I, like many other kids, thought that Tina Turner was a brand new artist. And all I knew was that her voice amazed me and I loved her rock and roll style... I,Tina gave me a different perspective altogether. This is a woman who has been in the game for nearly five decades. Tina was a Rock and Roll Icon long before I was a twinkle in my father's eye. The autobiography was incredibly well done. Tina is so candid and open about each and every detail of her life. The more I read the more I began to see Tina outside the parameters of fame and fortune. And she did pay a great price for that fame and fortune through years of torcher and abuse. I can't believe any human being(well, I don't consider Ike Turner human)could subject another to that level of sadistic treatment. At times I have had to reread Tina's accounts over and over again because I couldn't believe it! The broken jaw, the broken ribs, strangulation, punching, and beatings with household objects. Ike was a pure animal. The man was a genius when it came to music, but he is a scoundrel in every other facet of his life. He should cease and desist with the claims that Tina falsifying her story. The accounts from eyewitnesses and doctors are there, in bold print. Ike was an abusive S.O.B. and he should be thankful that Tina didn't buy a gun and pump him full of led! My question is what human being could endure all of that? My answer was Tina Turner. This is a woman who, literally, left with only the clothes on her back. She gave up everything. Her career was in shambles; she had no home, four children, and spent a decade living in cubby holes and cleaning houses...Yet, she managed to rise to the top and become an even bigger star than she was before. There are no words that I can use to describe my adoration for Tina Turner. I am not only a fan of the performer, but also the woman. She truly is powerful.

When anyone hears the name Tina Turner, you don't have to be a fan of her music, or a fan of hers period, but you automatically think AMAZING. I am a huge fan of Tina's, and I just think the life she lived is amazing. The book opens with her being an ordinary girl living in a town that isn't even on the map, and ends with her being the Queen of Rock N' Roll. I am male, but reading of all the abuse she endured, and all the love she never really received as a child, makes me appreciate everything I have, and makes me push myself further to get the things I don't have. Tina Turner is a truly amazing woman, and I would recommend this book to everyone in the world. The saying is True, "Tina Rocks." Love U Tina

Tina Turner's autobiography is the read of a lifetime! The book opens with Tina, then Annie Mae Bullock living the country life in Nutbush Tenn., and closes with her sitting on top of the world, as the Queen of Rock and Roll. In between it talks of the torture she endured at the hands of her ex-husband/partner, Ike Turner. As well as her dramatic comeback of the 1980s. Despite a lonely, loveless childhood, brutal domestic abuse as well as having to start over at age 37, Tina perservered! Her book talks of her painful struggles and the Buddhism that was her light through the darkest of tunnels. I, TINA is honest, intelligent and inspiring, just like the author. A must read.