Publishers Weekly - Audio
02/02/2015
Palmer, well-known in the alternative music scene for her work with the Dresden Dolls and her groundbreaking use of social media and crowdsource funding to support her creative endeavors, offers a fusion of autobiography and self-help, presenting a message of empowerment for those afraid to ask others for help in furthering personal and professional goals. Palmer in particular has had to find peace with accepting various forms of support from her financially successful spouse, the bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The narrative is interspersed with related songs from Palmer’s own repertoire and musical appearances by singer-songwriter and friend Ben Folds. Palmer’s transitions between speaking and singing flow effectively, and she provides a warm and quirky conversational style. Granted, some listeners who are looking primarily for personal development may not take to the artistic facets of the recording, but Palmer’s talent cannot be denied. The renderings of her famous husband’s calm and collected British delivery are especially entertaining. A Grand Central hardcover. (Nov.)
Publishers Weekly
09/15/2014
Performance artist and Dresden Dolls singer Palmer reflects on her career and shares insight into the economy of shared resources in this sometimes insightful but overly self-indulgent memoir. Beginning in Harvard Square performing as a human statue, Palmer first observed a “subterranean financial ecosystem” of sharing. She found a similar environment at the “Cloud Club,” an artists’ commune where her band performed its first gigs and shot a music video to which residents loaned their various talents. As a touring musician, Palmer became familiar with asking fans for “crash space” and meals, as when a Honduran family in Miami offered the crew their beds and treated them to “tortilla lessons” in the morning. Palmer delivers a master class on harnessing technology for artistic purposes, explaining how to turn crowdfunding, Twitter, and digital music downloads to your advantage. She makes valid points about the controversial Kickstarter that raised 1 million dollars for her solo album, but remains utterly obtuse regarding the poor reception of a poem written in the voice of one of the Boston Marathon bombers she posted to her blog. Palmer’s worthy message that “asking is an act of intimacy and trust” is often obscured by an overly confessional, borderline narcissistic tone unlikely to placate her critics. Agent: Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"A book unlike any other I've ever read. . . a book I'd have no problem recommending to everyone I know. My mother, my best friend, my work friends, my Facebook friends, my LinkedIn contacts, even the people I meet on the street or see on the subway when I commute to and from work. It's that important and that groundbreaking. This book is not just someone's brave and personal journey from childhood to her life as an artist, but it also addresses why and how it's so hard to look into someone else's eyes and be real, and ask for help when we need it. . . . Palmer has, not to put too fine a point on it, ripped open her chest and exposed her heart for all to see. She's written her truth - and it's at once brutal and gloriously, importantly beautiful."—The Huffington Post
"'The Art of Asking' is a compelling read, easily the most universal work she has ever done."—The Boston Globe
"Much as Anne Lamott offered 'instructions on writing and life' in Bird by Bird, Amanda Palmer will be instructive to anyone who struggles with fear of the 'no.'"—Shelf Awareness
"This is the kind of book that makes you want to call the author up at midnight to whisper, 'My God. I thought I was the only one.'"—Jenny Lawson, the Bloggess and author of Let's Pretend This Never Happened
"To read Amanda Palmer's remarkable memoir about asking and giving is to tumble headlong into her world. At first, you find yourself thinking, 'Goodness, what a crazy world that Amanda Palmer inhabits! How does she possibly endure it?' Then, gradually, as you read along, a doorway opens up in your heart, and you realize, 'I want to live in a world exactly like hers.' God willing, this book will show us all how to do it."—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and The Signature of All Things
"Amanda has a direct line with her audience-a lifeline for them and for her, the codependency all truly great performers surrender to . . . She's capable of anything, incapable of telling anything but the truth."
—Bono
"A story about a life in one dollar bills, from statue to icon, where media doesn't matter, crowds do. Mandatory reading in the digital age, for aspiring artists and their doubtful parents."
—Nicholas Negroponte, founder, MIT Media Lab
"Amanda Palmer joyfully shows a generation how to change their lives."—Caitlin Moran, author of How to Be a Woman and How to Build a Girl
"Amanda Palmer's generous work of genius will change the way you think about connection, love, and grace."
—Seth Godin, author of Tribes
"From this beautiful, heart-wrenching story of art comes an incredible account of the nature and future of commerce."
—Lawrence Lessig, author of Free Culture
Library Journal - Audio
04/01/2015
Singer-songwriters are by trade confessional artists. Palmer, once a member of the Dresden Dolls, further invades the fourth wall with this book, which expands her million-hit TED Talk with insights as to why it's hard to ask for help and how this reluctance can freeze-frame one's life and relationships. The writing can be nakedly emotional (complete with musical interludes), but her narration of the book avoids the bathetic, elides mawkish, and motors deep into the practicalities of an interconnected, interdependent life, both on a personal and professional level. VERDICT Recommended for fans of the author and anyone interested in getting help for one's creative pursuits. [See a Q&A with the author on this page.]—Kelly Sinclair, Temple P.L., TX
NOVEMBER 2014 - AudioFile
Amanda Palmer’s resonant yet intimate reading is captivating—but in a way that keeps listeners wondering whether it’s her wisdom about emotional connections or her outspoken self-promotion that makes this audio so powerful. She turned the skills she developed as a street busker and nightclub stripper into crowdfunding her indie rock career and sharing her ideals about human exchanges in a TED talk that garnered six million views. Bringing authenticity to her audiobook performance, she sells herself as a new millennium woman who knows something about inviting people to understand her and enter into productive exchanges with her. Her dramatic and seductive vocal style makes her message unforgettable: Asking for what you want and need will make you a more genuine participant in the human experience. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
