LaToya Jackson Books

LaToya's book is intriguing. Like all of these books aimed at getting attention and making money, you have to take it with a grain of salt and realize that not everything is entirely true, some has been exaggerated, and some just plain made-up. You also have to keep in mind that this book was written when she was still with Jack Gordon and be aware of the influences that has on how some things are portrayed.

If you can take the time to sort through it all though, what you find is a very sensitive and caring girl who was caught in the insanity that is the Jackson family. Like other tales from inside Hayvenhurst (like Margaret Maldonado Jackson's book), you get the sense that the people inside those walls are prisoners of their own fame and paranoia, a house filled with physical and emotional abuse. I think if you looked up "dysfunctional family" in the dictionary, there should be a picture of the Jacksons staring back at you.

You really feel for her in this book, and stories such as that of her father beating her after she got a less than stellar report from her teacher at school, are so vivid that you can tell it must be true, her pain and fear from such incidents is palpable.

Like Margaret's book, Katherine comes out looking just as bad as Joe here, and it seems no surprise that the Jackson children are so troubled with parents like these. Desperate to escape her insane family, it's easy to see why a girl like LaToya would be suckered in by an opportunist like Jack Gordon who would use and abuse her for years.

I really wish she would write an update to her book, to let us know how she is doing since this book was published.

When La Toya Jackson first released her tell-all autobiography book in 1991, it did not exactly shock the world, as her playboy venture did a couple of years earlier, but it certainly caught a lot of media attention and received much criticism from her own family.

The purpose of this book, according to La Toya, was to reveal the truth. Just how much of this "truth" is real, I'm not quite sure. But for the most part, La Toya seems to be rather genuinely sincere, aside from maybe a few possible exaggerations here and there. Nonetheless, her tone is very humble and straightforward. Many of her stories are fascinating; some of them are sad, others are funny, entertaining, but always interesting. She recounts candidly about her childhood, her relationship to her parents and her siblings, The Jackson Five phenomena, Michael Jackson's tremendous musical success, her own music career, her search of freedom and independence, and her strange "marriage" to Jack Gordon, who she openly admits to have never loved. In fact, her reasons for marrying him had nothing to do with romance at all; her reasons will most likely surprise you.

Yet some of her stories seem a bit too outrageous to be true, or so I thought. For example, La Toya recounts a time when she was held captive inside the home of a famous record producer by the name of Phil Spector. La Toya describes this frightening experience in great detail, portraying Phil Spector as a lunatic, a man with a very serious personality disorder. Spector, according to La Toya, behaved very strangely with his sporadic mood swings and attempts to scare her to death by playing mind games. He even teased La Toya with some eerie suggestions of murdering her! (You'll have to read the book to get the full details: I don't want to spoil this for anybody.) That, at first, I found a bit difficult to believe. So I did some research on this Phil Spector guy, and it turns out that several years after this incident, in 2003, he was arrested as a murder suspect! La Toya's book, by the way, was published in 1991. Therefore, La Toya was not bluffing about this legendary producer, especially since others have also made comments about his odd personality. So does this mean that La Toya's claims that her own family tried to kidnap her at one point may also be true? (This is another fascinating story that you'll find in this book... a must read.)

Overall, I thought this book is exceptionally well written. La Toya is a very open-minded person and I found her quite intriguing. I really enjoyed reading this book. Five Stars!

I've read a few books about the Jackson Family,some fictional accounts (written by family members)and a couple of fact based ones. This one, as well as the book titled "Be Careful Who You Love" are positively riveting and honest.

I have tried to share the experience of reading the true stories with other avid readers and especially die hard Jackson fans and they just don't want to hear or know anything but what the spin doctors,publicists and Michael Jackson spoon feed them. That's unfortunate because if you have children;if your children are being cared for in your absence by other adults, you NEED to not be afraid of discovering the truth about the Jackson family. La Toya is nobody's airhead. She is incredibly intelligent,a fact not many of us know and she is marvelously candid and articulate. Reading her book, I got a completely different perspective of the kind of woman she is. She deserves to be better thought of and listened too.

This is my open letter to La Toya. You are worthy. You have overcome the horrors of your childhood wonderfully.

Society should thank Latoya for exposing abuse. More books should be written to reveal what goes on behind closed doors. Thumbs up!

This book lifts the lid on the Jackson family's dark (although not so shocking in the year 2006) rise to fame and fortune...

La Toya describes the abuse, and beatings that she and her siblings, including brother Michael Jackson received from their father. She also hints at sexual abuse (La Toya has said in subsequent interviews that she was an incest victim, but pulled the details from this book) at the hands of her father. She also has stated that her parents tried to kidnap her.

Now fast-forward 15 years. La Toya Jackson has recanted most of her statements in this book. She now claims that she was a domestic violence victim by her ex-husband and former manager who put words in her mouth (the late Jack Gordon.)

So is this book true or false? It's up to the reader to decide. ...As far as I'm concerned I think La Toya Jackson gets her kicks by playing the perpetual victim. It is still an interesting saga, though... And I wouldn't mind reading a new autobiography by La Toya,