Book review of "Still So Excited!" by Ruth Pointer and Marshall Terrill

One must not criticize an autobiography, especially when the author has laid out their life and experiences with the ugly truth.  To criticize would be to judge that person and we are not to judge one another.  It takes an amazing amount of strength to put those hardships, bad/catastrophic decisions and acts that lack common sense out there for everyone to read. 

But that’s what Ruth Pointer did, in her autobiography Still So Excited!: My Life as a Pointer Sister written with Marshall Terrill, who has written biographies of many celebrities. 

I became a huge fan of theirs when they released their Break Out album which was the apex of their career.  But to read the struggles Ruth and her sisters Anita, June and Bonnie went through to even get their first album The Pointer Sisters.  Their success began to build after its release but went through some highs and lows.  With an emphasis on the highs. It seemed that once fame and success hit, so did the drugs and alcohol.

Ruth divulges everything and does not hold back when discussing her additions to cocaine and crack.  How her addictions led to four failed marriages, major rifts between sisters and letting people take advantage of her and her sisters.  Who knows what we would do if we found ourselves in those situations? 

She still holds some bitterness and anger against the people who kicked her father out of the church he built from the ground up and established a congregation.  We can usually forgive someone who has wronged us, but when someone wrongs a person we love, like a parent, spouse or sibling, those hurt feelings might never go away. 

Ruth talks about the night she decided she had had enough of the drugs and alcohol and decided to go sober.  That was in 1985 and she has been clean and sober ever since.  Unfortunately, the same could not be said about June or Bonnie.  Ruth doesn’t mention if Anita had any problems with drugs, alcohol or husbands.  It almost sounds as if Anita was the only sister who did not have the same troubles as the other three.

Although June was on a downward spiral, they managed to release albums until the 1990’s with Only Sisters Can Do That being their final album of original material.  None of them came close to the success as Break Out.

It’s heartbreaking to think of what could have happened if June had managed to clean up.  Would they still be making beautiful music?  Again one cannot judge her since she experienced a horrific, terrifying ordeal as a teenager.  Ruth mentions more than once this incident might have unhinged her for the rest of her life.  Who knows what demons tormented her all her life?

Ruth is still out there performing with her daughter Issa and granddaughter Sadako and still so excited.  And she just can’t hide it!

This is an amazing book, albeit heartbreaking and sad in someplaces, yet uplifting and positive!