The Snowbird’s Story

You probably remember that hurting' song of the 1930s:

All of me, why not take all of me? Can’t you see, I’m no good without you ...

Well, Anne Murray’s version of All of Me gives us more in excruciating showbiz minutiae than we may need or want, but little in the way of reflection or insight.

The press release from Knopf Canada gushes: “Canada’s first lady of song tells the whole story of her astonishing 40-year career in show business ... from her humble origins in the tragedy-plagued coal-mining town of Springhill ... to her arrival on the world stage.”

The whole story? Well, that may be moot. As is customary in autobiographies, we only have one point of view about the life under examination—the autobiographer’s.

Humble origins? While small-town doctors may not whiz about to their house calls in Cadillacs or Lamborghinis, the life of the doctor in a community of...