I'm a huge ABBA & specifically Agnetha fan. Their music has gotten me through many rough patches in life and still does after 40+ years. I collect alot of their stuff but have bought very few books. I have five and two of those are essentially picture books with a history of the group containing standard information that most fans would know. One was a ABBA quiz/trivia book written by the same author as this Agnetha book, Daniel Ward, that I got a kick out of. My knowledge wasn't as good as I thought and I doubt I even got half the questions right! The other two books were unauthorized biographies. I usually avoid those like the plague because the person or persons being written about have not participated in the book. I especially didn't want to take a chance on books about ABBA because I wanted facts and not speculation and also feared the books would be unflattering to them. I have to say the two books I have bought surprised me, including this one.
Mr. Ward did a really fine job I feel. Some of the sources he cited were excellent, especially Ian Cole of the excellent ABBA Omnibus website, which is as good as it gets in my opinion as a source. I knew much of the background of her through the other biography I read but Mr. Ward filled in some blanks very nicely. I learned alot about her non-ABBA career and this interested me alot. The only minor criticism is when he covered the ABBA years it seemed mostly focused on the group and not so much about her. Certainly ABBA was a huge part of her singing career and had to be included but the focus was so much on the band it felt more like a biography of the group and not what the book was intended to be, which was about her. This in no way ruined the book as the five star rating proves but I would have liked to hear more about her during those ABBA years instead of so much about the other members and the manager. They have to be included of course but the book was about her and separate books could be done about the other members. I was more interested in hearing something like 70% her and 30% the band. Having said that the book is excellent and highly recommended. At <200 pages its a quick read and I would have liked more but what is there is very informative. Agnetha will always be my favorite performer as I really identify with her. She has always seemed like someone who is misunderstood and mistreated in terms of being accused of being a recluse or unfriendly. Fame can make it hard just to be yourself or have relationships. She is a terrific loving mother and just needed someone to love her and be her friend. We all crave that. I hope she still has some albums in her as I can't get enough of her perfect voice and her fans would agree I'm sure.
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