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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
I've loved Niko Stratis' culture writing and getting to dive into a full-length book of hers was fantastic. She explores her life through the lens of rock music, which is just pitch-perfect for who she is as a person. A great entry into the canon of both queer narratives and music analysis.
First and foremost, I loved the language in this memoir. This book is centered around music and the writing itself helped establish that tone wonderfully. Normally prose would be described as lyrical, reminiscent of some standard of classical movement, but this book reads as the rock its named after, full of jarring phrases, swears dropped in acting almost as power chords, all undercut by this beautifully personal and emotional storytelling that acts as a throughline tying everything together. I also loved how central music was the the text and using it as a throughline for identity. Music is such an important part of my life and identity and it really just connects with some part of you that is deeply human, hearing her describe all these various songs that defined different moments in her life. Tracking her identity as it grows and changes and evolves in parallel to the musicians she loves just works so well. The trans themes that she prescribes to dad rock make you ponder yourself, these ideas of the anger and hope and confusion of youth growing and changing with time until you are unafraid to be who you are, where you can stop cutting out pieces of your identity and embracing this hard-fought sense of self. Its a wonderful recollection of the struggles and triumphs of identity set to a kick-ass soundtrack, what's not to love?
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Alcohol
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
this is a heavy hitter of a book but also shapes up to what seems like will be an incredible mixtape to listen to later ❤️🔥
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism
I loved this structure, this memoir/music appreciation class. Weaving music history into your own and finding themes between them both is a stroke of genius. I want to make all men read the Mountain Goats chapter. I want to mail the Springsteen chapter to my friends. I felt Radiohead in my heart. Beautiful read.
dark
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
All too often we think of life as a narrative with an easy path from A to B, a simple timeline, but Niko Stratis writes like she knows that isn't true. This book called to mind the unique path that I've walked, and the songs that guided me along the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria
reflective
medium-paced
I like memoirs, I love reading queer authors, I like when music is incorporated into memoirs, and I like whatever the fuck "dad rock" is. Stratis takes a pretty expensive view on "dad rock," which I appreciated a lot.
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced