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since68's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
An interesting autobiography, heartfelt and open.
spav's review against another edition
4.0
Kim writes about her early life before Sonic Youth, gives away juicy tidbits of their albums and narrates eighties and nineties american music scene like I have never read anyone before doing it.
At times slamming Thurston, at times showing off her vulnerabilities, overall a great bio and a refreshing view on the music scene relationships that played a role in her life.
At times slamming Thurston, at times showing off her vulnerabilities, overall a great bio and a refreshing view on the music scene relationships that played a role in her life.
misscassylee's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
3.5 this was pretty good. Gordon definitely wrote this too close to her divorce and so she was definitely processing some trauma and feelings about that — understandably so. You can’t be married to someone for 30 years and not feel some type of way about an affair that ate up 6 years or whatever it was. It definitely colors my opinion of Thurston and the “other woman.” I think it also speaks to some of her bitterness that other folks called anti feminist. I disagree on that point, I think Gordon is feminist af and has the receipts to show for that. I enjoyed learning about the 80s art scene and NYC living and the odd intersections of musicians and art. I also liked her discussion of motherhood, marriage, and just getting older.
I also feel compelled to mention that for some reason I thought she was much younger and a Gen Xer. I was tangentially aware of Sonic Youth as a young person, but it I never fully engaged with it back then. I’ve got a tidy list of music to check out which is cool. Her new album, The Collective and the NYT article prompted my dive in to Gordon. I’m enjoying this fun little rabbit hole I found myself in.
I also feel compelled to mention that for some reason I thought she was much younger and a Gen Xer. I was tangentially aware of Sonic Youth as a young person, but it I never fully engaged with it back then. I’ve got a tidy list of music to check out which is cool. Her new album, The Collective and the NYT article prompted my dive in to Gordon. I’m enjoying this fun little rabbit hole I found myself in.
ashpanda88's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very honest and personal memoir. Kim reflects on art and music and how her passion for both fits into her life. She opens up about her childhood and hangups from that time and discusses her divorce. You can tell she's in a transition period in her life now. I think the honesty makes this book all the more enjoyable.
macncheese_pdf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
doritobabe's review against another edition
3.0
Reading Kim Gordon's "Girl in a Band" was, and is, one of my first forays into musician memoirs. Up until this point I have read the autobiographies of "no names" (Jenny Mollen, fellow Edmontonian Kelly Oxford, Emma Forrest, Cheryl Strayed...), actresses and personalities (Mindy Kahling, Caitlin Moran, Lena Dunham); and several biographies (Paul Dirac, Margret Mitchell, Jean Rhys). While each maintain their own style, they will tend to exceed a certain amount of pages, and I was shocked by the fact that Gordon's book was not even three hundred pages.
Within such a small book, she has covered most of her life--that is, what she was willing to discuss--and a few years outside of it. About half way through, she catalogs Sonic Youth's albums and their production, focusing on her major contributions to each one, or her favorite songs or anecdotes associated with each.
What I find interesting is Gordon's writing style: she is not very open with her audience, admitting that yes, she is a guarded individual due to circumstances in her life, and that really comes through in the writing. As a reader you learn about her family, but not about how things have made her feel, and rarely, unlike majority of the essays I have listed above (save Mindy Kahling's text because that was a horrible, horrible read--sorry!) does Gordon express a ~moral~ to the reader about what she has learned from life.
Instead her intentions are more abstract (just like her music). I believe that her intention as an author, just like her intentions as a musician and an artist, is to make the reader feel for themselves based on her experiences. However, these thematic and intentional soliloquies where they do exist are for only part of the book.
When Kim is covering the creation of the many Sonic Youth albums, this was the most uninteresting part of the book for me. I was still able to read it and enjoy it, but it was not as gripping (personally) as when she described her formative years.
One fatal flaw of the text is her tendency to name drop. If I had not taken classes specifically focused on subcultures and their influences, I would have had to do some extensive googling to figure out the community that Gordon and Sonic Youth were existing in, which, in my opinion, is a very important part of their history and influence.
Knowing at what stage in her life Gordon is writing this text, may explain for her emotionless writing. There are several moments where I feel like she is wanting to break through the pages because she is writing about something very difficult or close to her, but usually, and maybe this is where the written poignancy lies, she will just end off the chapter. We see this with discussions surrounding her parents, Thurston, and Kurt.
I could keep writing about this text and the things that I have notices, but overall I am fairly satisfied with this read. Kim Gordon is a very intelligent, effectual writer, with something very important (in my opinion) to say at the end of the book regarding musicians as commodities. 3.75-4/5 (depending on how I feel that day).
Within such a small book, she has covered most of her life--that is, what she was willing to discuss--and a few years outside of it. About half way through, she catalogs Sonic Youth's albums and their production, focusing on her major contributions to each one, or her favorite songs or anecdotes associated with each.
What I find interesting is Gordon's writing style: she is not very open with her audience, admitting that yes, she is a guarded individual due to circumstances in her life, and that really comes through in the writing. As a reader you learn about her family, but not about how things have made her feel, and rarely, unlike majority of the essays I have listed above (save Mindy Kahling's text because that was a horrible, horrible read--sorry!) does Gordon express a ~moral~ to the reader about what she has learned from life.
Instead her intentions are more abstract (just like her music). I believe that her intention as an author, just like her intentions as a musician and an artist, is to make the reader feel for themselves based on her experiences. However, these thematic and intentional soliloquies where they do exist are for only part of the book.
When Kim is covering the creation of the many Sonic Youth albums, this was the most uninteresting part of the book for me. I was still able to read it and enjoy it, but it was not as gripping (personally) as when she described her formative years.
One fatal flaw of the text is her tendency to name drop. If I had not taken classes specifically focused on subcultures and their influences, I would have had to do some extensive googling to figure out the community that Gordon and Sonic Youth were existing in, which, in my opinion, is a very important part of their history and influence.
Knowing at what stage in her life Gordon is writing this text, may explain for her emotionless writing. There are several moments where I feel like she is wanting to break through the pages because she is writing about something very difficult or close to her, but usually, and maybe this is where the written poignancy lies, she will just end off the chapter. We see this with discussions surrounding her parents, Thurston, and Kurt.
I could keep writing about this text and the things that I have notices, but overall I am fairly satisfied with this read. Kim Gordon is a very intelligent, effectual writer, with something very important (in my opinion) to say at the end of the book regarding musicians as commodities. 3.75-4/5 (depending on how I feel that day).