Reviews - Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success

86 reviews for:

Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success

Miki Berenyi

4.34 AVERAGE

cerys_nuala's review

5.0

emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Miki Berenyi writes so candidly in this memoir that I felt like I was listening to a friend rather than reading a book. Absolutely loved it.

strawberryjulius's review

5.0

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

fixtaa's review against another edition

3.5

emotional medium-paced

Miki Berenyi was the rhythm guitarist and singer for 1990s English shoegaze band Lush. This memoir takes the reader from her birth in 1967 to Lush’s dissolution in 1996 following the suicide of drummer and friend Chris Acland.

We don’t get to the formation of Lush until about halfway through this memoir. The first half is focused on her turbulent childhood following the divorce of her Hungarian-refugee journalist father and her Japanese actress mother. These years see her having a tough time at home in the UK (school troubles, horrible sexual abuse), but also frequently visiting Los Angeles where her mother eventually moved for Hollywood work, Japan, and Hungary. Those interested solely in the music might complain at this delay in getting to Lush’s actual career, but Berenyi’s family turns out to be even more interesting than the ethnically unusual match that it was. Through her family, Berenyi is linked to some dramatic episodes of Central European and East Asian history.

In fact, my interest in the book started to flag once Berenyi embarks on a musical career. So much of this portion is focused on an endless succession of lousy boyfriends and alcohol-soaked tour drama. There wasn’t much her about Lush’s music and recording process that I didn’t already know from press coverage back in the day. The memoir also firmly ends in the late 1990s, and while Berenyi does say that she is no longer in touch with guitarist and childhood friend Emma Anderson (who gets a lot of criticism in these pages, though of an understanding kind), she does not discuss the abortive 2015 reunion of the band.