ellyka 's review for:

The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic: Revised and Expanded Edition by Jessica Hopper, Samantha Irby

5.0

---

In the early(ist) of aughts, I interned for Jess when she was doing PR for indie bands/labels. She was only a few years older than me but I looked up to her immensely. I listened to a wide swath of music and was pretty knowledgeable, but was also extremely shy and shrunk in her presence - not because she wasn't approachable, but because she's just a total badass; like Sam Irby mentions in the forward, Jessica is always the coolest person in the room. I've followed Jess's career for 20+ years now, so while I'd read several of these pieces before, slowly (re)reading them over the past few months has been a joy. Talk about a paragon of "women who rock." Glad I bought the updated version because I really enjoyed the afterward, too.