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A review by ridgewaygirl
Face It: A Memoir by Debbie Harry
2.0
It turns out that heroin use is not a good way to build memories. Debbie Harry's memoir, is hampered by this fact as well as her unwillingness to say anything bad about anyone, tell juicy stories or get personal. She's lead an interesting life, what with being a part of the punk/new wave music scene, hanging out and performing at CGBG, a legendary music club in the seventies and eighties, with people like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and assorted drag queens and musicians, being part of Blondie and touring the world and acting in movies like Hairspray and Videodrome. I just wish there hadn't been so much missing from her memoir.
The book itself is a lovely object. The paper is the kind of thick, matte paper that photographs look good on and there are pictures. Mostly, there is fan art; drawings of Harry sent to her through the years and which she kept. It's a nice, surprisingly sentimental touch from a woman intent in making sure we all know how tough she is (she is very tough, and had to be). There's a lot of name-dropping, but not much in the way of stories. Harry isn't going to say anything bad about anyone and anyway she doesn't remember much of the early CGBG days, has only nice things to say about most of the members of Blondie (there's a bit about two former members behaving badly in 2006) and she's too guarded to say anything about how she felt about any of it along the way.
I'm sure that people who loved Blondie will enjoy this, but it's dull stuff.
The book itself is a lovely object. The paper is the kind of thick, matte paper that photographs look good on and there are pictures. Mostly, there is fan art; drawings of Harry sent to her through the years and which she kept. It's a nice, surprisingly sentimental touch from a woman intent in making sure we all know how tough she is (she is very tough, and had to be). There's a lot of name-dropping, but not much in the way of stories. Harry isn't going to say anything bad about anyone and anyway she doesn't remember much of the early CGBG days, has only nice things to say about most of the members of Blondie (there's a bit about two former members behaving badly in 2006) and she's too guarded to say anything about how she felt about any of it along the way.
I'm sure that people who loved Blondie will enjoy this, but it's dull stuff.