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A review by minheeshock
Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
4.0
Rob Sheffield’s Love Is a Mixtape was a truly unexpected pleasure. I’d had enough of music nerd fetishism a la High Fidelity, so I wasn’t that eager to read this book. But it fell into my lap when I found myself on a vacation and bookless, with nothing to read except my friend’s Kindle.
I devoured the book. I expected to identify with Rob’s love of music, but it was a surprise to be so moved by his story of loss. My dad died two years ago, and in the aftermath, I read books with mourning as a theme. Some I loved (Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking), some I liked and admired (Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls), and some I hated (Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk) – but none of them felt like me. Well, Rob’s story felt like me. It isn’t the deepest, most thought provoking book I’ve ever read, but this is the book I should’ve read in the aftermath of my dad’s death; this is the book where I would’ve seen my own experience staring back at me.
A wonderful by-product of this book is that it has me listening to music more. Since the podcast age arrived, I find myself listening to podcasts during the day instead of music. The last several years, I’ve been trying to listen to new releases as a way to keep music in my life. In a workman-like fashion, I’ll find some new music and listen to it at least five times. At the end of the year, I create a playlist with my favorite songs from each album. My dedication to this routine is the somewhat joyless “hook” that keeps me listening.
This book is genuine in it’s title; it has a mixed tape for each chapter, and the chapter may use the songs on the playlist as structure for the chapter or as a way to punctuate the theme. I realized that I should use my own mixes as the “hook” to more music consumption and also as a way to revisit the old music I love. Rob would talk about listening to his mixed tapes over and over again, smoking a cigarette on the back porch. As I listen to my playlists over and over again, I think of him, experiences of my youth and the way music can move you in so many ways. It’s both an anchor and an escape – it helps give voice to your own emotions while taking you into another world.
I devoured the book. I expected to identify with Rob’s love of music, but it was a surprise to be so moved by his story of loss. My dad died two years ago, and in the aftermath, I read books with mourning as a theme. Some I loved (Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking), some I liked and admired (Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls), and some I hated (Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk) – but none of them felt like me. Well, Rob’s story felt like me. It isn’t the deepest, most thought provoking book I’ve ever read, but this is the book I should’ve read in the aftermath of my dad’s death; this is the book where I would’ve seen my own experience staring back at me.
A wonderful by-product of this book is that it has me listening to music more. Since the podcast age arrived, I find myself listening to podcasts during the day instead of music. The last several years, I’ve been trying to listen to new releases as a way to keep music in my life. In a workman-like fashion, I’ll find some new music and listen to it at least five times. At the end of the year, I create a playlist with my favorite songs from each album. My dedication to this routine is the somewhat joyless “hook” that keeps me listening.
This book is genuine in it’s title; it has a mixed tape for each chapter, and the chapter may use the songs on the playlist as structure for the chapter or as a way to punctuate the theme. I realized that I should use my own mixes as the “hook” to more music consumption and also as a way to revisit the old music I love. Rob would talk about listening to his mixed tapes over and over again, smoking a cigarette on the back porch. As I listen to my playlists over and over again, I think of him, experiences of my youth and the way music can move you in so many ways. It’s both an anchor and an escape – it helps give voice to your own emotions while taking you into another world.