A review by sarahtribble
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

5.0

Bruce Springsteen is my hero. I mean that with no hint of exaggeration. I was raised on his music; I think I may have come out of the womb already fluent in his lyrics. There may have been a time in my life prior to knowing all the words to all of his greatest hits, but I certainly don't remember it. Hearing the soulful opening harmonica chords in The River awakens something guttural in me and floods serotonin directly into my veins, and the triumphant saxophone in Born to Run gives me so much adrenaline that I could straight up run a mile in ten seconds flat. All that being said, I wasn't sure if I would like this book — or rather, I was scared that I wouldn't. They says never to meet your heroes, and I'll be honest: I was afraid that if I got to know Bruce in this book, instead of keeping him at a reverent arm's length like I have for the last 25 years, I might not like him, and that the love and nostalgia that have become foundational to my early life and my adult personality would be soured beyond repair. I'm lucky, therefore, that I loved this, and that it has become one of my favourite books I've read this year. Really, I needn't have been too worried. Bruce is an incredibly eloquent writer and a descriptive, imaginative storyteller, and the honesty and vulnerability he brought to each and every page drew me in right from the start. I especially enjoyed and appreciated how candid he was about his experiences with his mental health, both as a young man and in his early to mid-sixties after the Wrecking Ball World Tour. Given that he's a Baby Boomer (very unfortunate, I know, but at least he's a Libra Baby Boomer), one might expect someone in his generation to be dismissive and derisive about anxiety and depression, but Bruce is honest: he divulges his struggles with anxious thinking and describes how he found the right medication to treat his bouts of depression with plain sincerity and self-care, and I found it so powerful and comforting. If you love memoirs and/or the Boss, I would highly recommend this one. Yes, I'm obviously biased as shit, but I still stand by the recommendation. Bruce is a phenomenal writer who has lived a fascinating, extraordinary, but still down-to-earth life, and for me on this occasion, meeting my hero was nothing short of a dream come true.