Déjà Vu Blogfest 2016

This post is part of the Deja Vu Blogfest run by the amazing D L Hammons.  The brief is to re-post one of your favorite posts from 2016, so here's a second look at a book review I wrote in March.  It's a book I think deserves more attention, so here you go!

Books I've Loved: Rat Girl

This is a great read and you don't have to be a fan of Kristin's music to enjoy it.  It probably helps, but having been a HUGE Kristin fan for over 20 years, I can't really speak from experience.

What I loved the most about this book is how Kristin's voice flows through it.  As a performer, she's always been a great storyteller.  I remember a fantastic show she did here when she released her first solo record where she sat on stage and told stories about her life, occasionally singing a song in a way that punctuated the tale she'd just spun.

This book reads like that concert.

And what a fascinating life!  From her friendship with an aging Betty Hutton to the hell of performing when you're not yourself on stage, this book delves deeply into a place, a time and one woman's experience of it, often through a filter of her own bi-polar disease.

It's a fascinating, poignant and often very funny story.  I recommend it most highly!

But don't believe me.  Here's the blurb:

The founder of a cult rock band shares her outrageous tale of growing up much faster than planned.

In 1985, Kristin Hersh was just starting to find her place in the world. After leaving home at the age of fifteen, the precocious child of unconventional hippies had enrolled in college while her band, Throwing Muses, was getting off the ground amid rumors of a major label deal. Then everything changed: she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and found herself in an emotional tailspin; she started medication, but then discovered she was pregnant. An intensely personal and moving account of that pivotal year, Rat Girl is sure to be greeted eagerly by Hersh's many fans.