Scan barcode
fallonclark's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I hadn’t even heard of Sonic Youth until the band came up in conversation several years ago. The group was formed in 1981, before I was born, and while my parents were rock-and-roll lovers, they didn’t get into the more new-wavey spheres of the rock space. So Kim Gordon, as a musician and an artist, wasn’t even on my radar. But in early July when I went to my local library looking for memoirs and biographies by or about rock-and-roll musicians, Girl In A Band was there on the shelf staring at me.
Sometimes, the right book finds us, and Kim’s memoir found me at just the right moment. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t a Sonic Youth superfan. Didn’t matter that I didn’t know Gordon or Thurston, had no idea they were seen as a rocker power couple, had no idea, really, what I’d find in these 300-odd pages. What I found, though, was inspiration, raw and emotional and honest inspiration.
More on Substack: https://fallonclark.substack.com/p/women-arent-allowed-to-be-kick-ass
More on Substack: https://fallonclark.substack.com/p/women-arent-allowed-to-be-kick-ass
racheltanza's review against another edition
This was an odd one for me. I think Kim Gordon is so cool and her life is so interesting, but I also didn’t connect with her that much here (which is honestly how I feel about Sonic Youth). Glad I read though!
bimmbles's review against another edition
3.0
Never not going to love a music memoir. Even though I did feel like Gordon's reflections stuck to the facts and stayed on the surface of things more than I was anticipating, I still gobbled this up happily.
alexsmallwood's review against another edition
4.0
really huge of kim to be able to empathize with the people who hurt her and acknowledge their circumstances while still not forgiving them. i always jump to attempting forgiveness when i rationalize their behavior from their eyes. i could learn a lot from her.
belwood303's review against another edition
4.0
Easy to read and enjoyable even if you don't know anything about Sonic Youth. I loved Kim described the books she was reading at the time and how it influenced her art and her music, a library as a road map. The book is not told linearly, doubling back often and retelling events using something significant, overlapping events. At first that was distracting but by the end I actually really liked it.
gabrielrobartes's review against another edition
4.0
Though really more of a 6.5 or 7. I want to love this but compared to the raw nerves and exposed viscera or Viv Albertine's memoir, it feels - too cool?