Girl in a Band Book Review
“When we came out onstage for our last show, the night was all about the boys” (Kim Gordon). This is the bold first sentence that Sonic Youth vocalist/bassist Kim Althea Gordon writes in her autobiographical memoir, Girl in a Band. The inspiration behind this liberating title is from “Sacred Trickster,” an ode to the quartet’s early 1990s high-gloss hardcore phase that appears on Sonic Youth’s final album, The Eternal. The entirety of this memoir is told from the altruistic world of Kim Gordon’s mind and tangible experiences. This novel focuses on youth-to-adult transition, feminine perceptions in the 70s/80s, separation from a longtime spouse, and the predevelopment of diagnosing schizophrenia as well as its effects on a family.
Throughout Girl in a Band, many conflicts are written across as honest and blunt as can be. Gordon is a fierce author and writer; she unleashes all vulnerability into the literary form of her own protective creativity. The author is sure to insert photographic memories that entail within each chapter. The plot is heavily centered on Gordon’s life story and the impact that her youth has on her today. An interesting concept that Gordon includes is that she begins her memoir with “THE END” and transitions her way back to adolescence, flip-flopping in a sense. At one point, Gordon reveals that she “struggles with the idea that she let him make her …show more content…
Kim Gordon’s adventurous writing sort of invites me to the past eras and further encourages me to immerse myself into areas where I could never picture myself there. A big strength in this memoir is how honest and open-eyed all of the material is. It’s appealing to see true events versus bubblegum-sugar-coated literacy. A slight weakness, however, is the repetitive grammar and dragging on of sentences. It becomes quite distasteful after a few
“When we came out onstage for our last show, the night was all about the boys” (Kim Gordon). This is the bold first sentence that Sonic Youth vocalist/bassist Kim Althea Gordon writes in her autobiographical memoir, Girl in a Band. The inspiration behind this liberating title is from “Sacred Trickster,” an ode to the quartet’s early 1990s high-gloss hardcore phase that appears on Sonic Youth’s final album, The Eternal. The entirety of this memoir is told from the altruistic world of Kim Gordon’s mind and tangible experiences. This novel focuses on youth-to-adult transition, feminine perceptions in the 70s/80s, separation from a longtime spouse, and the predevelopment of diagnosing schizophrenia as well as its effects on a family.
Throughout Girl in a Band, many conflicts are written across as honest and blunt as can be. Gordon is a fierce author and writer; she unleashes all vulnerability into the literary form of her own protective creativity. The author is sure to insert photographic memories that entail within each chapter. The plot is heavily centered on Gordon’s life story and the impact that her youth has on her today. An interesting concept that Gordon includes is that she begins her memoir with “THE END” and transitions her way back to adolescence, flip-flopping in a sense. At one point, Gordon reveals that she “struggles with the idea that she let him make her …show more content…
Kim Gordon’s adventurous writing sort of invites me to the past eras and further encourages me to immerse myself into areas where I could never picture myself there. A big strength in this memoir is how honest and open-eyed all of the material is. It’s appealing to see true events versus bubblegum-sugar-coated literacy. A slight weakness, however, is the repetitive grammar and dragging on of sentences. It becomes quite distasteful after a few