I was provided a galley edition for review, and I am really
torn.
Did I love the book? No.
Did I enjoy it? I did.
Why the split decision? Because as I
read Under a Rock: a Memoir by Chris Stein, I felt like I was reading a dictation of
audio interviews with the interview prompts edited out. I wasn’t prepared for
that when I first started reading.
That was the only editing sometimes that I felt happened in this book. I think it’s a good representation of what
Chris Stein wanted to share with us. He
presents the story as he wanted. It’s
fair. It’s his book right? So here my impression: read it that way. Listen to some of the interviews he has done
throughout the years so that you can have his voice in your head as you go
through the journey. I think you will
get much more out if it that way.
I did and it really helped me to enjoy the book more.
Seriously.
Chris Stein is a genius, Mensa level genius, which he
writes about from his childhood. It was
a wonderful nugget shared. I held that
information close when I was reading. He
has so much to share with us, fans and readers alike that it’s unfortunate that
it was not reigned in a touch to make the book more linear at times. I don’t think we needed a lot of editing but
a little bit would have helped with the focus.
So I had to go this place when I was reading. Also, because it was a galley edition I didn’t
have the visuals that he shared in the print edition. Chris Stein is a photographer at heart and
art. So maybe that was missed too. I do have a print edition coming and look
forward to revisiting the book with that context too.
Read this book as one sided conversation sharing memories
of a time from a respected elder. This
is not a rambling of a crazy person, but ramblings of a person trying to capture
everything and then leaving it to others to bring it to fruition in an
understandable way at the end (which maybe doesn’t happen as clearly as we the
reader would like). There is a sense of place but it’s chaotic truth.
It is so just matter of fact, the squalor of late 1960s to
1980s New York City, that it’s almost missed that his band “Blondie” was at the
precipice of all music styles coming at that time. He founded a band that was so interested in
all different genres, that while under the title of “punk” or “new wave” really
the sheer variety of content that they recorded, often gets missed. Again, I go back to genius level human here.
There is a lot of drug content in the book, and due to it’s
matter-of-factness may be triggering, but it’s not played up or down here. It’s
just “there”. But that is his
truth.
It also goes to show that adage… “Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and
mercy because one day your circumstance could change and you may need it.”… ― Germany Kent.
As a lover of Blondie, I had no idea.
Nor should I have until now.
Because of that at Chapter 9, I put the book down and picked up
another. The break was needed.
Then at the first half of Chapter 10 I was rewarded by the most beautiful
writing of the book.
I have read some other reviews where they comment that this is a cautionary
tale of rock and roll stardom. I must disagree because really Blondie where
never “stars”. They as a band were well regarded and niched into new wave and
punk, but they were so very much more than that. They were never the “stars” that they could
have been, should have been. Many of the
recollections were of excess and then the downfalls which without fanfare are
so important to remember.
This is a fable of great love of friends, a time where anything was
possible and addictions of all types. The perspective is worth taking in and
reading. Yes, this is about his on-going
relationship between Debbie Harry (that I think fans of Blondie want to read
about) but truthfully so much more. I
really do appreciate that more than I thought I could when I finished it.
“Under a Rock” is a valuable memoir presented with his singular voice. Chris
Stein makes a valuable note of what he feels truth of what the book is about
too, in what is a very touching and heart wrenching epilogue.
#books, #memoir, #Chris Stein, #Blondie, #non-fiction
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