I've had great experiences with music themed book previously (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev and Daisy Jones and The Six, as examples), so I was inclined to give this one a go based on that history and the book blurb alone. But after reading the letter from Stapley about why she wanted to write this novel, the yearning to show artist-activists as real people, getting to own their own story instead of it being thrust upon them, and a strong hint of millennial alt/angry female musical nostalgia (like, is that cover not perfect for the promised vibe), I was ALL IN.  

 

I'm still so, so behind on reviews, and there's a lot to pack into a blurb for this novel, so I'm leaning on Goodreads again: "Jane Pyre was once one half of one of the most famous rock ‘n’ roll duos in the world, The Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated (and least understood) woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate) Elijah—even if Jane was the one who wrote the songs that catapulted The Lightning Bottles to instant, dizzying fame, first in the Seattle grunge scene, and then around the world. But then Elijah disappeared and everything came crashing down. Even now, years after Elijah vanished, Jane is universally blamed and reviled by the public. In an attempt to get some peace and quiet, Jane rents a house in a remote part of Germany where she knows she won’t be disturbed. But on the day she arrives, she’s confronted by her new next-door neighbor, a sullen teenaged girl named Hen who just so happens to be a Lightning Bottles superfan—and who claims to have a piece of information that might solve the mystery of what happened to Elijah, and whether he is, in fact, still alive and leaving messages for Jane after all these years. A cross-continent road trip about two misunderstood outsiders brought together by their shared love of music, interwoven with flashbacks to the beginnings of Jane and Elijah’s love story and meteoric rise, The Lightning Bottles is a love story, a celebration of rock ‘n’ roll, and a searing portrait of the cost of fame." 

 

The first note I made after I started reading, and it remained true AF throughout, was "my god this is a nostalgia dump for alt millennials and I am loving every second." I was so emotionally IN for this entire reading experience. I was hooked; it got me. There’s romance and mystery and music and a yearning that is so intense and on point that honestly it’s like that’s what Stapley captured in the titular bottles, instead of lighting.  

 

Let's talk about what I loved. Each character was so humanly flawed, many of them difficult and prickly in their own ways. Really impressive, gritty writing on the ugly/dramatic sides of music and fame, and its effects on/interpretations by the characters, but never to a point that felt gratuitous. They were so real that I sometimes felt like, if I googled them, the exploits would pop up in real articles/blogs. Of course, there were many not at all subtle nods to IRL musicians and the stories/tabloids about them. It could easily have felt like it was tooeasy. BUT, that’s what was promised and why it was written (in the note from Stapley herself): to tell the side of these familiar stories that we don’t see(or don't want to see). To that end, this reclaiming of female punk artists' personas was especially impactful. This is something that has long (always?) been defined by the male musicians around them and/or the harshness of public opinion (that is, of course, more powerfully assuming/condescending/ignoring of and towards women). To see some of the characters in this book, Jane in particular, deal with that, and work towards a reclamation for themselves, on their own terms - rising out of the tragedies/anguish that defined their reputations and legacies - its' something I’d truly wish for them all, in real life. I know why, and see what, Stapley wanted to write with this book. And hats off to her for it. 

 

In looking at Jane and Elijah together, their romance is one that touched my heart. It started out of such a sweet and pure connection, and grew gorgeously in that. It was so hard to read how fame and life in the judgemental public eye broke a relationship that had so much promise. And of course, the seeds of "unhealthy" were definitely there already (in such a realistic way - really well written development of that), but fame as a catalyst for its disintegration was clear. But then, while the steps taken to this end were dramatic, there was also so much internal investment in the success of the relationship in the long run, that each did what they felt they must to reach a healthier future. Re: the press, though. This was just a really phenomenal look at how media makes a person a character, not real in the eyes of an audience, and even when confronted with direct evidence to the contrary, people believe what they want, to the detriment (often) of the “character” they believe it about. Like, even when Elijah tried so hard to be more equal, to tell the truth, that only made things worse. The public had already judged and would not be dissuaded. Heartbreaking. Similarly heartbreaking: how we had to watch the unfolding juxtaposition of people getting into this [rock 'n' roll]  life for the love of music/art (and, sure, in some cases, an interest in fame) with the price of fame, as it overtakes everything until that original love of music is no longer what is used to be, and definitely not what you dreamed/wanted it to be. 

 

The "road trip" piece of this story, the slightly weird but uniquely healing, relationship that formed between Jane and Hen was prickly and tender in a totally different way. Sort of unorthodox, but more compelling for it. What they did for each other's growth was unexpected and so soft, for all its hard edges, as they each learned some vulnerability and opening. They were the highlight of the variety of coming of ages that happened throughout the novel. The plot was straightforward, but I did think that the scavenger hunt was a fun twist to frame the story with. And it allowed for a gorgeous way to promise and hope for and provide a happy ending in the way one always wants, but in stories like this (IRL), doesn’t usually get. 

 

This novel may not have been perfect. And maybe there was a bit of generational, scene-based, fan service. But that's why I picked it up. And Stapley delivered. And the promise in the ending, while maybe not totally realistic, is full of the hope I want to have. So. I'm not at all mad about it. Color this (unexpectedly, and niche though it may be), a dark horse, low key favorite of mine for the year.   

 

 

"Some great songs make it feel like a spell is being cast..." 

 

"Can songs be magic spells, or curses, or both? If I've ever felt rapture in my life, or like a miracle could be possible, it didn't happen in a church, it happened in my room, when I was hiding under my duvet, listening to a new song on my Walkman or the radio." 

 

"She didn't come from somewhere that was all bad, it just hadn't been the right place for her. She could come back someday, and she'd be a different person." 

 

"What good is lightning if all you do is keep it in a bottle?" / "He is the lightning, but you are the bottle." 

 

"She could feel it like a tattoo. Bitch. So damning. It could become a brand so easily. All you had to do was defend yourself, hold back a smile, not laugh at the right joke." 

 

"Now you really are immortal. Isn't that the very point of art? You will be gone, and this will be here - unless someone paints it over, but even then, there will always be traces, until this building is dust. Until the world is dust." 

 

"They're just characters to her. She just found out something distasteful about a man she has revered - but she is able to cast it aside and keep on believing the story she tells herself about him. The entire point of celebrity is for people to be able to project their hopes, their dreams, their fantasies, onto canvases. Their unrequited love, their rabid hatred. Celebrities aren't real people. Jane knows this, because she is one." 

 

"Fame is such a curse. it's the price that must be paid for doing something we love this much, but still. Sometimes that price feels a little too high, doesn't it?" 

 

"Isn't that the irony? Sometimes the best part of a dream is dreaming it." 

 

"...legends were just stories people made up to make the world seem better. More interesting and magical than it really was." 

 

"In the silence, she imagines two heartbeats in the room. They're afraid but certain, brave but terrified. They know that the shape of love has velvet-soft contours and piercing thorns, and that this is okay." 

 

"Nothing is forever. / Except us."