zenaslib's reviews
572 reviews

I expected the romp through blue, but this felt forced and contrived.

If you can get passed the constant misogyny, it is at times beautifully poetic and other times unexpectedly raunchy. Most of this book is a lament on the language used for sexual words and wordplay, for curses, for all things explicit. Then it seems to try to make something of blue and hue that’s not very interesting in between philosophies I enjoyed.

 

I did find the moments when r*p* were included to be quite jarring, and upsetting to see someone give it any space in their work. I thought maybe he just needs to examine this part this way, but then it kept going on & on. Women as passive subjects to be used and never considered, over & over.

Surprisingly, there are some seriously moving and poetic moments in his writing. At points I was convinced. Yes, Mr Gass, we simply have failed to capture sex and curse words and all manner of fucks in language - the nuance and the sensory, we’ve given up. But is the only sexuality conceivable that of this sort, when you’ve ached for pages about a limited imagination?

It feels like two books in a novella, trying very hard to make sense of each other, but I don’t know if they ever do.

Tanya Pearson is pretty similar to me. We’re born the same year (1981) and therefore had our pivotal youth cultural experiences at the same times.

Tanya talks about coming of age to the grunge, indie rock and alternative scenes and how, our age bracket just missed the scenes middle stages - when bands like Hole, The Breeders, Veruca Salt, Belly, Liz Phair and L7 were still playing smaller venues and bars. We were there for the explosion of amazing bands coming into the mainstream, though. And our experiences were particular because it was pre-internet, and MTV/Much Music were huge influences back then. You knew what songs were big because you saw the videos play, over and over again. You also tuned in to various radio stations to tape your favourite songs if you hadn’t bought the tape or CD yet.

Tanya joined bands and recreated some of the female 90s rock sounds in doing so — something I might have badly attempted only a couple times before dodging out. And though I dreamed of being a rock journalist, too much had changed by the time I finished high school.

Suffice to say, something really interesting was happening with mainstream music in the 90s and contrary to what seems to be the belief now, this was not a rock scene dominated by men. Unconventional women, in fact, were everywhere and 90s grunge, indie rock and alternative rock was really female heavy.

And then over night all the women had vanished.

I remember all of this so well, but I didn’t have the knowledge back then to understand why women suddenly disappeared from radio and TV seemingly over night when just before it there was a huge emergence of female centred and female led alt rock bands, and even bands that weren’t indie/alt rock but fuelled this kind of rebellious energy.

Some blame a backlash within the culture, that record labels that were predominantly indie started consolidating and buying each other out, and that meant these bands were no longer being headed by people with a love for the art they were distributing, now it was record execs whose only interest were dollar signs and who were stifling after the initial wave. Some blame 9/11, that men became paternalistic and thought these strong, unapologetic women made them seem weaker to “enemies”. This book explores all the pivotal bands from this era and how these scenes started and ended.

This is my first completed ARC and admittedly the way its put together is pretty questionable. I wanted to put my editor cap on and fix a lot of how the book is laid out. I guess its not the finished copy so maybe they’ll move some things around and better organize it to highlight certain quotes and separate Tanya’s passages better from the bands she interviews, remove the repetitive statements, etc.

Apart from that I enjoyed reading so many of these people I grew up on speak about their experiences from back then. It made me miss that era and remember how amazing it was. I’ve been playing Belly’s Star nonstop for days and just discovered Kim Deal’s solo album from November(?). Also I’ve made a playlist for those who don’t know what that sound was like and for those who do & miss them (it's linked in bio)!
Rating: 3.5

Out January 28th!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEPK6UaODHo/

Did a part audiobook/part paperback thing.

This book is part natural history, Indigenous land knowledge, part memoir and generally an anti-capitalist break down of what nature’s generosity offers and asks of us, respect and limits. It’s both beautifully poetic and educational — one of those books you can probably just open into a random chapter at any moment to remind yourself of where you are.

I’m having one of those years where the more I learn, the more I remember what I always knew. But maybe I’m always having one of those years. 

Reminders that under everything in this strange capitalist facade there is the real of us. And it is gifted to us. That we are capable of spiritual ecstasy, that our borderless and roaming communities fostered health and joy. What respect for life looks like. That we are fed propaganda and lies as milk, and we often have no where else to look anyway.

I guess this book is meeting me where I am. On the same road I’ve been on for years, that wound itself back here. Fighting for myself in therapy is fighting for community is fighting for Palestine is fighting for reciprocity is child psychology is child murder is respect your inner child is how you treat the fruit you eat is learning the land you walk, eat from, pray with 🤎

If you’re not on this same journey, I still think you’ll find an immense amount in these pages. I think everyone who does will feel the urge to re-indigenize or at least consider how they would.

This is one of the best things I’ve read

Paused

For later!!

Too much right now

Got bored / didn’t like the blamey tone

My library loan ran out 🙃