From the guitarist of the pioneering band Sleater-Kinney, the book Kim Gordon says "everyone has been waiting for" and a New York Times Notable Book of 2015— a candid, funny, and deeply personal look at making a life—and finding yourself—in music.
Before Carrie Brownstein became a music icon, she was a young girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest just as it was becoming the setting for one the most important movements in rock history. Seeking a sense of home and identity, she would discover both while moving from spectator to creator in experiencing the power and mystery of a live performance. With Sleater-Kinney, Brownstein and her bandmates rose to prominence in the burgeoning underground feminist punk-rock movement that would define music and pop culture in the 1990s. They would be cited as “America’s best rock band” by legendary music critic Greil Marcus for their defiant, exuberant brand of punk that resisted labels and limitations, and redefined notions of gender in rock.
HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL is an intimate and revealing narrative of her escape from a turbulent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-invention, community, and rescue. Along the way, Brownstein chronicles the excitement and contradictions within the era’s flourishing and fiercely independent music subculture, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series Portlandia years later.
With deft, lucid prose Brownstein proves herself as formidable on the page as on the stage. Accessibly raw, honest and heartfelt, this book captures the experience of being a young woman, a born performer and an outsider, and ultimately finding one’s true calling through hard work, courage and the intoxicating power of rock and roll.
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 27, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780399565410
- File size: 203902 KB
- Duration: 07:04:47
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Carrie Brownstein narrates her memoir with the same seriousness and precision she devoted to writing its prose. Her performance is thoughtful and measured, with moments of sly humor and self-deprecation appropriate to a woman who is looking back on her journey from attention-hungry child growing up in pre-Microsoft Redmond, Washington, to well-established rock musician, comedian, actress ("Portlandia"), and writer. Fans of her band, Sleater-Kinney, will appreciate the periodic musical interludes. At one point, instead of reading, Brownstein picks up her guitar and sings the lyrics to a song she wrote in high school ("You Annoy Me"). Whether familiar with her work or not, listeners will find many universals in Brownstein's story of pursuing her passion and finding the result a little more than she can handle. A.F. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from November 16, 2015
This strikingly expressive memoir from Brownstein, a writer, actress, and guitarist who created the critically acclaimed television show Portlandia, gambols over the sometimes steep hills of the quest for self-definition. Brownstein attended her first rock concert in fifth grade; she went to see Madonna, and was enough of fan to even try dressing like the star. Her mother nixed her outfit, but Madonna's show was still a "moment I'll never forget," she writes, "a total elation that momentarily erased any outline of darkness." Struggling though a chaotic family life, she finds herself through music, eventually co-founding the group Sleater-Kinney with her friend and then-lover, Corin Tucker. In the beginning, music mimics the turbulence in her life, as the band searches for ways to practice, write songs, cohere as a group, get along with one another, and establish themselves in the Seattle music scene as well as outside the US. As their reputation builds and they take their place at the forefront of the Riot Grrrls movement, Brownstein writes, "the unlit firecracker I carried around inside me in my youth... found a home in music." Brownstein is unafraid to reveal her emotional vulnerability, making this one of the smartest and most articulate music memoirs in recent years. -
January 25, 2016
In performing the audio edition of her new memoir, Brownstein, creator and star of TV comedy series Portlandia and a member of the band Sleater-Kinney, maintains an engaging presence with her conversational style. Despite both the emotionally charged nature of Sleater-Kinney’s feminist-punk music and the coming-of-age/relationship themes in the story line, Brownstein opts for an understated emotional tone, preferring to leave the screaming on stage. The recording does include clips of original music by Brownstein, in addition to an interview in which she discusses the process of penning her book. One of the most intriguing questions she tackles is the almost total absence of references to Portlandia from her autobiographical narrative. Even listeners not steeped in indie music can at least appreciate the display of artistic devotion. A Riverhead hardcover.
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