Side A: The Music Lovers Graphic Novel
Full disclosure time: I’m not a music lover. I mention this because it’s in the subtitle for this book and, as I’m not a music lover, chances are you can disregard my opinions about this entirely. I am a music liker, but it had very little influence on me as a kid and even now I mostly listen to talk radio of some sort. That being said, I did love this book. It has 33 stories in it by a wide variety of folks. I am much too lazy to go through them all one by one, but I will mention highlights. Rebecca Chapnik’s Last Act, about her trying to be punk in high school and still not managing to fit in with the punks, was wonderful and captured the rage of being unable to connect. Matthew Young’s Articles of Faith, about trying to find the exact song that was on when he started writing for the first time as a child, is something anybody can relate to who’s had part of a mystery song stuck in their head. Sarah Shay and Corey Marie Parkhill’s The Day We Got Kicked Out of the Feminist Treehouse wonderfully details some of the absurdities of modern feminism and trying hopelessly to fit in, or at least not be called out by the band. There are many many great stories in here, ranging from how music affects art and how to draw along with the beat (something I was completely unfamiliar with) to the music that influenced them throughout their lives all the way to being willing to break up with somebody if they didn’t like jazz. Genuine music lovers will probably get a bit more out of this than I did, granted, but good storytelling is good storytelling regardless of the subject, or the fact that the reviewer may be less than passionate about said subject. Absolutely a wonderful anthology, and cheap too! $10 Oh, and here’s a website if you wanted to check this out yourself.
