Kristin Hersh, "Rat Girl" Book (2010)
Details: "Rat Girl" is the vibrant memoir of Throwing Muses' Kristin Hersh, formed from the ashes of her teenage diary. This is a used remainder copy of Kristin's 2010 large trade paperback (also titled "Paradoxical Undressing" in the UK pressing). There is some wear on the cover and the edges, and there is a marker line close to the spine across the pages of the book. This is a perfectly (very good) used copy of "Rat Girl" (see images for wear). The cover is illustrated by Gilbert 'Beto' Hernandez (one half of the team who created the graphic novel/comic series, Love and Rockets) who also illustrated the album art for Limbo and its singles (for Throwing Muses).
Short Description: "The founder of a cult rock band shares her outrageous tale of growing up much faster than planned. In 1985, Kristin Hersh was just starting to find her place in the world. After leaving home at the age of fifteen, the precocious child of unconventional hippies had enrolled in college while her band, Throwing Muses, was getting off the ground amid rumors of a major label deal. Then everything changed: she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and found herself in an emotional tailspin; she started medication, but then discovered she was pregnant. An intensely personal and moving account of that pivotal year, Rat Girl is sure to be greeted eagerly by Hersh's many fans."
Grade: G (Cover)
Paradoxical Undressing - Trailer (edit) from Kristin Hersh on Vimeo.
Author: "Songwriter, guitarist and singer, Kristin Hersh has released over 20 records solo, with Throwing Muses and 50FOOTWAVE. She’s also the author of an acclaimed memoir — based on her teenage diary — about a particularly eventful year, titled “Rat Girl” in the USA (published by Penguin), and titled “Paradoxical Undressing” in the UK (published by Atlantic Books)."
Quotes:
“Sensitive and emotionally raw… it’s also wildly funny” - Rob Sheffield
The New York Times Sunday Book Review
“one of the 25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time”
Rolling Stone Magazine (#8)
“A thoroughly engrossing work by an original voice”
Kirkus (Starred Review)
“Rat Girl is the story of a wide-eyed soul coming to maturity in the ridiculous cacophony of modern life. Although it is supposedly about what we call, for lack of a better term, ‘manic depression,’ it has nearly no interest in such grim diagnostic thinking. It is instead awestruck – by music, feeling, perception, wild animals, mystery, dreams, ‘the gorgeous and terrible things that live in your house.’ It is an original beauty.” – Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica and Don’t Cry
“Funny, freaky, fidgety, Hersh’s memoir is the book a fan didn’t dare hope for: a beacon in a dark field, illuminating the mysterious and the mundane. Beautifully, honestly, written and as close as you will ever get to being in a Throwing Muses song.” – Wesley Stace, author of Misfortune and By George
#8 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time
“Her narrative voice is warm, friendly, and surprisingly funny. Deep down it’s a story about messed-up kids finding one other, starting a band, and accidentally scrounging up an audience of similarly messed-up kids. It belongs on the shelf next to Michael Azerrad’s classic Our Band Could Be Your Life.” – Rolling Stone
“Ultra-vivid writing and intense honesty are what you’d expect from Kristin Hersh, one of America’s finest songwriters. But Rat Girl is also a startlingly funny and touching memoir of her mid-Eighties moment as the bipolar, pregnant, intermittently homeless frontwoman of a rising indie-rock band. It’s a gripping journey into mental chaos and out the other side.” – Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84