Songs Only You Know: A Memoir plunges listeners into the Detroit hardcore punk scene with eighteen-year-old Sean and spans a dark decade during which his father succumbs to crack addiction, his younger sister spirals into a fatal depression, and his sense of home crumbles. Sean's salvation is music, as well as the many eccentrics and outsiders he befriends as front man of a band once referred to by Spin magazine as "an art-core mindfuck." Sean's prose whips from mordantly funny to searingly honest while offering an unflinching look at a family in crisis, low-rent music subculture, and the hard-earned identity of its author. A story of young manhood that deserves a place alongside Tobias Wolff's In Pharaoh's Army and Nick Flynn's Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Songs Only You Know is a beautiful, devastating exploration of family, friends, and one young man's musical dream. It marks the arrival of a fiercely original literary voice.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
April 15, 2014 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781482969252
- File size: 347215 KB
- Duration: 12:03:21
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Publisher's Weekly
February 10, 2014
In this overlong memoir, Hoen tells of growing up in and outside of Detroit with a crack-smoking father, a helpless but stoic mother, and a painfully shy and desperately-seeking-meaning-in-life sister. Hoen channels his own frustration into playing in a punk music band. Weaving stories of the band’s life with his family life, he paints a now all-too-typical tale of a family going down in flames. Music sort of saves him, though: “With every traveled mile I sensed a mythology in the making, a history I imagined musicologists discussing years later.” Eventually, Hoen comes to himself, though not before losing himself again: “To achieve self-invention, you first evacuate the truest parts of yourself—they were slipping from me, connected only by a fear of losing touch completely.” In the end, what starts as a promising read, loses its rhythm.
-
Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
subjects
Languages
- English
Loading
Why is availability limited?
×Availability can change throughout the month based on the library's budget. You can still place a hold on the title, and your hold will be automatically filled as soon as the title is available again.
The Kindle Book format for this title is not supported on:
×Read-along ebook
×The OverDrive Read format of this ebook has professional narration that plays while you read in your browser. Learn more here.