Staff Pick
American singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh from Throwing Muses and 50FootWave writes this highly anticipated companion to her bestselling 2010 memoir, Rat Girl. Seeing Sideways picks up in the 1990s while on tour and raising her first son, Doony, and continues with struggles with the music industry and raising three additional children. Seeing Sideways is both beautiful and heartbreaking, much like Hersh’s lyrics. Recommended By Kim T., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Doony, Ryder, Wyatt, Bodhi. The names of Kristin Hersh's sons are the only ones included in her new memoir, Seeing Sideways. As the book unfolds and her sons' voices rise from its pages, it becomes clear why: these names tell the story of her life.
This story begins in 1990, when Hersh is the leader of the indie rock group Throwing Muses, touring steadily, and the mother of a young son, Doony. The chapters that follow reveal a woman and mother whose life and career grow and change with each of her sons: the story of a custody battle for Doony is told alongside that of Hersh's struggles with her record company and the resulting PTSD; the tale of breaking free from her record label stands in counterpoint to her recounting of her pregnancy with Ryder; a period of writer's block coincides with the development of Wyatt as an artist and the family's loss of their home; and finally, soon after Bodhi's arrival, Hersh and her boys face crises from which only strange angels can save them. Punctuated with her own song lyrics, Seeing Sideways is a memoir about a life strange enough to be fiction, but so raw and moving that it can only be real.
Review
"Beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, and frequently surreal. Hersh is not out of touch with reality, though; she's just very much in touch with the unconscious. Which is right where a legit bohemian should be. This book is as close to being inside an artist's head as you're going to get." Black Francis, The Pixies
Review
"Inimitable, unsinkable, kooky, and full of love for her boys." Kirkus Reviews
Video
Watch the Powell’s virtual event with Kristin Hersh and John Doe!
About the Author
Kristin Hersh is a solo artist and founding member of the bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. She is the author of Don't Suck, Don't Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt, and Rat Girl, which was named one of the ten best rock memoirs ever written by Rolling Stone.