In her newest, after Five-Finger Discount
, Stapinski places her life under the microscope, this time looking at love and music. Stapinski evocatively recounts her life in 1990s New York City, where she tries to balance a freelance writing career with the responsibilities of a new marriage while playing in a rock band led by Julie, one of her interview subjects. Her account of learning to play drums as a teenager by sneaking into her brother's room to play his set is a touching piece on the secret joy that rock music can provide "to hold on to those last, panicked moments of childhood lost." She also captures the strange exhilaration that comes from relentless rehearsals and performances in dingy clubs, and her exploration of her love for the music of Elvis Costello is touching. Her musical idyll is shattered, however, when she discovers that her journalist husband has been having an affair with a co-worker. Her description of violent fights with her husband, including smashed objects and a visit by the police, is harrowing, as is the affair's effect on her drumming: her husband's face and that of his girlfriend are "mentally planted on each drum skin." Only the book's too tidy ending, in which new-mom Stapinski waxes nostalgic for the "more than two years" covered here, gives the narrative a somewhat forced attempt to wrap up her story neatly. (Jan.)
