Vacation reading: Chris Stein's Under a Rock

One of the best aspects of a relaxing vacation is that I get to catch up on reading. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to read during the daytime in a screened-in porch with Lake Superior as my "front yard." It beats the hell out of not getting to the book until 10 PM after eight hours of work and often falling asleep less than half an hour after cracking the book open.

Weeks ago, I started reading Chris Stein's Under a Rock--his memoir of his life before, during, and after Blondie (the band). It was a book that I'd pick up in the late evenings and almost immediately crash and burn before I made it more than about 15 minutes. I am happy to report that I shot through 184 pages in three days. I read on the porch of this cottage in Copper Harbor and I read on our 7 1/2 hours on the ferry to and from Isle Royale.

The meandering storytelling style was a major part of my inability to get into Chris Stein's memoir. The book could have easily been titled, Everything That Ever Happened to Me in My Life: No Matter How Inconsequential. Another title could have been Crazy Stuff That Happened in New York City: 1965-2023. I'm not sure if Stein had a editor--I assume he did--though I'm not sure what the editor was doing. There are so many stories and anecdotes, some relevant and fascinating, but many others that just don't add much to the narrative. To make matters worse, the chronology is often confusing and muddled.

All that said, Chris Stein is a musician and not necessarily a book writer, so I'll give him a pass. Once I finally had a long and relaxing time to devote to the book, I enjoyed reading it. There was also something funny and perverse reading about illicit escapades in seedy 1970s/1980s New York City while I was in a cottage in the Upper Peninsula feeling the breeze blow in from Lake Superior. It was like existing simultaneously in two disparate worlds.