Broad Street by Christine Weiser
This is not only the first book by the author Christine Weiser, but it is also the first book to be released by the publisher PS Books, which is part of the literary magazine Philadelpha Stories.
This is another book that had a cover which jumped out at me and immediately made me want to read the book:
Blurb from back cover:
Christine Weiser’s debut novel follows the all-girl rock group, Broad Street, through the highs and lows of struggling for success in the male-dominated, mid-’90s Philadelphia rock scene. When Kit Greene and Margo Bevilacqua make a drunken pact to form a band with the sole purpose of outshining the musical men in their lives, they have no idea what awaits them: gigs in seedy bars, obsessed fans, threats from a stalker, parties with biker gangs, and a seemingly endless quest to secure a steady drummer. Meanwhile, both women must learn to juggle their personal, proffessional, and musical lives, deal with ex-boyfriends, mind-numbing day jobs, and hard-to-please parents as they claw their way to the top of the Philly rock scene.
I really enjoyed this book and read it in two sittings. I was completely engrossed in this book and felt like I was right there alongside them in this struggle.
I loved the girls and how they followed their dreams, even non-music related ones. I was cheering them on during the book, however they did some things I wasn’t too impressed with. I really wanted to see them succeed in the industry and find decent men!!
I think my favourite part involved the bikers in DC. The guys seemed lovely – big, scary looking bikers, who actually were just softies. They made me laugh so much, what an excellent thing to have in the book.
I do wonder if this is a bit auto-biographical as we are told on the back cover that Christine Weiser was a bass player for the Philly band Mae Pang – and Kit plays bass and there the name Mae Pang is subtly entered into the text.
I didn’t like all the drinking, sex and drug taking, and there was a bit of bad language, but I guess Weiser is trying to re-create the ’90s rock scene.
Broad Street was a really enjoyable book.
8/10