Holly Brickley

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A BOOK RIOT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “Tender as a ballad and pleasurable as a pop song, Deep Cuts is both a romp into the indie sleaze era of the early aughts and a timeless love story.”—Coco Mellors, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Sisters “Deep Cuts will live alongside all the unforgettable music that Holly writes about so beautifully, with her whole heart.”—Cameron Crowe, Academy Award–winning writer/director of Almost Famous Look, the song whispered to me, that day in my living room. Life can be so big. It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy—who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it—can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit. But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night. Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs—and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice? Moving from Brooklyn bars to San Francisco dance floors, Deep Cuts examines the nature of talent, obsession, belonging, and above all, our need to be heard.

A Novel

Deep Cuts

Later, as we filed downstairs to enter the fierce competition of hailing a cab, I felt a rush of love for Zoe so strong it almost knocked me down the steps. Her fuzzy scalp bobbed just below me. What would I do without her? Was it okay to love someone this much who was not actually your partner? Was this why she wanted a boyfriend for me, because she couldn't bear the burden alone? I was grateful for Zoe: that was the feeling to focus on. No: I was grateful for the love I felt for Zoe.

i so deeply relate go this, im so incredibly jealous if people being able to pursue music, and then i think i had a choice followed by the next thought which is no i actully did not

Karo

"Nah," I said, then realized I needed a reason. "I don't hang out with musicians. "And why is that?" he asked with a laugh, walking backward toward the door. Because they make me unbearably jealous. "Because they always disappoint me," I said, which was also true.

I loved this bc thats the besg explanation of why people hate mainstream pop, why does everyone hate fun music?????

It's not that I don't get this. It's just that authenticity seems to me only one metric by which to judge music, and I don't see why it should swallow all the other ones, including beauty and fun.

is this fucking play about us? i relate so much AGAIN. this just proves i have not a single unique experience 

"Honestly, nothing has happened to me. That's the problem with my life, more than anything, probably: nothing has fucking happened. I don't deserve to write a piece like that. I didn't have some terrible boyfriend or father or something, if that's what vou're thinking. My dad wouldn't even hug me once I grew breasts."

Deep Cuts quotes

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