Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

A book review

These are the stories I'd tell you if you sat next to me at playgroup 👀☕
(Guest starring my children – Poppet m/5, Pickle m/4 and Peach f/1)

PLEASE NOTE: BOOK REVIEWS ARE NOW HOSTED ON THE NIGHT READ, IF YOU ENJOY THIS POST, PLEASE HOP ON OVER AND SUBSCRIBE :)

Discovered via a podcast and hunted down (in the library stacks, let’s not be melodramatic) for months, I read this book mostly whilst feeding, getting Peach to sleep, and making dinner. I wanted to love it.

Let’s get stuck in.

The blurb

The first time Joe plays Percy one of his songs in his college room in 2000, she instantly realises three things:

One, she is watching a star in the making.

Two, she can shape his music into something extraordinary.

Three, she will always be on the sidelines.

She swallows her jealousy and throws herself into collaboration, transforming Joe’s songs into indie hits with her blistering critiques.

But there’s an undercurrent to the music they’re making – something undeniably electric, hurtling towards love. And then, almost inevitably, towards heartbreak.

As Joe steps into the spotlight, can Percy bear to watch on in silence?

And can he exist there without her?

*

How true to the blurb was the book?

I’m gonna go ahead and say NOT VERY.

*

TLDR; Did you enjoy Deep Cuts?

Ehhh, yes and no. The blurb made it sound like it would be a fever dream of music industry madness, when in fact it was more of a whiny coming-of-age story from the POV of a floundering millennial, which I am less here for. The second half was better than the first. The ‘love’ story felt rather toxic.

*

OK, now for the full review

First of all, this book was not One Day, and it wasn’t Daisy Jones & The Six – both of which might seem odd pointers to level at a debut that has never, to my knowledge, claimed to be anything to do with either of these books (at least not at the author level) but both of which Amazon compare it to on its page:

I can see where the comparison came from. Spanning university to adulthood, Deep Cuts follows the ‘love’ story of Percy and Joe, a musician and a writer whose relationship is never really platonic (One Day.) Forming a relationship that revolves around music (Daisy Jones & The Six) the two collaborate on Joe’s first album – him writing, her offering critique. But where One Day had warmth and wit, Deep Cuts had angst and melodrama. Where Daisy Jones had commentary on the music industry, Deep Cuts had… Angst and melodrama.

I didn’t love it.

I did, however, quite like it.

I quite liked that Percy, in all of her pretentiousness, was actually just a self conscious millennial woman, stood so firmly in her own way she may as well have been wearing my face, reading a copy of ‘How Women Rise’ as she tried to work out why nothing ever went to plan.

I quite liked the undercurrent of breathless passion for an art medium.

I liked the nostalgia of sweat and salt at a night spent dancing with strangers that took me back to my own experiences, namely a club night called Brighton Beach, at which I would wear weird, bubbly dresses and scream along to songs at the top of my lungs. The nostalgia for the time of dial-up and Coffee & TV and the youthful complexity of moving from a friendship to a relationship.

And I got enjoyment, in the end, from a book I expected to DNF in the first half, and felt quite drawn to in the second.

A definite mood if the mood you want is angst, Deep Cuts was not Daisy Jones and it was not One Day, but it was decent, and it had its moments, and I think I would have loved it when I was 22, fresh out of a relationship with a philandering musician, furious with myself and with the world for the mere fact of my own existence.

Percy Marks would have loved Brighton Beach. (Lottie Stephens certainly did.)

*

Great, favourite quote(s)?

‘The album’s sound was dark but shiny, like Times Square.’

(I’ve never seen Times Square but I have seen Oxford Circus in the winter, and this is exactly what it feels like.)

&

‘That’s what I wanted, more than anything: a low-pressure way to say hey, we’re cool, how are you. No need to be weird anymore; we’re too old, and the world is too fragile.’

*

Where can I get a copy?

It’s being adapted into a film (a decision I’m almost certain was made because of the hype that surrounded Daisy Jones, but let’s not dwell on that) so there’s a good chance your local library has a copy. If not, I would really appreciate it if you’d buy Deep Cuts from The Baby Brain Bookshop, here. I get a small cut of any money made via BBB links, but you will not be charged anything extra for using them. If Amazon is more your bag, you can find the book here (also an aff link.) Money made via these links helps me do boring stuff like feed my kids, buy dishwasher tablets, and survive. Thank you ❤️

P.S. I absolutely ADORED One Day (Bookshop link | Amazon link) and Daisy Jones (Bookshop link | Amazon link) , would recommend both 100%.