Deep Cuts, Holly Brickley
Percy and Joe meet in a dive bar while in college and strike up a conversation about music. Specifically, whether or not an earworm guarantees it’s a good song, and the difference between a “perfect song” and a “perfect track”. Set across Berkley, New York, and San Francisco, Deep Cuts follows a relationship of bridges and breaks, as Percy and Joe fall into a creative partnership that sees Percy hone Joe’s natural born talent as a musician, setting him up for stardom. In a messy crescendo of friendship, sexual tension and jealousy, Percy is left to watch from the side of the stage, with these two souls ultimately torn apart by the very thing that brought them together: music.
Daisy Jones & the Six meets Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Holly Brickley’s Deep Cuts is about friendship, love, heartache, creativity, and trying to find your voice. Brimming with nostalgia, music is, of course, is a theme throughout, offering a perfect balance between pretentiousness and passion as Percy and Joe both lock horns and yield to one another.
They are not perfect characters; they are aggravating and arrogant, toxic in the boundaries they make and break with one another. There are moments you will cringe, maybe even hate them a little bit. And yet, this novel is electric and compelling with its deep lore embedded in the early noughties’ era of indie rock and resurgence of Britpop.
For a long time, I’ve been craving a plot-driven, addictive read and this is it. It’s fun, and it’s easy. There are instances where I wished for a touch more development before we dove in headfirst, and instances where I’d have liked to get a little closer to the characters rather than being held at a distance; however, ultimately, I was enthralled, ready to listen to the next track.
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