Rolling Stone columnist Rob Sheffield's previous memoirs, Love Is a Mix Tape and Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, relate meaningful moments of his life to rock and roll, as does his latest, Turn Around Bright Eyes. It's a comedic chronicle centered on karaoke--a practice he defines as "a temporary but intense bond between strangers, a shipboard romance, a republic we create where we gladly consent to treat the other people around us like rock stars." Yet it also a book about grief: Sheffield's wife died while he was still in his 20s, and he lived in New York's Financial District during the 9/11 attacks.
Karaoke proved deeply therapeutic. Singing a Neil Diamond song, he explains, "makes you engage with your own emotions on a more extravagant level. And when that spills over into your everyday life, it brings out the sequins in your soul."
As Sheffield's humor relies on getting his references, Turn Around Bright Eyes will be most appreciated by those who also love rock and roll. He is fond of threading popular lyrics (like "every now and then I fall apart") seamlessly into his sentences, without calling attention to them. Recognizing the allusions feels like sharing a light joke, and is a reminder that amid tragedy, there is humor, love and music. --Annie Atherton