“Deep Cuts” is the reason you keep reading a book even if at first you aren’t completely in love with the story.
And that’s not a poke or jab at debut author Holly Brickley — if anything, quite the opposite. “Deep Cuts” is a compelling story about all kinds of friendship from start to finish. For me, I just had to look past my own Judgy McJudgerson attitude toward certain personality traits to see the characters for who they really were.
Percy Marks is what I would typically call a music snob. She’s opinionated in a very big way about all things musical, and at first, that comes off a bit snooty. Readers are first introduced to her when she meets Joe Morrow, a fellow college student and musician. The two trade thoughts about a song, fall back into their respective cliques, but keep finding themselves drawn to each other over their admiration for what it takes to make a song that really works.
And a partnership is born.
Over the course of a little less than a decade, readers follow Percy, Joe and a cast of supporting characters through the ups and downs and entanglements and estrangements of a relationship. We’re also bonused with B plots about friendship, families and coming of age as the internet comes to fruition. (MySpace, anyone?)
Brickley is an accomplished writer if for no other reason than she was able to take me from a place of being incredibly annoyed with Percy to completely rooting for her by book’s end. A reminder that bravado and assuredness is sometimes insecurity looking for its soulmate. You want to both be and not be seen. It’s a whole thing, I’m telling you.
There’s also something super smart about building a story around music. It’s a rare person that doesn’t identify in some way with at least one song they’ve heard in their lives. Or a musical genre. Or an era. I’m an 80s girl, myself. By centering characters against the backdrop of music, there’s always a safe space for Percy and Joe to return to. A way to communicate even when they aren’t talking. A method for moving the narrative forward months or sometimes years without it feeling clunky. A tether for all readers to cling to.
Could this be the next “Daisy Jones and The Six?” Yes, it could. Absolutely a Netflix limited series. I would love to have Percy, Joe, Zoe, Raj, Nomi, Melissa and Luke in my life a little longer. Maybe we’d get even a little bit more backstory on Percy’s mom — maybe the only relationship I felt was left a tad unresolved.
This is also a great summertime read — juicy, nostalgic (you can’t not think about the music played at the bar when you were in college), fast-but-not-breakneck-paced-fast, and at less than 300 pages perfect for a lazy weekend in the hammock or by the pool or on the beach.
It’s just two crazy kids in love. Or maybe not. Or maybe. Love and friendship come in many forms. “Deep Cuts” is a great example of one.
LitzyDitz 