I can’t remember the last book that made me cry this much; simultaneously, I can’t remember the last book to remind me of how long ago my teenage years were. 

 

This book is historical fiction, for pete’s sake, and I almost wanted to protest and say it’s contemporary fiction! But no, folks, 1994 was thirty years ago, and this book largely takes place over the course of the 1990s. 

 

Marissa Stapley has written a book I (as a Gen-Xer) didn’t know I needed, but as soon as I started reading the introduction and the dedication I knew this was a book I had been searching for my whole adult life but didn’t quite realize it. This book is filled with all my love for the female grunge and alternative musicians of the 90s who were hidden behind men because no one was going to take them seriously, surrounded by bands they didn’t know because labels refused to market female artists alone, played only late at night on MTV or the radio because their videos were too controversial (if they got played at all), and relegated to side stages at music festivals because of course no one wants to see female headliners. It also saw and recognized my rage for every female musician who’s ever been blamed for a man’s bad behavior or setbacks in music (and that doesn’t just apply to the 90s). 

 

This book is historical in setting, but more of a suspense mystery and rockstar romance in feel. It’s dual timelines: the present (in which Jane is searching Europe for Elijah with a Lightning Bottles fan) feels more like a suspense mystery, while the past timeline narrative definitely has more of a rockstar romance feel as Jane and Elijah fall in love, become famous together, and then fall apart when the cost becomes too high for either of them. 

 

Jane and Elijah aren’t based on any single rock star couple but seem to be an amalgam of so many of them: Kurt and Courtney, Mick and Marianne, John and Yoko, and probably more. They’re also undoubtedly filled with Stapley’s wishes and dreams for all of those rock stars who never got a chance to see what being at the top might be like due to the added perils fame brings along with it if you don’t have a good support network under you. 

 

I’m not a fan of the genre label “women’s fiction”. I don’t like much of anything that implies that anything involving women should be segregated for any reason…especially when it’s art. I can’t deny that The Lightning Bottles is primarily a book about women and the way we navigate the world and our relationships, though. It’s present in the way Jane presents herself, the way she talks, in how she makes herself smaller while out in the world, and how she’s terrified to do anything that will cause Elijah to leave. If Elijah is a people pleaser (and he really is), then Jane is a fixer. 

 

This book was brittle, almost fragile in a way. I cried and I got angry and I was emotional in a heart-sick way for all the female artists who were lost or forgotten in favor of men who didn’t deserve the praise heaped on them. At the same time, I’m heart-sore for all those rock stars who fell prey to addiction and their personal demons in an era when party drugs could be found in every bar and club and you could buy heroin at almost every house party. Everyone was sick and everyone was sad. In this book, I found some solace for my teenage self. 

 

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. 

 

File Under: 5 Star Review/Historical Fiction/Mystery/Rockstar Romance/Suspense Mystery/Women’s Fiction