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19th out of 360 books
—
489 voters
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
by
Stephanie Kuehnert (Goodreads Author)
A raw, edgy, emotional novel about growing up punk and living to tell.
The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones. Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find t...more
The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones. Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find t...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
July 8th 2008
by MTV Books
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Not sure whether to give this the highest or lowest rating because it should get props for being one of the worst things I've ever read, like a literary mix of the movies "Showgirls," "Crossroads" (Britney Spears, not Ralph Macchio), and "Prey for Rock n' Roll" (Gina Gershon in a rock band). The story is about a teenage girl in Nowhereseville, USA, and her dreams of making it big in her pop-punk trio. It reads as a checklist of plot points from a made-for-tv movie on the Lifetime network, featur...more
At the heart of any novel about music and musicians is the question, Can music save your mortal soul? Stephanie Kuehnert’s wonderfully gritty novel "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" looks at that question from the perspective of Emily, an angry young female punk guitarist, and answers it with a resounding Yes! Or, is it a maybe?
Emily follows her heart and her music, hoping it will lead her to the mother who abandoned her for punk music when Emily was four months old. But Emily’s journey leads her to...more
Emily follows her heart and her music, hoping it will lead her to the mother who abandoned her for punk music when Emily was four months old. But Emily’s journey leads her to...more
I think I would have LOVED this book in High School, but something happened to me when I either turned 40 or had a baby (because they happened at the same time, so I dont know which one is the cause.)
When Emily began having sexual conquests at such a young age, I was about to stop reading the book, but then she realized how it made her look and she stopped. Then when she went off in search of her mother and became a drug user, I was ready to stop again, but once again she realized how stupid she...more
When Emily began having sexual conquests at such a young age, I was about to stop reading the book, but then she realized how it made her look and she stopped. Then when she went off in search of her mother and became a drug user, I was ready to stop again, but once again she realized how stupid she...more
2 likes · like · see review
Altars. Saviors. Rock'n'roll. I braved my fear of spiders, dust plumes as thick as L.A. smog, and the stench of dog piss that the last owner of the house had let permeate the basement to tirelessly search my father's record collection for my next holy grail.
I liked this one. It was well written. Stephanie Kuehnert has a way with words, and she can spin a good story. No doubt about it. For those that love music--particularly punk--and angst will find much to delight them in I Wanna Be Your Joey R...more
I liked this one. It was well written. Stephanie Kuehnert has a way with words, and she can spin a good story. No doubt about it. For those that love music--particularly punk--and angst will find much to delight them in I Wanna Be Your Joey R...more
With a star review from one of my all-time faves, Mr. Irvine Welsh himself, I expected waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more from this one. My two biggest complaints: I would've liked more direct references to actual punk rock (instead of, say, Nirvana), and I wish home-girl would've figured out when enough was enough and just ended the damn book. It was fine, but I'm certainly not recommending it to any o' MY teen readers...
I iz disappoint.
I loved loved loved the angsty “ballads” she had for each of her characters in Ballads of Suburbia, where each person had a depressing/angst-y/dramatic story to share. The angst in this one though just came from one person, so it’s the same thing that had me feeling overloaded. So, if in BALLADS, the angsty/depressing stories were spread out (thus manageable for me,) this one really felt over the top.
The title "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" had me expecting Emily Black to be mos...more
I loved loved loved the angsty “ballads” she had for each of her characters in Ballads of Suburbia, where each person had a depressing/angst-y/dramatic story to share. The angst in this one though just came from one person, so it’s the same thing that had me feeling overloaded. So, if in BALLADS, the angsty/depressing stories were spread out (thus manageable for me,) this one really felt over the top.
The title "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" had me expecting Emily Black to be mos...more
1 like · like · see review
I read this book in 24 hours. Not because it was easy, or so I could get it over with, but because it was one of the best books I've read to-date. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the book. I associated with Emily, the way she loved music and the person she was.
The book itself is so well-written that after digesting the whole thing, I felt my jaw go slack in awe of the beauty of it. Stephanie's talent, love of music, and experience exude from this book with such ease that you'd think it wa...more
The book itself is so well-written that after digesting the whole thing, I felt my jaw go slack in awe of the beauty of it. Stephanie's talent, love of music, and experience exude from this book with such ease that you'd think it wa...more
I was interested in reading this novel as the author lives nearby and is getting some good local publicity so when I found it at the library I grabbed it. I'm not sure if this is considered an adult novel or a young adult novel (what in the world is a young adult novel anyway...a book you read between the ages of 18-22??...makes no sense) all I know is that I would have been into it when I was a 13-16 year-old kid starved for signs of cool life outside my small boring city. But now, since I'm OL...more
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Four stars because I couldn't put this book down, but not five because the sections in Louisa's point of view were soapy and melodramatic. The Louisa sections kept my interest, but her characterization wasn't as in-depth as Emily, the protagonist whom the book follows. This character, Emily, drives the story. Emily is passionate about music, and talented. She becomes something of a rock star. This is believable because her music is written about in a believable way. The author either has a knowl...more
Oh my god. It is so bad. This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's probably second only to this book I read in ninth grade about the alleged Pope Joan. That one I stopped reading when a character set a table with forks, which hadn't been invented when the book took place. This one I stuck with, just to talk about HOW BAD it is. It reads like a fifteen year old's fan fiction. I kept expecting the main character to have sex with Draco Malfoy, which would have at least been a little bit m...more
A very flawed mother and a young punk girl long for each other, but are kept apart by tragedy and tragic stubornness. Young Emily Black finds comfort and communion in music, inhaling genres and artists all throughout her childhood, sharing that love with her single dad. She was always told that her mother left her bacuase she had to follow the music scene. As Emily comes of age she forms a band that manages to take off, and puts her music out there, hoping her mother will follow the music back t...more
Emily Black was born to rock. Ever since she was little, she'd play records with her dad and even recieved her dad's old guitar as a birthday gift. For awhile though, Emily's reasons become slightly skewed. She wants to be tough, like she thinks her mom, Louisa, was...the one that left her as a baby to "follow the music." But growing older, and finding her own music, leads Emily to places she never saw herself in and she has to finally see whether or not running away, like Louisa did is really t...more
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone interleaves two stories. Emily Black (in the first person), abandoned at a young age by her mother, grows into her own identity and musical career. Meanwhile Louisa (in the third person) , the abandoning mother, searches for some sort of punk rock apotheosis that will absolve the guilty secret that shadows here. I found a lot to like in this novel, a lot that felt gritty and authentic. At its core it's a story about creativity as a vehicle to escape male-perpetrated v...more
Not since high school dating have I felt so tricked and empty. The main character combines the collective whining powers of Twilight's Bella and My So-Called Life's Angela.....and then proceeds to try and trick the reader into believing it's "punk", when really, it's a V.C. Andrews novel minus the incest (and the plot suffers because of that glaring omission, by the way.) I was suckered in by the Joey Ramone name drop, the Sleater-Kinney lyrical reference, the Doc Martens on the book cover. I ad...more
I found this book in the Young Adult section, but I think I'll tell the librarian it should go in the Fantasy section -- as in, it is the author's own fantasy about the ideal punk upbringing. PLEASE NOTE: In punk culture, "ideal" involves lots of drug use, boring sex, abandonment issues, a plethora of faded band shirts, and an apparent total lack of self-consciousness or awkwardness in one's adolescence.
The characters of this book are an odd bunch, with oddly-colored hair (ex: plum and lavender...more
The characters of this book are an odd bunch, with oddly-colored hair (ex: plum and lavender...more
1 like · like · see review
Great book for those who like real books about real teens (with an odd little step up), or especially those who went through a punk rock or rebellious stage in their teenage years. I would say that it's not for the younger teen reader, because of how much it deals with sex and drugs, but really I think that's for the younger reader (and their parents) to decide - as I think that's part of the point of the book: it's never too early to start being screwed up.
Gritty. Raw. Real. This book, just lik...more
Gritty. Raw. Real. This book, just lik...more
A first novel that reads somewhat like a first novel, full of embarrassing cliches and posturing at times, but also filled with glimpses of the raw intensity and emotion of someone writing from the heart. There are definitely traces here of the honesty that made Ballads of Suburbia (IMHO) so wonderful.
I had a lot of shades of Poppy Z. Brite while reading this novel--maybe it was just the stripping in New Orleans, but I think part of it was also the fact that I would have thought a lot of this se...more
I had a lot of shades of Poppy Z. Brite while reading this novel--maybe it was just the stripping in New Orleans, but I think part of it was also the fact that I would have thought a lot of this se...more
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I have been wanting to read this novel for what seems like forever. Thanks goodness for Alexa. I was suffering a severe case of hype-fear as I began reading but then realised 1) IWBYJR wasn't at all like I expected and 2) I loved Emily.
Emily Black is "dark and twisty" (to quote a show I have long given up on). I was expecting something fast paced, brutally honest and kinda warped (all which I got) but I didn't expect a sweeping family saga. I am not someone who lives through a character, I usual...more
Emily Black is "dark and twisty" (to quote a show I have long given up on). I was expecting something fast paced, brutally honest and kinda warped (all which I got) but I didn't expect a sweeping family saga. I am not someone who lives through a character, I usual...more
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, firstly I thought it was set a decade earlier before reading it and found it to be strangely enough when I was growing up in my teenage years. Music/fashion aside the book doesn't really date. It follows the story of Emily and her parents. Her life growing up without her mother and her mothers story too.
It borders on a 'coming of age' journey through music, drugs, sex and finding yourself. There's a dark essence to this book, which I found intreguing.
The...more
It borders on a 'coming of age' journey through music, drugs, sex and finding yourself. There's a dark essence to this book, which I found intreguing.
The...more
Very readable and entertaining book. The story is about a young girl whose mother left her at four months old to follow the music of the punk scene. The girl starts her own band, in an effort to bring her mother home. In many ways, the simplicity of this story is appealing. But a few parts of the story lost me, and I will freely admit this has to do with a few of my own personal biases: my dislike of certain cultural institutions like MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine. I loved the part about how th...more
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone reaches out to my not-anymore-13-year-old girl soul and pushes me headlong into the world of punk rock as loved by Emily Black. She lives in Carlisle, Wisconsin, by an underground music mecca known as River's Edge. It is here where people flock to play to their hearts' content and listen to others play to their hearts' content. It is here where Emily worships the rock god wannabes and dreams of being a rock goddess.
I think the most interesting aspect of I Wanna Be You...more
I think the most interesting aspect of I Wanna Be You...more
I liked a great deal about this book--probably the characters most of all, and 9/10 of the relationships. I thought some of the music biz happenings were a little cliche/convenient, but that the power music can have, particularly in adolescence, was very well expressed. It also refreshed my memory of how it was to be young and put up with more than I should have from guys, but the Johnny was a bit much. I didn't believe Emily would have put up with him as long as she did when her own father was...more
If the first part of the book had kept its momentum, this would've rated a lot higher with me. In fact, I'd give part one a solid 4 stars, but it all devolved into melodrama and the character development all but stopped. By the end, I had stopped rooting for Emily, who -- despite fighting against it -- still came across as a rock cliche to me. Disappointing.
I know that I'm probably getting old with the way I do reviews on here.. but I just can't help it. This book deserves a soundtrack too :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p3oTf...
(Moms that are reading this --- don't play that with your little ones in the room lolz.)
Good grief my lovely girlies!! I can't tell you how long I have searched for this book. I mean... it's been over a decade!!
A couple years back I was talking to my best bud, and I told her that I wanted to write a book. I told her that...more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p3oTf...
(Moms that are reading this --- don't play that with your little ones in the room lolz.)
Good grief my lovely girlies!! I can't tell you how long I have searched for this book. I mean... it's been over a decade!!
A couple years back I was talking to my best bud, and I told her that I wanted to write a book. I told her that...more
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I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is indeed a raw, edgy, and emotional read. This is more than the story of a girl rising to fame, than a girl who's mother left her as a baby, than anything that I can explain in one little phrase.
Emily is a great character. She's tough and strong, but not so much that she isn't human. She does what she wants to, and while at times she does fail, she always picks herself back up again. She's a character that I'm not at all like, but I am still able to relate to her, to...more
Emily is a great character. She's tough and strong, but not so much that she isn't human. She does what she wants to, and while at times she does fail, she always picks herself back up again. She's a character that I'm not at all like, but I am still able to relate to her, to...more
I had mixed feeling about this book, but for the most part enjoyed it. Well, I don't know if "enjoy" is the right word. Despite it's lighthearted title, the story was much darker than anticipated. Considering the amount of sex, drug use, and disturbing domestic violence, I was surprised to see my library label this as a YA novel. I've always believed that just because the main character is a teenager for the majority of the book (this book ends while narrator Emily is well into her 20's), it doe...more
The premise was MUCH stronger than the actual telling of the book. I found that while it was easy to read, it was difficult to care about what happened with the characters.
The sudden point of view shifts between Emily and Louisa were jarring and interrupted the flow of Emily's story - especially since Louisa's sections weren't told in present day as Emily's were. Then there was the random point of view of Louisa's friend, Collette.
I felt that the story could've been tighter, and that the author...more
The sudden point of view shifts between Emily and Louisa were jarring and interrupted the flow of Emily's story - especially since Louisa's sections weren't told in present day as Emily's were. Then there was the random point of view of Louisa's friend, Collette.
I felt that the story could've been tighter, and that the author...more
It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I did, I loved it. There were a few moments when the prose wasn't as strong, but anything this book lacked in prose it made up for in plot and character. Especially plot. The book somehow managed to avoid the cliches that it could have so easily fallen into. A lot of reviews and blurbs use adjectives like "raw" and "edgy" to describe this book, but I think those words are more advertising than anything else. The book DOES deal with diffic...more
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STEPHANIE KUEHNERT got her start writing bad poetry about unrequited love and razor blades in eighth grade. In high school, she discovered punk rock and produced several D.I.Y. feminist 'zines. After short stints in Ohio and Wisconsin, Stephanie ultimately returned home and received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago. She currently resides in Forest Park, IL.
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“You'll find that sometimes there is a huge valley between what we want to be and what we're capable of. ”
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