Our Secret Better Lives

by Matthew Amster-Burton

Katy has a rack full of Nirvana and Soundgarden CDs. She's seen Pearl Jam in concert, twice. She never imagined she would be the one behind the microphone.

From the book:

Years later, Katy could remember not only which song was playing--Screaming Trees, "Bed of Roses"--but the exact moment in the song where the needle came off the record. The house lights clicked off, and a row of stage lights came on, blinding like L.A. daylight. No wonder so many people wore sunglasses on stage. She blinked her eyes and tried to bring any object into focus, but Megan was hissing, "Now!"

Katy's lips brushed against the head of the mic. "We're The Laundry Room, from Los Angeles, California."

Our Secret Better Lives is a novel for anyone who's ever fallen in love with a song.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Music

287 pages, Paperback

Published January 3, 2017

About the author

Matthew Amster-Burton is the author of the YA novel OUR SECRET BETTER LIVES and four nonfiction books, including HUNGRY MONKEY (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009) and PRETTY GOOD NUMBER ONE: AN AMERICAN FAMILY EATS TOKYO (2013), which was a bestseller in Japan and has been optioned for film. He has written for Gourmet, the Wall Street Journal, and the Seattle Times, and has appeared in the BEST FOOD WRITING anthology five times.

Matthew is the cohost, with Molly Wizenberg, of the hit comedy podcast Spilled Milk, which reaches over 13,000 listeners. He lives with his family in Seattle.

Reviews

[Greg]

A rock and roll coming-of-age book that will awaken that slumbering sense of excitement and discovery that you'd thought you lost. Amster-Burton captures the panic, elation, depression and ultimate freedom that discovering your true passion can evoke. Even those from a different generation, and not familiar with the music or band names of the 1990's, can appreciate the joy of discovering new music. I give it 5 guitar picks.
And the inclusion of a playlist to accompany the book is a great idea.

[Michael]

If someone wrote a book that was genetically engineered to be relevant to my interests, it would probably involve college rock in the middle 1990s, during the early days of Usenet groups and preliminary web design. That was, um, a formative period in my life, and there were probably about twenty moments in this book that were pitch-perfect recreations of my own undergraduate days — i.e. the way that Amster-Burton describes the way that CDs were arranged alphabetically on wooden racks and universally tilted at a 30º angle, or the early muddling days of developing websites by hand in HTML for NCSA Mosaic. Which was, um, me.

I wasn't half as cool as the protagonist in this warm if slight story, a budding guitarist and songwriter from the rainy Pacific Northwest at a liberal arts college in sunny California. (Instead, I was a dork from the unhip central Midwest in college at the slightly more hip upper Midwest.) Amster-Burton plays it lightly as Katy gets her bearings as a songwriter and builds up her confidence, navigating the undergraduate world at a very specific point of time not just in alternative rock, but in technology and pop culture — the OJ Simpson trial, the aftermath of Cobain's suicide.

I would have liked to see where Katy ends up — the book follows Katy through a single year in college, and tails off with the summer vacation, but foreshadows what will become a career in rock. More than the music, what I found warmly endearing was the depiction of the community of self-sustaining friends and bandmates that any young person needs in college, especially a sensitive young soul.

[Justin]

Escapist fantasy to a better time - when the world was smaller, as teenagers, and everything was so much sharper and more important. Music and school and record stores and live performance. The dream of being a real star.

Matthew Amster-Burton writes things that settle comfortably down in your head and have always been there. This is no exception.

[Chris]

This is nothing like my undergraduate experience. I’m only 70 percent confident I understand who “Vedder” and “Cobain” refer to. Yet Matthew pushes the nostalgia button by perfectly capturing the college atmosphere I remember from decades ago. I’m recommending this to my niece (Katie!), who is starting at Lewis and Clark next fall.

[Jennifer]

I have enjoyed Matthew's food writing and podcast for years but didn't know what to expect with his fiction. But it was great! I was in college around the same time, so though my experience was very different, the music references were mostly familiar (or made me wish they were) and I only wish I was cool enough to hang out with those people in real life.

[Reannon Bowen]

3.5 because anything that’s set in the 90’s, has grunge references & talks about Seattle is always going to make me happy. Plus, I just really like Mattew A-B :)

[Katy Foreman]

This book took me right back to my college dorm, music, classes, the library, the technology, the food and the friends. I couldn't wait to read the next chapter; stayed up too late a few nights. Matthew's description of sleep deprivation was everything I knew in my bones but couldn't put into words. Insightful, funny, awkward at times. The ending was just right. I'm no rock star, not even a secret one, and I totally related to this book.

[Elizabeth Brookbank]

This book is adorable and I really liked it. If you are in your 30s you will *definitely* like it too. If you're not...I'm not sure if all the cultural references will be meaningful, which could be a little off-putting. Friends who are my age though, you need to read this right away! It will give you all the feels.

[Ileana]

This book was delightful! I'm a total 90's child, so many of the references in this book were pitch perfect and captured so well ... like ... going to the computer lab to check email, chatting with friends over early versions of instant messenger, Mosaic (!), dorm life in general, waiting for the waffle iron in the cafeteria and eating frozen yogurt with cereal on top (!) for dinner, downloading lyrics and guitar tab to Liz Phair and Pixies songs ... Ugh, Katy could've been me and this so could've been my life. 10/10 would recommend to anyone who wants to put on a worn flannel shirt and reminisce about hidden tracks and debate the proper way to organize your CD collection. (Alphabetical + by genre all the way.)

[Vicki Halphide]

I'm such a huge fan of Matthew and Molly's comedic Spilled Milk podcast, that I couldn't wait to read Matthew's take on fiction. Our Secret Better Lives was a thoroughly enjoyable young adult book based on a premise that I have rarely encountered in a book - a young girl in college who joins a band and discovers what it and the music mean to her. One review compared this book to a really good pop song - short, sweet, and immersive. I agree wholeheartedly.

[Elizabeth]

Checking your college email in the computer lab. Ben Harper/Dave Matthews touring. College alt-radio (I once won a t-shirt from my station for knowing the name of the dude who left The Sex Pistols). Check, check, and check.

[Susan]

A fun read - even for those of us who didn't go to college in the 90s.

[Jenna]

Such a fun read. Took me back to my college years.

[Margaret Rosen]

Fun 90s college coming-of-age novel.

[Emily]

I first discovered Matthew Amster-Burton through the hilarious Spilled Milk podcast, in which he and Molly Wizenberg crack each other up and occasionally discuss food. Matthew is the author of several non-fiction books, Hungry Monkey being a particular favorite of mine, but Our Secret Better Lives is his first novel. Like his other work, it is funny, self-aware, and heartfelt. I found myself going to bed early to spend extra time reading, and each night I would tell myself I’d just read one more chapter and end up reading three or four. This book made me want to be back in college. It made me want to learn guitar.

My only complaint is that it would have been nice to see some LGBT representation! I know the early 90s were a very different time for queer visibility, but that doesn’t mean every character has to be straight and cis.

That said, I enjoyed Our Secret Better Lives tremendously. I hope to see many more novels from Matthew Amster-Burton!

[Herbie]

This would have been my favorite book in high school. That’s not a bad thing - it was a delightful trip back into the yearning to be in college and what I *expected* college to be like. In an alternative universe, I would have been so jealous/envious of Katy and her success at joining some alt-rock/punk kids and starting a band as a freshman in college.

Matthew Amster-Burton’s writing is easy, thoughtful, and casual. I found myself getting distracted from the real world (and all of it’s political-ness) and finding solace in the innocence and fun of the book.

I found all of the characters to be well-developed, semi-realistic (if not archetypal in certain ways), and relatable. Katy and her core group of friends seem like they would actually hang out with one another.

Lastly, I wish there was a way to hear the fictional songs from The Laundry Room. I feel very emotionally attached to the band & their songs now.