My Own Devices: Essays from the Road by Dessa - 3.5* (round up to 4*)

[Doughgirl5562]

If you know who Dessa is, then you are either (1) a very hardcore Hamilton fan, or (2) a bigger fan of rap music than me, or (3) just much more with it than I am :-) - or maybe all three! I must admit that when my bookclub assigned this book, I had no idea that Dessa is a musician (solo and with a rap group called Doomtree). She's Minnesota born and bred, but currently lives in NYC - which is where she connected with Lin Manuel-Miranda and covered a few songs for a Hamilton mix-tape.

Once I found that out, I was afraid that this was going to be the stereotypical celebrity/musician memoir with road stories, sleeping around, drug and drinking stories, recovering from drugs and/or drinking stories, etc. But this is sooooo not that type of memoir.

Rather, this is a book of essays - most with a theme. Dessa turns out to be an intelligent (the girl enjoys doing math), street smart, introspective and self-reflective woman. I did learn a little bit about rap music, but also really enjoyed her essays. My favorite essays were about her father (who built his own glider) and when she tried to insure her melancholy nature against happiness (because her most popular songs are about heartbreak). She even employed neurofeedback as a way to get over her Ex.

Dessa really has a way with words - which I suppose is why she is a good songwriter. In the chapter about her mother, she says that she now looks a lot like her earliest memories of her mother - "Like I'm a Polaroid that took thirty years of shaking to develop."