If you've ever made a mix tape for someone you care about, or connected with that person through a shared love of music, then Rob Sheffield's Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time will definitely resonate with you. The book tells the story of Sheffield's relationship, with his wife, Renée, how music brought them together, and also how music helped him cope with losing her, after her sudden death from a pulmonary embolism.
Each section of the book is preceded by a list of the songs from a mix tape that was an integral part of their time together. As Sheffield details the story of his and Renée's time as a couple, the music on those tapes becomes a soundtrack to their courtship and marriage, and deeply illustrates the integral part music played in their lives. Reading Love Is A Mix Tape makes you feel like you're having an intimate conversation with Sheffield about life, love, loss, memories, music and of course, creating the perfect mix tape.
For me, the book touches upon my own experiences with my late wife Gloria, as music and mix tapes played a large part in our lives as well. I met Gloria when she was the roommate of a colleague of mine. My heart was mending after a bad breakup, and she made me laugh with dead on barbs aimed at my ex, who had unceremoniously dumped me. We also bonded over our musical favorites, including The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. I later made her a mix tape featuring songs from her George Harrison (her favorite Beatle) and some other music I knew she'd like on the opposite side. That was the first of many mix tapes I made her, and soon after, we started dating. As it did for Rob and Renée, music became an integral part of our life together, and like Rob, I lost my spouse far too soon.
Sheffield writes about how a song on a mix tape can carry a memory, a moment, or define a person, and I know exactly what he means. I can’t hear “Here Comes the Sun” or “Thunder Road” without feeling my wife’s love for, or connection to, those songs. Sheffield's mixes for Renée, like mine for Gloria, were love letters disguised as playlists. Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time is a moving, powerful, and emotional memoir, which captures the joys of love, and charts the uneven rhythms of grief. Sheffield deftly moves from humor to heartbreak to nostalgia, because that’s how memory works when someone you love is gone.
A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, Sheffield has written several excellent books, including Dreaming The Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and The Whole World, but I think the powerful, moving, bittersweet, yet ultimately hopeful Love Is A Mix Tape is perhaps his best work. There is a sequel to Love Is A Mix Tape, entitled Turn Around Bright Eyes, about how singing karaoke helped Rob heal again, how he started a new chapter in life, and found new love. I look forward to reading that one soon. But if you want to read a compelling story about how music becomes embedded into our lives, and is deeply woven into the fabric of our relationships, seek out Love Is A Mix Tape.
No comments:
Post a Comment