Pages go by without the author even mentioning the band.
What the book offers is a singular insight into one-quarter of Sonic Youth, a history of what the '80s were like inside Lee Ranaldo's head. Instead, the book spins out as a series of fragments, narrative entries, poetry and lyrics which bears about as much resemblance to the traditional memoir as one of Sonic Youth's ear-shredding feedback codas does to Phil Spector's wall of sound. We wound our way as through uncharted territory, taking liberties at every turn, in confused fusion with purpose. But Ranaldo also reveals a surprisingly romantic, even sentimental side. He has a tendency for falling in love across a crowded room, writing rapturously of beautiful women with whom complete relationships are lived out in the space of a few wordless glances.