I only read Chapter Three and skimmed the rest...
I didn't pay attention to the author and assumed it was a woman in her early 30's,
but it's a dude. And somehow that changes things.
This book is an academic look at a few albums that sprung a blip of trend in the mid-90's. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to remember how Patti Rothberg's single went - before I remembered I didn't care about that song in 96, and don't really care about it now.
As for the book, I found the text analytical and cold. It's not about great albums, it's about women breaking into the mainstream. While I realize Sarah McLachlan is an important figure for this topic, I'm just not that interested in reading about my prom theme, "I Will Remember You"...
Plus, this book was just recently published but he only mentions an extremely young Fiona Apple's album "Tidal" without even a footnote about her later albums.
As for "Exile" he definitely approves - but the essay didn't tell me anything new - and in fact only succeeded in reminding me just how bad I feel Liz Phair's albums in the 2000's are.
I still consider "Exile in Guyville" my favorite album, and if nothing else reading about it made me want to listen to it, and that's not a bad thing.
