ELLEgirl reads...I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is the edgy tale of a girl and her long lost mother and is definitely up for one of my favorite summer reads for more reasons than one.

Emily Black was born into a rock-and-roll family. The cult of rock music was in her genes, passed down by a rebellious free-spirited mother and a dad who knew how to rock out better than anyone within a 500 mile radius. Emily, however, never had a chance to meet her mother, Louisa, who abandoned her and her family without warning when Emily was only a baby.

Just starting out, Emily’s parents were young, crazy, and crazy about each other. As rebel townies in the quaint Carlisle, Wisconsin, they moved to Detroit to chase their dream of living the lives of rock-and-roll royalty. Yet, things didn’t exactly go as the couple had planned and all roads led back to Carlisle only a few years later -- at least for Emily and her father. Her mother couldn’t, for more reasons than one it turns out, face the stifling small town living and left Emily and her father. Eventually, Emily sets out to find some clarification about her life, her past, and her mother via being a part of her own band, She Laughs.

Emily’s coming-of-age story in I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is allusive, real, and honest. Even I, the most non-rock oriented teen in existence, found it overwhelmingly easy to connect with and relate to Emily. Stephanie Kuehnert’s writing is simplistic, but smart, and her storytelling is vivid and effective. I think many will find themselves in the same position as I – being able to understand and feel for Emily throughout the book – because she is struggling with something everyone is familiar with: family. Kuehnert proves that there are a lot of things in life that can and will fall apart, things that you can’t count on, but family, for the most part, is a constant among life’s many variables.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone was a refreshing read – a nice escape from the predictable romance novel I find myself submersed in so often during the summer. Not only did I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone make me want to blast my radio volume and perform some sort of air guitar maneuver, it also made me realize that although families aren’t perfect they are nonetheless important. It makes no difference if you’re a punk-rock chick or a glam princess, I would recommend this book to any ELLE girl. --Amber Fehrenbacher

Let us know what you thought about I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone in the comments section, and don’t forget to start reading these upcoming ELLEgirl Book Club picks:
August 6: Violet in Private by Melissa Walker and This Year’s Model by Carol Alt
August 13: serafina67 *urgently requires life* by Susie Day
August 25: Next to Mexico by Jen Nails

Comments

[ellegurlxo]

it sounds soo good!! i cant wait to read it!

[Taryn]

Interesting name but sounds like a good book, to me.