Beige - Cecil Castellucci

Beige
Cecil Castellucci
Candlewick Press
ISBN 9780763642327

Some books just transport you, the combination of writing about music, the recommended play list and the story itself will do that with this story. The story is about a teenage girl from Montreal going to L.A. to spend a few weeks with her estranged father the legendary and infamous rocker The Rat from the band Suck. Katy feels like she has been exiled, her mother has gone to Peru for her PhD thesis. Katy does not know anyone, does not want to be there and does not know how to communicate her true feelings. Yet even with that this book is full of surprises.Katy gets to know her father, and his band mate Sam Suck, Sam's daughter Lake and her father's girlfriend Trixie. She meets two boys, cool, athletic, Leo and nerdy Garth. Shortly after her arrival Katy thinks "For some people, clutter is ok. They can live amid chaos but not me. For me, piles of things on top of things scattered on things equals me not being able to think straight. A Mess actually hurts me physically." p.13 As soon as a read that I was hooked and knew that I would like Katy if we were to meet in real life.

This book comes with a recommended playlist, by about the third chapters I pulled it together and listened to it while reading the book. It really does enhance the book.

Beige's Exclusive Punk Playlist!
1. No Way - Adolescents
2. Too Drunk to F**k - Dead Kennedys
3. Hanging on the Telephone - Blondie
4. Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees
5. Lexicon Devil - The Germs
6. Body Bag - NoMeansNo
7. S**t from an Old Notebook - The Minutemen
8. In the City - The Jam
9. Tattooed Love Boys - The Pretenders
10. U. Suck A. / We're Fed Up - Scream
11. F**K Armageddon ... This is Hell - Bad Religion
12. Institutionalized - Suicidal Tendencies
13. Los Angeles - X
14. Oh Bondage, Up Yours! - X-Ray Spex
15. Live Fast Die Young - Circle Jerks

But one of the unique features of this book is that instead of chapter titles or numbers each chapter heading is a song and a band. I created a second playlist with those to listen to also:

Los Angeles - X
Amoeba - Adolescents
Rebel Waltz - The Clash
Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys
California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys
Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
Girl U Want - Devo
Walking in L.A. - Missing Person
Roots Radical - Rancid
This Town - The Go-Go's
Beat on the Brat - The Ramones
Waiting Room - Fugazi
F**K Armageddon ... This is Hell - Bad Religion
Live Fast Die Young - Circle Jerks
Sheena is a Punk Rocker - The Ramones
Search and Destroy - The Stooges
Rock the Casbah - The Clash
I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
(I'm) Stranded - The Saints
I Don't Wanna Hear it - Minor Threat
Institutionalized - Suicidal Tendencies
Ruby Soho - Rancid
Damaged - Black Flag
Anarchy in the U.K. - The Sex Pistols
Lexicon Devil - The Germs
S**t From An Old Notebook - The Minutemen
We've Got The Neutron Bomb - The Wierdos
The Crew - 7 Seconds
Love Buzz - Nirvana
Six Pack Girl - NOFX
Oh Bondage, Up Yours! - X-Ray Spex
Cherry Bomb - The Runaways
We Got The Beat - The Go-Go's
Mommy's Little Monster - Social Distortion
Blank Generation - Richard Hell
Everything Sucks - The Descendents
U. Suck A. / We're Fed Up - Scream
Sonic Reducer - Dead Boys
Kick Out The Jams - MC5
Group Sex - Circle Jerks
No Way - Adolescents
Sound and Fury - Youth Brigade
Germ Free Adolescents - X-Ray Spex
Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Should I Stay Or Should I Go - The Clash

I am already planning on rereading this book at least twice more. The first time I will listen to the chapter song while reading that chapter. The second I will listen to the two albums by the authors, Nerdy Girl Twist Her and Cecil Seaskull Whoever, I can't wait to read her book while listing to her music.

Books by Cecil Castellucci:
Boy Proof (2005)
The Queen of Cool (2006)
Beige (2007)
The P.L.A.I.N. Janes (2007)
Janes in Love (2008)
Geektastic (Editor & Contributor 2009)
Rose Sees Red (2010)
Grandma's Gloves (2010)
First Day On Earth (2011)
Odd Duck (2013)
Tin Star (2014)
Stone in the Sky (2015)
The Plain Janes 3 in 1 (2020)

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Music By Cecil Castellucci
Twist Her - Nerdy Girl (1996)
Whoever - Cecil Seaskull (1998)

A Visual Bibliography for Cecil Castellucci
Author profile interview with Cecil Castellucci