I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Punk rocker Emily Black’s daddy is a guitar player, but he set his music aside to raise her on his own after her mother disappeared. Emily grew up reasonably together and rebellious in a small Wisconsin farming town notable for its outlaw music venue, River’s Edge, where she and her best friend graduate from sleeping with potential “rock gods” to starting a band of their own. Their rapid success is the standard-issue rock-and-roll dream, but debut novelist Kuehnert makes it new by marshaling tonic energy and 100-proof candor to create a high-speed, switchback tale. Although the plotline about Emily’s miserable mother and die-hard father is almost too over-the-top, it adds dimension to Emily’s rocketing rise and painful plummet. And Kuehnert is acidly incisive and full-out entertaining as she tells a classic tale of an artist coming into her own, revels in raw punk-rock power, dramatizes just how difficult it is for women musicians to be taken seriously, and reveals that the scariest thing isn’t getting up on stage but lowering your guard and falling in love. --Donna Seaman

Review

"Kuehnert's love of music is apparent on every page in this powerful and moving story. Her fresh voice makes this novel stand out in the genre, and she writes as authentically about coming of age as she does punk rock." -- Charles R. Cross, New York Times bestselling author of Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain

"Teeth. Punk. Combat boots. Attitude. Feminism. Family. Girls with guitars. Relationships that jack you up. Sharp things of the not-good kind. Friendships. Love.... It's all here; it's all pure and real." -- Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author of Ink Exchange

"A fierce and wild ride." -- Laura Wiess, author of Such a Pretty Girl

"A wonderfully written andevocative story of a mother and daughter parted by circumstance and joined by music. I heartily recommend it." -- Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: MTV (July 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416562699
• ISBN-13: 978-1416562696
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,369 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 29, 2008

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Emily Black was born for rock and roll. Her father always told her stories about how her parents lived for the music. Music was what took her mother away from her. At least that's what Emily has always been told.

Emily has never needed her mother. That's what she's always told everyone else. But the music written by Emily tells a different story. Emily and her friend, Regan, have dreams of being rock goddesses. During their high school years they form a punk band. After a crazy escapade, they coerce Tom to join the band, as well. The group forms She Laughs, and the rest is history. Or it should be. But everything about Emily always goes back to her mother. And why she left.

The angry, bitter songs Emily writes reflect her subconscious desire to mourn for her missing mom. Then, after a nasty break-up with her boyfriend, Johnny, Emily knows what she must do. She sets off on her own quest to find her mother, who has not wanted to be found for the past nineteen years. But Louisa Black has secrets of her own and will do anything she can to prevent anyone else from getting to close to her bad vibes.

Told in a dark, woeful manner, Emily must come to terms with her real need for her mother. She's always been the strong, confident one, telling all that she never missed not knowing her mother and that all she's ever needed is her dad. But as Emily goes from adolescence to adulthood, the hidden desire to know her mother forces its way to the surface, leading Emily on a journey that reveals more about herself than she expected. And her journey may just bring her closer to her mother than she thought possible.

I absolutely loved this story! Ms. Kuehnert writes a powerful story of a young woman trying to be her own person, but always having the specter of her mother's past hovering over everything she does. Music is infused throughout the entire story and plays an important part in the character development of Emily. I could relate to the musical references in the story and could almost believe that Emily was a real musician, not a character created by the author. I was sad to come to the last page, wanting the story of Emily to go on forever.

(Note of advice. The story tends to be a bit graphic with sex and drugs. This is definitely written for the older teen reader.)

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review Maniac bookreviewmaniac.blogspot.com, August 26, 2008

By	Book Review Maniac (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

When Emily Black was just four months old her mother left her and her dad to follow punk rock. Now Emily is in High School and she is starting a punk rock band of her own with her best friend Regan. She sings and writes the songs with Regan, who is the drummer, and Tom the bass player. They finally get to play at River's Edge, the place where punk rock lovers hang out while watching small town bands rock the stage and also the same stage that Louisa, Emily's mom, saw Emily's dad play for the first time. Everyone loves her lyrics and sound but they don't know the real reason that is behind the word that Emily sings. She hopes that one day her mother will follow the music right back to her and her dad.

This was one cool book. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is probably on of the most down-to-earth books I have ever read. It isn't full of fairytales and other. Stephanie did a great job of making the book very realistic. The plot was also great, sometimes something would happen that I never suspected but then there were times when something would happen that I knew was going to happen. Which in some books I don't' like figuring out what is going to happen but I didn't mind it at all in this book. The characters in this book were stupendous; they all had their flaws, which is great because in life everyone has flaws. I also enjoyed how big of a part music plays in the story. Which is probably because I am a big fan of rock but I think every one who reads this book will be able to envision Emily rocking out on the stage, like I did. I also introduced to some great rock bands while reading the wonderful story. I recommend this book to every teen out there, especially if you like listening to rock bands. Also some adults might enjoy the story too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liv's Book Reviews, August 22, 2008

By	Liv's Book Reviews (MN, USA) - See all my reviews

I don't even know where to begin. Nothing I could say would do this book justice. It's one of the most raw, heartbreaking, and touching novels I've read. Ever. Yikes. The thing I admire the most is that I think the author really wrote from her heart. You can tell just by the way the story is told that she cared deeply about what she was writing about which is the key to any good book; an author who is connected to her story. What's amazing is that this is Stephanie Kuehnert's first novel. How someone can write something this fantastic on her first attempt in the published world is...can I use the word amazing again? The characters are deep, detailed, and flawed. The plot is twisting and you flip the pages to find out what comes next. This book really takes you away into the trying, yet exhilirating world of rock and roll. You feel as if you're going through all of Emily's triumphs and trials with her and rooting for her as she alternately makes it big and falls hard. I think I'm running out of superlatives here. Or maybe I've uses so many that they don't have any meaning any more. But they are all deserved. So let me use a few more here; this book is really amazingly fantastic and you all need to go pick up a copy quickly. Really. :P