Wild West Village Not a memior (unless I win an Oscar, die tragically, or score a country #1)

The subtitle is correct; actress and singer-songwriter Kirke has not written a memoir, no matter what happens going forward. Rather, it is a collection of hilarious, cinematic essays about growing up ensconced in affluent New York City. Kirke was raised by a British rock star and an equally creative and dramatic mother, with three artist siblings (the most famous of whom is her sister Jemima, who starred on HBO's Girls). Kirke's writing is irreverent, conversational, and self-aware. She brings to life the New York City of her youth, smoking cigarettes as a tween, visiting siblings in rehab, discovering her father's secret love child. Kirke is surrounded by celebrities and intense creativity. Pieces about Kirke's life as she breaks away from the chaotic family nucleus and whirls out on her own are especially fun. Entering Kirke's world and imagination is a delicious peek behind the veil, like an Andy Warhol Diaries for rich New York City art kids of the new millennium.

Actor and country singer Kirke recalls growing up in a showbiz family in her first book, a raucous memoir-in-essays. Kirke, star of Mistress America and Mozart in the Jungle, recalls her girlhood in New York City's West Village with her adulterous father, Simon, drummer for the band Bad Company; her volatile mother, Lorraine, a fashion designer who made Kirke beg Simon's mistress to stop wrecking the family; and her older sister, Girls actor Jemima, who lurched through addictions and once seduced Kirke's boyfriend. Kirke paints her relatives in a comedic, affectionate, and slightly scandalous light: her parents let her smoke as a minor, and the clan's intense self-absorption left her feeling unloved. Later chapters follow Kirke through rocky relationships, Hollywood craziness, and a triumphant debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Replete with off-color celebrity cameos ("Kate Moss asked me where the toilet was"), Kirke's narrative centers on people with too much money and ego, but she leavens the melodrama with a dashing wit--Kirke's fraudulent stage résumé "named my fake characters things like 'Jancy' and 'Water Gun Girl'.... I lied about my height and weight. I was a real actress." The result is a deliriously entertaining recap of a misspent youth. (Jan.)

An actress/singer-songwriter muses on surviving her fierce, feral, fast-living family. Kirke grew up the youngest daughter of a rock musician father and a clothing designer mother. Rife with bohemian disarray, their New York City home--which recalled "an expensive French brothel"--attracted stars like David Bowie, who once declined an offer to use one of her sister's hands as an ashtray, and Courtney Love, who set fire to their house during a long stay. Despite her access to privilege, wealth, and deliriously outrageous parties where she danced in "oversize antique underwear," Kirke secretly yearned for normalcy and for respect from her beautiful elder sisters who avoided or ignored her unless she had something they wanted. She discovered acting as a preteen and threw herself into comically inappropriate roles like child prostitutes and "a slew of other promiscuous women," all with the goal of gaining the accolades that always seemed to go to her siblings. Later, she landed roles in small indie films, then the Amazon seriesMozart in the Jungle, but those successes always seemed overshadowed by those of other family members. Still searching for her artistic identity, she went to a songwriting retreat where she met a country music producer she called the Cowboy, who embodied "both the freedom and stability I'd long craved." When every song she wrote after that "came out country," Kirke realized not only that she loved the Cowboy enough to move to Nashville, but also that country music could help her render everything, including the most complex feelings, "perfectly simple." This memoir-in-essays will appeal to anyone who enjoys unforgettable characters and fearless storytelling from a writer unafraid to face down her own demons. A funny, raw, and painful book about a woman's chaotic, thoroughly individual path to coming into her own. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.