Nothing compares to you What Sinéad O'Connor means to us

Review by Booklist Review

How to honor the art that saved your life, the artist who showed you another way to live? In the case of the late Irish musician and activist Sinéad O'Connor, musician and writer Neko Case suggests, "We must use Sinéad's own songs to mourn her." In these personal-essays-cum-cover-songs, women, femme, and nonbinary fans--or maybe devotees is the better-fitting label--pay homage to an O'Connor song that tracks an emotional current from their own life. While O'Connor may have been a singular (and divisive) artist, her wrestling with faith, politics, mental illness, and abuse was shared by many, spanning age, culture, and creed, as sung by the authors on this tracklist. Followers of literary nonfiction will recognize a number of featured names, such as Myriam Gurba, Porochista Khakpour, and Lidia Yuknavitch. Assembled by Huber and Bayne, Nothing Compares is a tribute to O'Connor and, at times, to contributors' old selves, the ones who found in the artist the permission to speak out and make their own sound. A choir worthy of backing one extraordinary voice.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Huber (Voice First), an associate professor of creative writing at Fairfield University, and essayist Bayne (The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook) assemble an eclectic tribute to Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor, who died in 2023. How O'Connor's feminism influenced the book's contributors is a major through line. For example, novelist Zoe Zolbrod recalls discovering O'Connor's music in college, when the musician's decision to shave her head in response to "her record label's plan to market her as a pretty girl" inspired Zolbrod and her friends to enact their own forms of "bodily protest" ("One after another, women showed up at the house with shorn heads, rubbing their palms over their stubbly scalps for the sensual pleasure"). NPR journalist Allyson McCabe positions O'Connor as a truth-teller who was open about being abused by her mother, while essayist Myriam Gurba intriguingly reframes O'Connor's relationship to religion and ethics, noting that despite the musician's take-no-prisoners image, she was "generous with both apologies and forgiveness. She understood the velocity of grace... how it could move between two people." While many of the essays focus on the same incidents--including O'Connor's famous 1992 SNL performance, during which she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II--the book's varied registers (some lyrical, others analytical) ensure that the perspective is never repetitive, and the composite effectively reveals the intimate ways in which an artist can shape her listeners' lives. The result is a vivid and multifaceted ode to a trailblazing musician. (July)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Women and nonbinary authors reflect on the music of the late Sinéad O'Connor. When Irish singer-songwriter O'Connor died in 2023 at age 56, the music world was thrown into a state of shock. O'Connor was a global celebrity, and had been since the 1990 release of her hit single "Nothing Compares 2 U"--a cover of a previously obscure Prince song--two years before she would memorably tear up a picture of Pope John Paul II onSaturday Night Live. Huber and Bayne's book collects essays by women and nonbinary authors reflecting on the singer's influence on their own lives. The anthology kicks off with a foreword by fellow musician Neko Case, well written but a bit unfocused. The essays that follow, each tied to a specific O'Connor song, are a mixed bag. Standouts include Sarah Viren, who examines "Black Boys on Mopeds," and May-lee Chai, who uses "Jump in the River" as a starting point to explore her relationship with her mother. Madhushree Ghosh does a good job writing about discovering O'Connor's music as a 20-year-old whose Indian peers can't quite relate, while Brooke Champagne writes a stunning piece about abortion inspired by "Three Babies." In an essay tied to "Jackie," Zoe Zolbrod, recalling the time she and a group of friends listened to the song at a gathering, successfully captures the effect O'Connor had on her fans: "We didn't care if the whole building came tumbling down. We wanted it to. In those first moments, she made us feel powerful enough not just to stand our ground, but to fly." There are some gems here, but too many of the essays lack focus and descend into the maudlin. A few great essays can't save a collection that tends toward the sentimental. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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