Meat is Murder - Joe Pernice

This is the perfect book to read on a plane. It’s tiny (4 ½ x 6 ½ inches), so it will fit into your purse or your computer bag. It’s brief (102 pages), so you can start reading it while waiting to board and finish it just before landing, on a short-haul flight. And it’s about music, specifically about the albums that defined us and formed our consciousness, so it appeals to music nerds like me.

This book was a gift from a friend who shares my musical tastes and is even more of a music nerd than I am, and who was shocked to discover that I had not read any of the 33 1/3 series of books to which this belongs. I am not quite sure how I avoided doing that my entire life, as there were 69 books published in the series at last count, with a pile more to come. But, based on my experience with Meat is Murder, I am afraid the flood gates have been opened now.

While all the books in the series are about specific record albums, Meat is Murder diverges somewhat from the formula in that it is a work of fiction. In this tiny novella, author and musician Joe Pernice tells the story of a disgruntled teenager (is there any other kind?) growing up in middle class America in 1985, who finds community and a form of solace through the discovery of the Smiths’ album Meat is Murder.

I admit to being a sucker for these coming of age in America stories, and to read one based around a teen’s experience with the seminal Smiths album brought me back to the world of high school experiences, and made me glad I survived those years. I admit I did not have to deal with asthma, suicide or Catholic school, but the sweeping subtext of humiliation and alienation are universal no matter where you grew up.

Meat is Murder is sort of a mini Catcher in the Rye, only with better music. I rather wish it had been longer; I would have stayed on the plane to read more.

I know I will be looking for more books in this series. Highly recommended for music nerds, particularly those in need of a portable book.