The Dad Rock that Made Me a Woman
Infusing the art with the weight of the feelings it elicits, Niko Stratis’s scintillating personal essay collection The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman surveys the last few decades of indie rock while reflecting on life as a trans woman.
This confessional, clear-eyed book blends cerebral music criticism with candid memoir elements. It is structured like a mixtape, with each chapter tackling one song in depth, contextualizing it in terms of its personal meaning to Stratis. Disparaged by some critics as too earnest, dad rock afforded Stratis an escape from the harsh, macho, and often close-minded Yukon Territory. The book pays homage to the unvarnished emotionality of bands like REM and Radiohead that helped her find herself and shares the stories of bands including Wilco, the National, and the Mountain Goats while analyzing what their work means.
Mirroring the tone of its subjects, the book is a heartfelt tribute to the tenderness of dad rock and caring fathers, intertwining high-minded rock criticism with personal stories about Stratis hanging out with her father, working grueling jobs, enduring bigotry, and struggling with addiction. The poetic prose also evokes landscapes both physical and emotional in a pitch-perfect manner, as with observations of hoarfrost blanketing stretches of solitary Yukon highways. And wit animates the book further, as with a playful apology to Stratis’s father, who may not be comfortable being written about.
A transcendent personal essay collection, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman ruminates on music, life, trans identity, and fatherhood. It executes its mixtape conceit to perfection and ends with poignant lyrics from a tearful, album-ending song. By the time it reaches the end of the tape, the curated compilation had already crescendoed to sonorous heights.
Reviewed by
Joseph S. Pete
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
