Book Review: “A Cigarette Lit Backwards” by Tea Hacic-Vlahovic
What to Say?
And so, we now come to a book that I’m not sure if I should be reviewing. Not because it is a book with bad content, per se, (though I suppose it does have some of that) and not because it is written from a young woman’s perspective, either. I must wonder, though, what people in my church community might think of me if they knew I had read a book that was partly a punk-rock memoir, which this book seems to be — at least, in a fictionalized way. After all, doesn’t the concept of punk rock with its allusions to anarchy and overthrowal of the government seem antithetical to someone who is trying to live a Christian life? I suppose I could say that I feel lucky to be a member of a very liberal church, but even then I have to wonder … just what would people at church think of me, and this book? I guess I must conclude that I just don’t care. Reading Tea Hacic-Vlahovic’s A Cigarette Lit Backwards took me back to the days some 20 years ago when I was making chapbooks without abandon it seemed and was writing short stories and journalism articles for the transgressive Toronto-based magazine Broken Pencil. Reading this book was like riding a wave of nostalgia.
But enough about me. (The thing with blogging or writing on Medium is that there’s this temptation to write more about yourself than the book you’re supposed to be reviewing.) A Cigarette Lit Backward is the story of a young woman named Kat who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and who also lives in a punk community. She is promiscuous in her way. She experiments with all sorts of drugs. And she likes punk rock and/or roll. Anyhow, one night while slamdancing at a concert, she gets injured and is taken backstage to lick her proverbial wounds. There, she meets her idol — a rock star given to rolling around on stage in broken glass (think along the lines of an early Iggy Pop). Things radically change from that moment on. People look at her differently — especially after she gets written up and photographed by a zealous young female journalist looking for clickbait. Everyone in her community thinks she has slept with the said rock star, even if that isn’t true. To that end, A Cigarette Lit Backwards is a book that examines the double standards between young men and women and the gulf that exists between the two sexes.
As a coming-of-age tale, A Cigarette Lit Backwards is pleasurable. It is written in accessible, clipped sentences and the novel itself is a quick read as it clocks in at 200 pages. However, the book is dense, and the ongoing series of vignettes both titillate and enthrall. But what else is there left to say? After all, this is the sort of volume that the reader will enjoy based on how much of an affinity they have towards the punk rock lifestyle. No matter what, though, I did find the author’s portrayal of the double life that Kat leads to be, at the very least, interesting. On one hand, she leads a very destructive lifestyle: she cuts class at her high school, she probably spends way too much time at a local punk hangout, she shoplifts clothes and makeup from a local mall, and the list of transgressions could go on. However, she is three dimensional: she’s good at piano, she’s trying to get into a liberal arts college in a nearby city, she strives to be a good daughter to her mother, and on it goes. What Hacic-Vlahovic does well is she writes a detailed protagonist who isn’t your usual Sheena type. (If you catch the reference there, good for you.) In that sense, this book is amazing and incredibly fun to read. It’s kind of like reading a female-fronted version of SLC Punk, even though I found that film to be a tad bit on the boring side, and I mean no offense to the filmmaker. (After all, maybe that was the whole point of that flick, just to show how empty and vapid being a punk is.) Boredom is not a strike I really can level against this book.
What’s more, even if this novel could be considered to be transgressive and “punk,” the transgressions are pretty mild. Even though heroin is shot up among characters at one point, the whole thing feels rather PG-13-ish and handled very carefully. Clearly, the author knows her subject matter but doesn’t overtly romanticise the punk rock lifestyle or condemn it, either. This makes A Cigarette Lit Backwards quite the pleasure to digest. But whether you’re going to enjoy this read is going to be contingent on how much you like punk rock music and how much you appreciate the lifestyle that it entails. If you’re the type of goody-goody Christian who listens to, I dunno, Hillsong or something, then you’re going to hate this novel and find no merit in it. So, this is where I have to wonder what I’m doing writing about this book, as much as I love it. Can a guy like me like a book like this even though I’m supposed to be capable of living a loving Christian lifestyle? And can a guy find pleasure and entertainment in a book that is probably best destined for a female audience, too? If I can, then the ultimate thing I have to say about A Cigarette Lit Backwards is that this is a masterful work, a real surprise. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this one but enjoyed it immensely as I raced through itA. It’s books like this that make me enjoy reading so much. Put another way, this is a book that is just about worthy of a five-star review — if I have any business reading this. And I think I do. No, I do. I do, I do, I do. I do have business reading this, and it’s an excellent book any way you slice it.
Tea Hacic-Vlahovic’s A Cigarette Lit Backwards was published by Harry N. Abrams on September 20, 2022.
Of course, if you like what you see, please recommend this piece (click on the clapping hands icon below) and share it with your followers.
Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
