Then It Fell Apart

In a moving and often sad follow-up to his 2016 memoir Porcelain, musician Moby skillfully intersperses moments from his childhood with episodes of his life following the success of his 1999 album Play. As a child, he shuffles with his mother to parties in 1970s Connecticut, often waking up in a room full of strangers who have crashed from the previous night. Moby, afraid to upset his mother during parties, tells of once hiding in a “dark closet, listening to the radio and wondering when it would be okay for me to go back outside.” As Moby enters adulthood, he fluctuates between feelings of joy, narcissism, and self-denigration. In junior high, Moby learns to play the guitar, and in high school he forms a band with friends; by 1984, he’s working as a DJ in Connecticut and New York City and recording his own music. But years later, as Play rises on the charts and the 34-year-old Moby lives the rock star life—dining with David Bowie and with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, throwing a holiday party in his “sky castle” apartment on Central Park West—he writes of feeling worthless, unlovable, and inadequate. He begins drinking heavily, but eventually joins AA and embarks on his road to emotional wellness. This well-written memoir of a man’s search for contentment astutely reveals the sharp rises and the steep descents of fame. [em](May) [/em]