Horror Stories

A Memoir

By: Liz Phair

Narrated by: Liz Phair

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter behind the groundbreaking album Exile in Guyville traces her life and career in a genre-bending memoir in stories about the pivotal moments that haunt her.

When Liz Phair shook things up with her musical debut, Exile in Guyville - making her as much a cultural figure as a feminist pioneer and rock star - her raw candor, uncompromising authenticity, and deft storytelling inspired a legion of critics, songwriters, musicians, and fans alike. Now, like a Gen X Patti Smith, Liz Phair reflects on the path she has taken in these piercing essays that reveal the indelible memories that have stayed with her.

For Phair, horror is in the eye of the beholder - in the often unrecognized universal experiences of daily pain, guilt, and fear that make up our humanity. Illuminating despair with hope and consolation, tempering it all with her signature wit, Horror Stories is immersive, taking listeners inside the most intimate junctures of Phair’s life, from facing her own bad behavior and the repercussions of betraying her fundamental values, to watching her beloved grandmother inevitably fade, to undergoing the beauty of childbirth while being hit up for an autograph by the anesthesiologist.

Horror Stories is a literary accomplishment that reads like the confessions of a friend. It gathers up all of our isolated shames and draws them out into the light, uniting us in our shared imperfection, our uncertainty and our cowardice, smashing the stigma of not being in control. But most importantly, the uncompromising precision and candor of Horror Stories transforms these deeply personal experiences into tales about each and every one of us.

Musical interludes composed and performed by Liz Phair.

Advance praise for Horror Stories

"Liz Phair’s songwriting has always had the rare quality of being short-story-like. Damn good short stories, too. Horror Stories has that unique Liz Phair ability to make you look at something you’d rather not, but once you do you’re glad you did - like any form of honest art. This is why Liz Phair still is, and always will be, a threat." (Ben Folds)

©2019 Liz Phair (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Liz Phair’s Horror Stories is a deeply personal narrative about a ground-breaking musician’s intense love affair with life, with all its turbulent highs and lows. It is also about those things that have sustained Phair since childhood: the wonder and healing power of nature, music, and family. A compelling blend of riveting prose and soaring lyricism, Horror Stories is as enthralling and as addictive as Phair's music." (Mira Bartók, New York Times best-selling author of The Memory Palace, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award)

"Horror Stories is a collection of turning points, plucked free of ongoing time and their original settings. Gathered, they sparkle eerily, expanding to occupy an entire remembered year - maybe even an entire remembered self." (Sarah Manguso)

"Horror Stories cracks open the idea of fear itself to see what's inside. Liz Phair’s stories are heartbreaking and inspiring, galvanizing and contemplative. This memoir is as much about the poignant luminosity of the subjects upon which Phair fixes her gaze as it is about the darkness she shows us. Witnessing her examine the moments that have stayed with her over the years is captivating: a literary triumph by a musical icon." (Lily Brooks-Dalton, author of Good Morning, Midnight)

Unapologetically Liz

Addictive listen with beautiful musical bridges between chapters. The stories each stand alone but also flow as one, honestly revealing her good and bad sides. She’s a clear voice of Gen X

Profound

I know Liz from college, and am good friends with “Peter,” so it was neat (and strange) to learn more about their connection. That’s really a small point, though—what drew me in is that Liz is so honest and reflective in her (fantastic) reading of these stories. Especially powerful for me were the Trader Joe and grandmother Winnie chapters.

Especially for Gen X women ....

Especially chapter 1 about guilt, chapter 14 about sexual harassment, assault and stalking, chapter 15
about depression and suicide, and chapter 17 about growing old were powerful, but I like the deep stuff. But this book has everything: comedy, girly superficiality, and supernatural profound depth.

The music & beyond: Reflecting on an amazing life

Never a full moment in this rocker's life. a fun and deep reflection on Liz's childhood, career and attempt to be an adult. She does a great job narrating.

Lyrical and Beautiful

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The way Liz Phair writes is poetic and accessible. I felt myself there with her with such evocative, lush descriptions, and found myself nodding over and over again in agreement to her raw honesty. I was sad when it was over.

Thank you for sharing your story...

Real and down to earth. It's difficult to be human and easy to forget celebrities are human too...

If you want to know about Liz Phair’s musical career, you’ll be disappointed.

I am a long-time fan of Liz Phair’s music and was really excited to hear this. But there are about two sentences that given insight into that (literally), nothing more. There’s nothing about her trying to find her sound, recording any of her albums, or her development as an artist. There are some stories that revolve around performances, but the shows are very much in the background. I’m really disappointed.

The most generous thing I can say is that this book is about finding the beauty and meaning in the mundane. Phair does that well. She knows how to tell a story. But her narrative position is that her experiences are somehow more interesting because they happened to her and they aren’t. Everyone has had a grandparent die or misunderstood a culture. Everyone has been cheated on and gaslit.

I suppose if she had written from the perspective of the “every woman” she could have done more to identify the universality in her experience. That could have been interesting. But instead, you get the sense that she is completely unaware of the privilege with which she was raised. I don’t mean she hasn’t earned her place in the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon. She has and I will continue to love her music. But since she has chosen to only discuss personal vignettes she leaves all of that aside and we have to take her interestingness on faith. I al unconvinced.

If you enjoy personal essays about day to day life, you’ll like this book. If you want insight into art, creativity, and the nature of being an artist, this is not the book for you.

Honest, Raw, Inspiring, hopefully Book

I love it I have to say that right off the bat. I wasn’t sure what I would think but I am a fan of hers so I thought let me give it a chance. I think the book is very honest she takes you to private thoughts and events it made me recall childhood memories long forgotten from listening to her book. It takes you through life events but with such careful accuracy it’s kind of incredible. I think a fan or not quite a fan will enjoy listening to her and her life accounts.
Just buy it already
Enjoy.

Loved it!

I am a big Liz Phair music fan so I was excited to read (listen to) this! It is not like a typical memoir with a life story, but different meaningful points of her life that were scary or sad or times of change. The stories were very captivating. We all have those bad memories that stick with us and make us feel awkward or sad. Her writing is amazing. You feel like you are going through everything with her.

Good collection of essays more than a memoir

Best to not think of it as an autobiography. Liz takes us through several scenes in her life that exemplify her growth as an artist and person.
There's not a lot of name dropping or wild stories like some rock and roll memoirs. There's no track-by-track breakdown of how she accomplished her artistic vision.
Considering how finely hewn her songwriter's wit is on albums, it's not as apparent in the book. Her chapters on her infidelities and the MeToo movement are the most compelling, but she doesn't reveal too much. In the last chapter she talks about her gift of meeting people on their emotional turf without betraying too much of her own feelings. That's happening a bit here in this book.
It's still a good book and she performs it very well.