The Skin Above My Knee: A Memoir

by Marcia Butler

Music was everything for Marcia Butler. Growing up in an emotionally desolate home with an abusive father and a distant mother, she devoted herself to the discipline and rigor of the oboe, and quickly became a young prodigy on the rise in New York City's competitive music scene.

But haunted by troubling childhood memories while balancing the challenges of a busy life as a working musician, Marcia succumbed to dangerous men, drugs and self-destruction. In her darkest moments, she asked the hardest question of all: Could music truly save her life?

A memoir of startling honesty and subtle, profound beauty, The Skin Above My Knee is the story of a woman finding strength in her creative gifts and artistic destiny. Filled with vivid portraits of 1970's New York City, and fascinating insights into the intensity and precision necessary for a career in professional music, this is more than a narrative of a brilliant musician struggling to make it big in the big city. It is the story of a survivor.

• ISBN10: 0316392286
• ISBN13: 9780316392280
• Publish Date: 16 March 2017 (first published 21 February 2017)
• Publish Status: Withdrawn
• Out of Print: 29 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[lovelybookshelf]

Forget Mozart in the Jungle (which got a 1-star review from me). Read Marcia Butler's memoir instead. Butler floats between tales of her life as a musician and her difficult personal life (trigger warning for abuse/child abuse). Her grace and fortitude will inspire and touch you (I admit, I reached for tissues throughout the final chapters) and you'll get a wonderfully accurate look at what it's like to be a professional classical musician. No musical knowledge needed on the part of the reader.