Marcia Butler was a professional oboist for 25 years, until her retirement from music in 2008. During her musical career, she performed as a principal oboist and soloist on the most renowned New York and international stages, and with many high-profile musicians and orchestras
"Such is the miracle of art. But Butler also makes us confront its
limits, as redemption in life is rarely whole or permanent. Music
saved her from an unhappy home, but it could not fill the throbbing
vacuum caused by a parent's lack of affection. Music did not rescue
her from her attempts at self-destruction, though it did provide a
place for her to experience a rare feeling of wholeness. Butler's
unmistakable bravery turned a traumatized girl into a world-class
musician, then into a writer of memorable grace and force. You
hope, while reading Butler's transcendent words, that some of it
will rub off on you."
--National Book Review
"Butler's unmistakable bravery turned a traumatized girl into a
world-class musician, then into a writer of memorable grace and
force. You hope, while reading Butler's transcendent words, that
some of it will rub off on you."
--National Book Review
"[Butler] writes lovingly and beautifully.... The light and the
dark fight it out in this fierce, fiery memoir."
--Kirkus
"A moving account of how passion and creativity can be powerful
weapons against neglect, cruelty, and self-harm."--Publishers
Weekly
"A tale of triumph over a childhood rife with abuse, yet blessed
with talent. Filled with insight and honesty, [Butler's] memoir
flows like a series of gorgeous musical phrases, taking the reader
on a journey as uplifting as it is disturbing.... Her courageous
memoir is a testament to the power of art to inspire and heal."
--Washington Post
"Creativity is tricky and elusive. You can't buy it. You can't rent
it. You can't borrow it. And you certainly can't fake it. Marcia
Butler has it. In this superbly written memoir, Butler observes her
own life, sharing the ups and downs of it and this mysterious gift
which saved her. Now the rest of us who weren't fortunate enough to
hear her perform can read this astounding journey into the heart of
what creativity feels, tastes, and looks like, as well as see w hat
goes into being an artist."
--Charles Salzberg, author of Swann's Lake of Despair
"Fierce and lyrical, honest and darkly funny, Marcia Butler's
memoir is so good, I found myself canceling plans with friends so I
could stay home with this ravishing book. Her gift with language is
rare. Not only can she describe her descent into a spiral of
self-destructive behavior so vividly that you fear for her life,
she will, in the end, carry you away with the poetry of her words
as she describes the transcendent power of music."
--Patrica McCormick, author of the National Book Award finalist
Sold
"For Marcia Butler, the oboe was a protective garment and a ticket
to the world, though both applications came at a steep price....
The Skin Above My Knee ultimately succeeds because it
leaves readers knowing a thing or two about an esoteric
world."--Meghan Daum, New York Times Book Review
"Gorgeously written, The Skin Above My Knee takes the reader
from the world's most lauded concert venues into the innermost
sanctums of musician's lives in New York. Always honest and
admirably adverse to self-pity, Marcia Butler's beautiful book cuts
its devastating insights with poetic love for the world. My heart
broke in several places, and leapt in several others. When I
finished reading, I felt as if I understood music on a level
usually reserved for world class musicians.
Stunning."--Marie-Helene Bertino, author of 2 A.M at The
Cat's Pajamas
"Heartbreaking, page turning, and ultimately redemptive, The
Skin Above My Knee is a dazzling memoir about life as an
internationally recognized classical musician and about one woman's
journey to the only sort of love that lasts-self-acceptance. An
insider's look at the world of professional performance and a
moving account of one woman's effort to transmute pain into beauty,
this book will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered how you get
to Carnegie Hall or how to survive family. Reader, she succeeds
beautifully."--E.J. Levy, author of Love, In Theory
"Impressive.... [Butler's] imaginative prose fires the senses
dramatically. Music aficionados will find an extraordinarily
kindred spirit here, and lovers of memoir will find this a
sensationally satisfying one."
--Booklist
"In The Skin Above My Knee, a classical musician takes a
walk on the wild side and almost doesn't make it up the stairs.
Butler's remarkable memoir of a New York City freelance musician's
life does for classical music what Patti Smith's Just Kids
did for proto-punk, and Eileen Myles's Inferno did for Lower
East Side poetry."
--Tim Tomlinson, author of Requiem for the Tree Fort I Set on
Fire
"In her debut memoir, The Skin Above My Knee, Marcia Butler
shows us how music - listening to it, playing it, losing it, and
rediscovering it - can save us. With bravery and honesty, she
unflinchingly tells her story. And through it all, music resonates
and becomes the soundtrack for us all."
--Ann Hood, author of The Book That Matters Most
"Marcia Butler has written a beautiful memoir -- meticulously
nuanced, daringly honest, and utterly inspiring. I'm not sure I've
ever read a book that captures so fully the ability music has to
transport, sustain, defend and elevate struggling human beings
through difficult times."
--Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize winning music critic, The
Washington Post, author of Parallel Play and Dawn
Powell: A Biography
"Marcia Butler's amazing memoir, The Skin Above My Knee,
could have remained a tale of damage and survivorship. But from the
first page Butler announces bigger intentions than her own
autobiography which in and of itself is mesmerizing. She weaves her
journey as if it were music itself--at first a horn section begins
playing whenever the parents enter the stage wings. But then we
move to grander art and in the end the mature concerto triumphs.
Always fueled by her startling musical talent and precocious
intelligence, Marcia Butler is a winner and so is her must-read
book."
--Nancy Zafris, author of The Home Jar
"Marcia Butler's original and lyrically written memoir charts her
rise from oboe prodigy to freelance professional on the
international classical scene. Transportive portraits of Carnegie
Hall concerts share space with memories of childhood trauma and
gritty slices from 1970s New York."--New York Magazine
"With clear-eyed courage and spare, lyrical prose, The Skin
Above My Knee carries us not only into the mesmerizingly
compelling world of a professional oboist, it also takes us into
her love-starved childhood, her self-destructive young adulthood,
and a descent into a solitary darkness that only her art can save
from her; Marcia Butler has composed her own music here, and it is
filled with passion and yearning and ultimately the kind of beauty
that can save us all. This is a gorgeous book."
--Andre Dubus III
Ask a Question About this Product More... |