In this memoir-in-essays, actress and singer-songwriter Lola Kirke untangles an extraordinary upbringing in a family of eccentric, messy artists and explains how a big city girl went a little bit country.
Enjoyment of Wild West Village may be dependent on your tolerance for the Kirkes and their, well, quirks: the free-wheeling careening of a family unbound to money or wealth ... Lacks the expected gossip of a celebrity memoir.
The essays are predominantly about her family: her father’s infidelities, her sister’s cruelties, her complicated relationship with her mother. The other rich themes she alludes to, those that had the potential to elevate the anecdotes to a more insightful commentary on the cultural and societal context for her experiences, are slight ... Kirke is an engaging writer, and excellent company, but despite the frank and often darkly comedic accounts of her family’s antics there is a sense of her still pulling her punches. Joan Didion would probably suggest that she dig a little deeper.
