Deep Cuts

Holly Brickley
Doubleday Canada, 2025
288 pages
ISBN: 9780593799086
$28.00
Reviewed by Jennavieve Strub

            “Music was the only thing that made me feel like I was living in my own life,” says Percy Marks, a passionate music enthusiast, and Joe Morrow, an aspiring songwriter, who met at UC Berkeley in 2000. Their chance encounter sparks a creative partnership that explores talent, obsession, and the need to be heard.

            Deep Cuts is a love letter to music. Structured like a mixtape, each chapter is named after a different track. The opening chapter, “Sara Smile,” refers to a song by Hall and Oates, and establishes the initial dynamic between Percy and Joe. When Joe asks for Percy’s feedback on one of his songs, this sets the stage for their future collaboration.

            A turning point for Percy and Joe’s relationship occurs in chapter five, “Total Hate ‘95.” Set in Brooklyn, it explores the growing tension between Percy’s role as a music critic, and Joe’s burgeoning career as an indie-rock musician. The chapter title, referring to a No Doubt song, alludes to Percy’s conflicting desire to support Joe and maintain her critical integrity, while Joe faces the pressures of increasing fame and artistic expectations.

By Chapter 12, “Bag Lady,” a song by Erykah Badu, unspoken issues building between them finally come to a head. Joe wants to be a singer-songwriter, but Percy dabbles in writing about music, grad school, and the corporate world. “The problem with your baggage, the song seemed to say, is that no man will want you. […] all my attempts to grow, to find creative independence and purpose, were at least partly in service of becoming more loveable.”

The final chapter of the book, “The Girl in the Bridge,” set in 2010, brings Percy and Joe’s story full circle. Now in their early 30s, they unexpectedly reunite at a small, intimate concert in New York City. The chapter concludes with Joe inviting Percy to collaborate on a new project—not as a critic or a muse, but as an equal creative partner, after they write the title song.

While Deep Cuts is undeniably emotional and nostalgic, it isn’t without its flaws. The pacing, particularly in the latter half of the novel, feels sluggish at times. Certain scenes linger longer than necessary, and some plot threads feel unresolved, which leaves readers yearning for greater closure. Despite these drawbacks, Deep Cuts provides a heartfelt exploration of identity and creative ambition.

It is a captivating novel that will appeal to anyone who has ever found solace in music or navigated the complexities of love. Brickley’s debut, notable for its sharp characterizations and vivid sense of time and place, makes a promising start to her literary career.

Holly Brickley, originally from Hope, British Columbia, studied English at UC Berkeley and received an MFA from Columbia University. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Previous work has appeared in POPSUGAR, EUPHORIA, Betches, and Refinery29. Deep Cuts was selected for Indies Introduce and the Indie Next List by the American Booksellers Association and has already been optioned for a film.