Wild West Village: Not a Memoir (Unless I Win an Oscar, Die Tragically, or Score a Country #1)

(Hardback)

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Description

In this darkly humorous 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.

Lola is a wise, witty, and unsparing writer. Lena Dunham
Probably the only book Ill read this year. Zo Kravitz

The youngest daughter of a rock star father and clothing designer mother, Lola and her siblings (including actress Jemima and celebrity doula Domino), spent their childhoods freshly plucked from their English heritage in an eclectic West Village brownstone, hosting everyone from Cuban exiles to Courtney Love. But behind the enviable exterior of worldly coolness, was a home in disarray.

In Wild West Village, Kirke chronicles a search for self amidst the chaos of the affairs, addictions, and afflictions surrounding her, detailing misadventures in everything from masturbation to marijuana, Cadburys to country music, and a dream of salvation on the silver screen.

Filled with unforgettable characters and insights into identities forged in fire, Wild West Village locates humor and lightness in lifes darker situations. Irreverent and high-spirited, these are the stories of a young woman, teetering between a twang and a British accent, trying to fit in with larger-than-life personalities while secretly coming into her own.

Reviews

A Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, Bustle, and LitHub

"Hilarious and poignant...undeniably honest."--Interview

"Kirke uses self-deprecation and tenderness to reminisce in her writing on the ways her childhood shaped her and her famous sisters."--The Hollywood Reporter

"Darkly humorous."--Harper's Bazaar

"Kirke uses her sharp, insightful voice to recount a glittering, challenging upbringing that was equal parts charming and chaotic--and makes for an entertaining and unforgettable story of growing up outside the box."--Town & Country

"Riotous... Peels back the curtain on a striking family: a warts and all reveal of how these women have grown from their wild days to their adult beings, and shares some lessons learned along the way."--Lithub

"A searing examination of what it means to be raised as an 'adult child' and the ways in which being exposed to too much, too soon -- be it addiction, adultery, or neglect -- can harm the privileged and the disadvantaged alike."--Bustle

"Hilarious.... Kirke's writing is irreverent, conversational, and self-aware. She brings to life the New York City of her youth, smoking cigarettes as a tween, visiting siblings in rehab, discovering her father's secret love child. Entering Kirke's world and imagination is a delicious peek behind the veil, like an Andy Warhol Diaries for rich New York City art kids of the new millennium."--Booklist

"This memoir-in-essays will appeal to anyone who enjoys unforgettable characters and fearless storytelling from a writer unafraid to face down her own demons. A funny, raw, and painful book about a woman's chaotic, thoroughly individual path to coming into her own."--Kirkus

"In Wild West Village, the actor and country singer recounts her glamorous yet dysfunctional upbringing alongside sisters Domino and Jemima Kirke. Spanning New York City, Los Angeles, and, finally, Nashville, Kirke constructs a portrait of an ambitious young woman coming into her own."--Harper's Bazaar

"Kirke's narrative centers characters with too much money and ego, but she leavens the melodrama with a dashing wit... The result is a deliriously entertaining recap of a misguided youth."--Publishers Weekly

"Lola Kirke has captured more than just her own wild and specific New York upbringing (one that resonates more profoundly than I'd like it to.) She has captured the yearning of a generation raised on seductive yet dangerous images of young starlets run amok, and her path through and out of these delusions of grandeur and into the grandeur of self. She is a wise, witty and unsparing writer and her memoir proves it in a voice as lovely as the one she uses to sing."--Lena Dunham

"Probably the only book I'll read this year."--Zoe Kravitz

"A hilarious romp through a world of epic eccentricities. With gracious acuity, Lola shares what it means to feel like a misfit and how she comes to create her own sense belonging."--Anna Marie Tendler, New York Times bestselling author of Men Have Called Her Crazy

"All writers are about to be jealous of Lola Kirke. Not only does she have enough life experience to keep writing forever, but she also possesses a remarkable talent for it."--Delaney Rowe

"Wildly entertaining, riotously funny and disarmingly self-aware. Wild West Village has all the tenets of a great country song: emotion, soul, and a damn good story. I devoured it in one delicous sitting and could have come back for more. Needless to say, I adored it."--Coco Mellors, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Sisters

"After reading this effervescent essay collection, I can't decide whether I want Lola Kirke to be my big sister, my advice giver, or my fashion consultant."--Rax King, author of Tacky

"The West Village of Lola Kirke's growing-up might as well be Narnia, so alternate was the glittering universe of her eccentric, bohemian family--and there's no one I'd want to go through a wardrobe with more. These are great stories, but more, they are confidences shared: hilarious, heart-quickening, and wise."--John Hodgman, author of Vacationland and host of the Judge John Hodgman podcast

"The searching and fearless moral inventory of my dreams: funny, totally self-aware, utterly delicious."--Emma Forrest, author of Your Voice in My Head

Author Bio

Lola Kirkeis an acclaimed actress (Mistress America, Gone Girl, and Mozart in the Jungle) and singer-songwriter. Wild West Village is her first book.