Viv Albertine: To Throw Away Unopened

At the launch party for her memoir in 2014, the musician Viv Albertine received news that her mother was dying, and spent a few final hours with the woman who was, in a sense, the love of her life. In the turbulent weeks after the funeral, Viv made a series of discoveries that revealed the role of family conflicts in propelling her towards the uncompromising world of punk. Part radical reinvention of the memoir form; part feminist manifesto; part domestic noir; part polemic on motherhood; To Throw Away Unopened is an indefinable book exploring the nature of intimacy. Unapologetically honest, this is a story of human dysfunctionality which miraculously reveals how we do manage to function, live, and love.