About the Book
"The mystery is how I managed to survive, and whether or not Maddie Twist remains alive and well and living like Brel in Paris, or beyond."Adele Bertei's memoir Twist threads together the tapestry of her troubled childhood in the 60s and 70s, through the eyes of her alter ego Maddie Twist. Her beautiful mother suffers delusions of grandeur brought on by schizophrenia, bringing wonders and horrors to the Bertei home. Soon, Bertei and her two younger brothers become wards of the state of Ohio and by the time she is of middle school age, Maddie Twist has moved through--or run away from--two Cleveland foster homes and a detention home for teenagers. At the Marycrest School for Wayward Girls, she finally finds some stability, but after she is caught kissing another girl, she's on the run again, this time landing herself in a maximum security reformatory school for girls, all before her fifteenth birthday. With each new posting, Maddie discovers sanctuary and solidarity amongst her peers--the outcasts, while adapting to fit her surroundings, and steadily gaining trust in her own voice. As Maddie Twist ages out of the system and finds herself with a surprising new community, her only constant is a ribbon of music that weaves itself around her heart, as a beacon towards another life. She can sing, and she is certain that will be the thing to save her: "If there really is a God, well then, that God must be music." In frank prose without an ounce of self-pity, Twist is an episodic survival of the fittest, navigating the crooked rivers of poverty, race, sexuality, and gender. It is a world of little girl gangsters, drag queen solidarity, wild roller-skating, and magical thinking. As the creator of the band the Bloods, the first out, queer, all-women-rock band, Bertei has made a career as a singer, songwriter, writer, and director. With Twist, Bertei gives us a story of violence and madness, of heartbreak and perseverance, and, ultimately, redemption.
About the Author :
Adele Bertei's music career began in Cleveland with Peter Laughner of Pere Ubu. She entered New York's downtown scene of the late 1970s as an organist for the Contortions and went on to form the Bloods, the first out, queer, all women-rock band. Bertei has appeared in several indie films, most notably Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames and The Offenders. As a singer/songwriter, she has toured with, written songs for, and recorded as a backup vocalist for a diverse group of artists including Tears for Fears, Thomas Dolby, Sandra Bernhard, Culture Club, Scritti Politti, Whitney Houston, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Sheena Easton, Oleta Adams, Lydia Lunch, the Pointer Sisters, Matthew Sweet, and Sophie B. Hawkins. Bertei charted top twenty internationally with featured leads on Thomas Dolby's "Hyperactive!" and Jellybean's "Just a Mirage." Bertei is the author of Peter and the Wolves, a short memoir of her rock and roll education.
Review :
"Twist is a dark, demented, horrific and hilarious shot to the heart of American girlhood. Adele Bertei was gender fluid before gender even entered the lexicon. Her writing is miraculous, but the bigger miracle may be that the author survived to write it. And lucky for us she did. This is a book to love." --JERRY STAHL
"Twist is one of the most original, amazing stories I've ever read--a story of innocence and brutality, of courage and faith and luck. It is the story of an extraordinary woman-child in an extraordinary time, of devils and angels, trolls under the bridge and unexpected helpers. For all the pain and misfortune in the early life of the intrepid narrator, it is most of all about the connective, transformative power of art and soulful community. Twist is strong and strange poetry; while reading it you may hear music in your head--I did." --MARY GAITSKILL
"A harrowing voyage through the cultural tornado of America in the latter part of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of a thoroughly 21st century girl. This book gives serious credence to the expression 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Very inspirational." --RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
"Once 'the Devil ran through' her family, Maddie free falls from institution to institution, growing into her queerness and discovering her fate--that 'God has to be music.' This riveting novel/memoir by underground icon Adele Bertei situates the making of a survivor rebel against the background of the chaotic side of 1960's America. An honest, hard times page turner filled with heart and revelation." --SARAH SCHULMAN
"Twist spins a bruising tale of the desperate need to break free from the shackles that bind by finding a perverse beauty in the devastating landscape of the American traumazone of poverty, prejudice and familial insanity. Heartbreaking, yet remarkably ever hopeful." --LYDIA LUNCH
"What I fell in love with most about Adele Bertei's fearless memoir is the strange certainty of its voice, even when--especially when--it is that of a young child. It's a certainty of her own judgement, one honed without classic guidance. A certainty that never once cedes to accommodate cruelty or intolerance. It is Bertei at her core: uncompromising, a place she came to wholly on her own." --STEPHANIE LaCAVA
