I loved this blast from the past that inspired their newest album. I also enjoyed reading stories about their humble beginnings.

Thank you Netgalley & Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I don’t exactly remember when I became a Tegan and Sara fan…somewhere shortly after high school I think?
Rants, raves, and Reviews
This book basically taught me that I didn’t do high school right. Okay, maybe not entirely true, but I definitely felt a bit more sheltered and safe. No judgments — mostly feel like I should go retry it!
I have two sets of twins as siblings — one set identical, one set fraternal. The identical set are ridiculously close. Sure they fight, but I guess part of the perks of being twelve years older than them (and not living at the same house) is that I assume they never fought, mostly because they’re so close and always amicable. I say all this because given how much Sara and Tegan fight in this book, I am shocked they ever were able to start anything musical! I’m not saying they fight more than any other siblings, just that the stereotypes of twins are definitely broken by this book. And I love it. I love knowing that they weren’t so much in sync and that everything was all rosy and happy. High school is not supposed to be a time that we want to repeat or that we enjoy. Sure we can look back on it fondly, I guess, but that’s just the nostalgia. There should be a moment under that they reminds us “oh hell no I don’t want to do that again.”
This book doesn’t just focus on their musical journey either, especially as they don’t actually start learning to play guitar until practically senior year. A large part of this book focuses on Sara and Tegan exploring their sexualities and what it meant, as well as how vocal to be about standing up for queer people. What I couldn’t get was whether or not they were out to everyone except their parents, but honestly, even if they are, it’s still not an easy time to navigate.
This may be why I enjoyed this memoir more than other musician memoirs I have tried. Yes, this book is about how much music was important to their life. They discuss waiting for buying albums like I wait for books. There’s a scene where they discuss saving up, waiting to go buy an album and finding out it was sold out…something teenagers probably couldn’t grasp today if they tried!… and then coming home to find out their parents had bought it for them.
The book alternates between chapters by Sara and Tegan. Sometimes they tell the same situation (or well, there is enough overlap.) Of course it is obvious to say that means you get two sides of the same story, (duh), but there is something about the way that it’s done that I really do enjoy. It gives the story more heart, makes it feel more like two sisters still bickering decades later, though without the heat or malice.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, even if you don’t know who Tegan and Sara are, check out this book. I’m sure it’ll bring back memories and nostalgia if you were a teen in the 90s, particularly a teen that enjoyed punk/alternative music (I’m really bad at music, please don’t feel the need to correct me.) Even if you weren’t a teen in the 90s, this book is an excellent coming of age story, especially for queer culture. At no point are Sara and Tegan apologetic about anything they did in high school, which is wonderful. (Blanket statement: I hate regrets, and I don’t think people should apologize for who they are and what they’ve done in the past as long as they haven’t harmed someone else.) I also highly recommend the audio book as well, as it has clips of them singing and an interview discussing the book at the end!

Last year would have been the 20 year high school reunion for Tegan & Sara, making them two years behind me in age. Their memoir of those years alternates between the sisters as they tell stories of their family life, fighting over friends, discovering their sexuality, finding a musical voice, and drugs, so many drugs, mostly acid (and they are attempting to be drug-positive, not the usual message!) The pictures are uncanny in the sense that they could have been my classmates in clothing and hairstyle, even though they lived in Calgary. The memoir accompanies an album that comes out the day I posted this review (September 27, 2019,) and I also enjoyed the Spotify playlist of the music they listened to in 1998.

I read another musician memoir earlier this year that was super disappointing but this one is not. It is well organized, personal, and gives an insight into their musical beginnings that I think will be interesting for their fans. And even for people who aren't already fans, the story of twin sisters who both come out in high school and take a lot of drugs is bound to be interesting.

Tegan and Sara have a combustible relationship, which is fuel for their burgeoning music career. High School is the amazing, beautiful and raw material of how they got there. It truly captures what it is like to be a teenage girl, and not being able to say how you feel. Their way of both playing loud music to drown the other out was instantly recognisable.
Tegan and Sara are both hiding in plain sight throughout this story, as both are gay, but do not confide in the other. It is understandably difficult for them to admit it to themselves first. High School really nails suburban life, and being the children of divorced parents. Five stars, easily.

This immersive, fun memoir, told in 46 short chapters alternating between the viewpoints of Tegan and Sara, gives us the story of how the Canadian indie pop twin sensation came into being: After a short set-up we meet the Quin sisters at the start of grade 10 and follow them until their 18th birthday, the day they signed with PolyGram. We hear about their family, the trials and tribulations of high school life, what it means to be a twin, how they discovered and learnt to accept their sexuality (both sisters are gay), and how they started to make music - and while this book addresses serious issues like self-acceptance, drugs, discrimination, bullying and even violence, it's a blast to read all those vignettes and look at the numerous photographs that illustrate the written memories.

Unsurprisngly, the viewpoints of Tegan and Sara do not always align, so their statements are not always congruent, plus the fact that the chapters are crafted like flashlights leads to the effect that things and people appear, disappear, and re-appear without explanation, but that's part of the concept. The memoir also conveys the stories behind some songs, and I guess most of them will be on the upcoming album "Hey, I'm Just Like You" (release date 09/27/2019) which is announced to contain "lost" songs from the time they were in high school. Until then, you can check out the Spotify playlist "Class of '98" that accompanies the book (and that I particulary liked because I am not that much younger than Tegan and Sara, so I could relate to the music on that list and the overall cultural moment they are describing in the book).

If you want to get an idea of how much work and love has apparently gone into this memoir, check out the website for the book - and here are some of the most outrageous book blurbs ever! :-)

“High School provides a purview of the queer adolescent experience. It is a story of two resilient young women who found their voices through authenticity, connection to others, music, and apparently a lot of experimentation with psychedelics.”
- Mom

"This is the best account of my life I've ever read!"
- girlfriend from high school

"Tegan and I did a project on Mussolini in high school and we spelled Mussolini wrong - hope they hired a good editor!"
- best friend from high school