Night Moves
CBC Books | | Posted: December 4, 2018 10:13 PM | Last Updated: December 5, 2018
Jessica Hopper
Written in taut, mesmerizing, often hilarious scenes, Night Moves captures the fierce friendships and small moments that form us all. Drawing on her personal journals from the aughts,
Jessica Hopper chronicles her time as a DJ, living in decrepit punk houses, biking to bad loft parties with her friends, exploring Chicago deep into the night. And, along the way, she creates an homage to vibrant corners of the city that have been muted by sleek development.
A book birthed in the amber glow of Chicago streetlamps, Night Moves is about a transformative moment of cultural history — and how a raw, rebellious writer found her voice. (From University of Texas Press)
From the book
In 2004, when these stories of my misspent youth begin, I was living in a decrepit apartment after moving out of the punk house situated next door. I needed something cheaper because I was trying to become a full-time writer, and $500 for a two-bedroom was an amount I was positive I could clear half of. The house and the duplex were original to the 1940s, on double-wide city lots; the apartment had been for several years prior the in-town shack-up for a "sea captain" buddy of my landlord and was sparsely decorated with faded maps of the Great Lakes, a long-stopped ship's-wheel wall clock, and an overstuffed leather couch and errant office chairs.
The heat probably worked, some windows could not be opened, others would not be closed; the carpet might have been a different colour in another decade but now it was a mottled brown. I haphazardly redid the place; over a seashell mural, I striped down the hallway with $10 in Home Depot OOPS! paint and a careful hand.
From Night Moves by Jessica Hopper ©2018. Published by University of Texas Press