The story goes on to cover Brownstein's escape from a turbulent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-invention, community, and rescue.

Along the way, Brownstein chronicles the excitement and contradictions within the era's flourishing and fiercely independent music subculture, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series Portlandia years later.

In The Guardian, Michelle Dean compared Brownstein's writing to her band Sleater-Kinney's "intensity", saying "Brownstein’s book has a similarly fierce approach," and felt that even if "there are certainly places where an editor could and should have chiseled her prose down to make her points sharper and more affecting, this book is the clear product of a very intelligent person, and filled with flashes of insight and wit.

'"[5]Brownstein was set to adapt her memoir into a half-hour television pilot, entitled Search and Destroy, for streaming service Hulu.

She was set to write, direct, and executive produce alongside Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle, and Ali Krug.