The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise

Brix Smith Start’s remarkable book “The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise,” is worth reading. It’s a story of perpetual reinvention, exuberant peaks, and melancholy valleys. Brix, who gained notoriety as the lead singer of The Fall, a potent and significant post-punk band, describes her path from an American adolescent growing up in the Hollywood Hills to her midlife triumph in fashion and television. From the industrial wasteland of Manchester in the 1980s to the cover of the NME and waitressing in California, her life has carried her from luxury to destitution.