Harley Loco Harley Loco

Harley Loco

A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side

    • 4.6 • 41 Ratings
    • $6.99

Publisher Description

“Terrific . . . Rayya’s stories blew mine away.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
 
“A classic, blood-stained love letter to bohemian NYC.” —Craig Marks

“Much more than a recovery memoir, this big-hearted, funny book is a truthful American story.” —Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black


When she was seven, Rayya Elias and her family fled the political conflict in their native Syria, settling in Detroit. Bullied in school and caught between the world of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early.

Elias moved to New York City to become a musician and kept herself afloat with an uncommon talent for cutting hair. At the height of the punk movement, life on the Lower East Side was full of adventure, creative inspiration, and temptation. Eventually, Elias’s passionate affairs with lovers of both sexes went awry, her (more than) occasional drug use turned to addiction, and she found herself living on the streets—between her visits to jail.

This debut memoir charts four decades of a life lived in the moment, a path from harrowing loss and darkness to a place of peace and redemption. Elias’s wit and lack of self-pity in the face of her extreme highs and lows make Harley Loco a powerful read that’s sure to appeal to fans of Patti Smith, Augusten Burroughs, and Eleanor Henderson.

GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
RELEASED
2013
April 4
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
320
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
1.8
MB

Customer Reviews

JuNemOOn25 ,

This IS Addiction ! ! !

Honest, Raw, Real. Rayya brings the reader along to witness her life as she becomes a heroin and cocaine addict in NYC, barely scraping by, day by day. Skillfully, she relates to us on an emotional level that made me feel as if I knew her.
There is no glamor or phony drama added for excitement. She simply tells her story. Remarkable ability to recall details, and describe situations so vividly, that you, the reader, are there with her. It’s a hellish, scary, sometimes degrading, and often death defying journey. Thank you Rayya for bringing us along, through those harrowing years that would have killed many of us.
I wish I had met you.

Pipsy's Music ,

Harley Loco

All I can say is: WOW! I read this book in one day. It is raw, funny, sad, hilarious and compelling. It is a roller coaster ride with a woman who is beautiful, talented, loved and, sadly, is also a drug addict. It is impossible to stop reading when you realize that this could be your sister, or daughter, or best friend. An incredible journey with a woman that you will want to have coffee with the minute you finish the book! Great read.

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