Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Gangster of Love

The Gangster of Love

Hagedorn, Jessica
Sante, Lucy
Ibarra, Ruby

Paperback

Literary Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0143139479
ISBN13: 9780143139478
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Pages: 336
Language: English
A coming-of-age joyride spanning '70s San Francisco to '80s Manhattan

A Penguin Classic

Jessica Hagedorn's The Gangster of Love is a melodic, psychedelic, audacious coming-of-age tale of immigrant family expectations, high-flying poet rocker dreams, and the dark side of American mythology. Stunned by her parents' sudden break-up and the increasingly turbulent political climate in the Philippines, Raquel Rocky Rivera arrives in San Francisco in the waning days of the counterculture movement alongside her tempestuous mother Milagros and her soulful brother Voltaire. Imbued with a restless curiosity and a passion for poetry and music, Rocky slowly begins to find her voice as a writer and performer. When she meets the bold and seductive conceptual artist Keiko Van Heller and the brilliant guitarist Elvis Chang, her sights shift to the grit and glamor of New York City. Rocky reinvents herself as the lyricist and lead singer of The Gangster of Love, becoming part of the city's edgy, dynamic downtown music scene of the 1980s. As Rocky navigates rampant racism and misogyny, the AIDS and crack epidemic, motherhood, and the intoxicating freedom of the age, the temptation to liberate herself from her past is strong. But that past runs hot in Rocky's blood, and the future waits for no one. Complex and ferocious, The Gangster of Love is a kaleidoscopic look at the fury, love and music that swirl around the quest for belonging.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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