{"product_id":"harley-loco-9781408837696","title":"Harley Loco","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e''She''s experienced wealth, cultural alienation, homelessness, brushes with fame, prison, rehab, record deals, a million blown second chances, a dozen broken hearts and one bloody-knuckled ultimate spiritual redemption. She even died once in the process, and may very well have had sex with your wife back in the eighties...''\u003c\/i\u003e Elizabeth GilbertWhen she was seven, Rayya Elias and her upper-class family fled the political conflict in their native Syria, settling in a suburb of Detroit. Bullied in school and caught between the world of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early. Rayya moved to New York City to become a musician and kept herself afloat with an uncommon talent for cutting hair. Eventually though, Elias''s 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 visits to jail. Told with a keen sense of humour and a lack of self-pity in ev\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is my honour to introduce these pages - so gravely, so straggly, so hopeful, bright, and true -- Elizabeth Gilbert\u003cbr\u003eDo any of us really know ourselves? This kind of exploration into the human spirit is what true religion is about. -- Debbie Harry\u003cbr\u003eRayya Elias' twisted, devastating memoir of a life lived on the margins can take its rightful place alongside \u003ci\u003eThe Basketball Diaries\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePlease Kill Me\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eJust Kids\u003c\/i\u003e as a classic, blood-stained love letter to bohemian NYC -- Craig Marks\u003cbr\u003eElias remains sympathetic as she tramples over her girlfriends, family and herself during the drug-addled chaos of Eighties New York ... This book is to be gulped whole * Stylist *\u003cbr\u003eGritty, but brilliantly funny * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eRayya Elias’s clear-eyed account of her very messy New York life ... A post-punk misery memoir that never asks for your sympathy * Herald *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarley Loco\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds because it conveys the appeal of a chaotic sex-and-drugs lifestyle ... Elias’s perspective is often transparently self-deluding, but her voice is always appealing, and will doubtless find a warm and responsive audience * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eElias’s writing (in her third language) is plain street, unliterary and compelling; her self-descriptions are impressive in their refusal to dodge or euphemise ... That she wrote it at all is a major achievement for Elias; somewhat fittingly, perhaps, it’s a book that struggles with its own nature -- Aida Edemariam * Guardian *","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51863249256791,"sku":"9781408837696","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781408837696.jpg?v=1759920078","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/harley-loco-9781408837696","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}