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, semiautobiographical coming-of-age tale of immigrant family expectations, high-flying dreams, and American mythology. Fleeing a splintering household and 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. When she meets the bold and seductive conceptual artist Keiko Van Heller and the edgy guitarist Elvis Chang, her sights shift to the glamor of New York City. There, Rocky—now the lead singer of “The Gangster of Love” —and her friends embrace the gritty underground Manhattan music scene of the 1980s. Navigating rampant racism and misogyny, the AIDS epidemic, 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.
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