Published in 1996, The Gangster of Love is a semi-autobiographical künstlerroman composed of two parts exhilaration and one part acute observation, set against a ’70s soundtrack. Author Jessica Hagedorn whirls us through the rock ’n’ roll life of Raquel Rivera (Rocky) after her Filipino family immigrates (the same year Jimi Hendrix dies) and settles into a neighborhood in San Francisco. Rocky starts a proto-punk band named after “The Gangster of Love,” by Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and inspired by Hagedorn’s band of that time, the Gangster Choir. Scattered between the grittier aspects of city life and heated conversations around assimilation and ethnic identity are countercultural sensory delights—acid-influenced band names, upbeat melodies with blues lyrics, a dragon stomach tattoo, a North Beach drag show, and an espresso with a lemon in it, a drink that a New Yorker introduces Rocky to. And later, we get a look at the music scene of ’80s Manhattan. You’re in for a treat with this lively, postmodernist jamboree of a novel.
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THE GANGSTER OF LOVE, BY JESSICA HAGEDORN
