"I wanted a bag of dope more than just about anything. RE's addiction was more to chaos than any particular drug she loved them all.Īt a critical juncture in her longest ever attempt to stay 'clean',she admits to herself, on p295 HARLEY LOCO is the story of how such a much loved,basically decent and compassionate person came to be"using,abusing,and exploiting every person (she) knew." just to score. No self pity there,more than a touch of self righteousness. (described in casual but intricate detail), Not only does she want to be accepted,she wants to shine.Īmbitious,gifted,wagging her tail all the way to the top of her game,she somehow remains undaunted,throughout the harrowing,bumpy ride down "This is my truth,and it may not be pretty,but I own it" she states in the acknowledgements.īorn in Syria,reborn in Detroit,Rayya has the perrennial outsiders curse. This is a memoir,for fucks sake,and that word obviously derives from the word memory.Įven the most meticulous observer experiences lapses in memory and everybody knowsĪ junky is not the most meticulous,or reliable,of observers.īut Rayya Elias tries so hard to be just that. Or sort of like this,with different people and maybe the order of things is scrambled.Ĭertainly nothing happened as clearly as described. 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. 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. 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. At the height of the punk movement, life on the Lower East Side was full of adventure, creative inspiration, and temptation. Bullied in school and caught between the world of her traditional family and her tough American classmates, she rebelled early.Įlias moved to New York City to become a musician and kept herself afloat with an uncommon talent for cutting hair. When she was seven, Rayya Elias and her family fled the political conflict in their native Syria, settling in Detroit. “It is my honor to introduce these pages-so gravelly, so straggly, so hopeful, bright, and true.” -Elizabeth Gilbert
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