A review by tristy
The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 by Rachel Kushner

4.0

Thank you to my friend Chris who gifted me this book, since the author and I are close to the same age and both grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area at the same time. And in fact, there are several people whom I also knew back in the 90's and I have not doubt that we must have been at some of the same warehouse parties in Hunter's Point. I'm sure she may have been my bartender once or twice at the Blue Lantern in the Tenderloin. We also had similar parents - Beatnik (don't you dare call them hippies!) Intellectuals who let their daughter roam to "live life," which often meant finding ourselves in dangerous situations, surrounded by drugs and sex and drama. The author and I even seem to have played a similar archetypal role of "the calm, grounded watcher" in the midst of so much chaos, and sadly, have both lost a lot of friends to suicide, drug overdoses, and other flavors of violence. Although, she's got me beat on one front - I don't think I know anyone who has been beheaded. As is true with all essay collections, the tone and topic of each chapter range all over the place and sometimes the flow felt a little challenging. But I enjoyed every single piece. Rachel Kushner's brilliant mind is a pleasure to witness and I loved having my own brain stretched and pulled into new places. A great read.