The Punk-Rock Queen of the Jews: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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This is Rossis wild, queer coming-of-age story. Rossi was taught only to aspire to marry a nice Jewish boy and to be a good kosher Jewish girl. At sixteen she flowers into a rebellious punk-rock rule-breaker who runs away to seek adventure. Her freedom is cut short when her parents kidnap her and dump her with a Chasidic rabbia cult buster known for reforming wayward Jewish girlsin Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Rossi spends the next couple of years in a repressive, misogynistic culture straight out of the nineteenth century, forced to trade in her pink hair and Sex Pistols T-shirt for maxi skirts and long-sleeved blouses and endure not only bone-crunching boredom but also outright abuse and violence.

The Punk-Rock Queen of the Jews is filled with wonderfully rich characters, hilarious dialogue, and keen portraits of the secretive hothouse Orthodox world and the struggling New York City of the 1980s: dirty, on the edge, but fully vital and embracing.

Reviews

"Raised during and after the Holocaust, Rossi's parents tried desperately to breed fear into their children--of outsiders, of losing touch with the Jewish community, of a demanding God--but Rossi was fearless and hungry for experience. Which explains, and doesn't, why one day her parents dropped their rebellious lesbian daughter off among the Lubavitch Hasidim to 'keep her safe' in a dangerous drug-ridden area of New York City. Rossi was sixteen. The rest can be read as the funny, terrifying coming-of-age/coming-out of one intrepid soul, or as a vibrant portrait of 1980s New York, or as an underbelly view of Crown Heights, because Rossi does it all in this exhilarating, satisfying read."
--Leah Lax, author of Uncovered

"When Rossi was sixteen her small-minded parents, terrified of her queerness, sent her to live with Lubavitchers in pre-gentrified Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Because she escaped with her humor and integrity intact, we have this fascinating memoir unveiling the interior life of this cult-like religious Jewish community. While the expected bullying and misogynistic elements are revealed in detail, we also see the misfit subculture of Chasidim. Rossi encountered the Lubavitcher queers, the dopers, the dealers, the thrill-seeking and free-thinking men and women living on the edges of this ultra-conformist society. Her ride is a fascinating one, not only to a lesbian life but also perhaps the more difficult path of challenging the anti-Black racism of both her parents and the religious Jews. A page-turner."
--Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show and Conflict Is Not Abuse

"Somehow, despite finding herself in tremendously challenging, oppressive, and at times dangerous situations, Rossi holds onto her strength, her rage, her humor, her joy, her neshama (soul) and her heart. . . . This wild ride of a memoir pays tribute to the human spirit. It is an amazing book; I couldn't put it down.
--Lesla Newman, author of A Letter to Harvey Milk and Heather Has Two Mommies

"The Punk-Rock Queen of the Jews: You have to read it to believe it. A rollercoaster ride of a not-so-good Jewish girl and her road to redemption. Get ready for jail time, cult busters, flying beef stew, and finally, a great original chef named Rossi.
--Tovah Feldshuh

"Chef Rossi's intensely personal recollection of Yom Kippur services, September 26, 2001, offers me--the rabbi who led them--a new perspective on an already unforgettable event. Rossi is a very special storyteller. . . . Take my word about the book as someone in the book: READ the book."--Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, world's largest LGBT synagogue

Author Bio

Rossi has been published in outlets including The Daily News, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and Mcsweeney's, to name a few. She has been the food writer of the "Eat Me" column for Bust magazine since 1998, hosts her own hit radio show on WOMR and WFMR in Cape Cod called Bite This, now in its nineteenth season, has been featured on The Food Network and NPR and has been a popular blogger for The Huffington Post. Her first memoir, The Raging Skillet: The True Life Story of Chef Rossi was published by The Feminist Press to rave reviews. In addition to memoir, Rossi has written two full-length plays and several short plays.