[.ca] Ridin' High, Livin' Free: Hell-Raising Motorcycle Stories (ISBN 0060006021)

This is a wild ride of a book:
One of the better books I have read in a while. Sonny Barger is a real American legend. I love it when you read a book and there is honesty in the writing, this book delivers that. After reading this book I felt nostalgic for the fact that in todays overly litigious world, there are so few men left like Sonny Barger. Men who are willing to stand in the middle of town at high noon to fight for what they believe in. Having just read Michael Tenaglia's "Anti-Hero", I couldn't help but feel that Sonny Barger has unknowingly influenced, young writers like Tenaglia in so far as their ethical reasons for living outside of the law. In todays world, we need more Sonny Bargers, and less politicians. I recomend this book to all.

If I was grading, I'd give it a D...:
I'm a native Californian and lifetime bike rider. Like a lot of people, I've always had a kind of fascination with Hells Angels--and that debauched life-style. I bought this book on a whim, thinking it might be interesting anecdotes/episodics. I was wrong; really wrong. This book is a loose string of stories--some interesting, some boring. The thing that really impacted me as a reader is the poor prose. Even with two "with" writers/editors, it reads like a series of remedial essays. Mix in the justifications, sexism, and plain hostility and it's just sad and a waste of time and money. There's no way I'd read the other book (Hell's Angels) now. This was so poorly written it was a near painful read. I wish it had been different--but I just can't get past the constant attitude and room temperature IQ presentation. Oh, one other thing; it's stated early that some of the stories are "true" and some are not...what the ...?!? Yep, I used to teach and tutor English; given the context of publication, I'd have to give it a D.

Helmets Off to Barger and the Zimmermans:
Coming down hard off my last two reads, Saramago's All the Names and Llosa's Feast of the Goat, although great books, I was primed to drop the academy for a while and get high on some hard-boiled treat of American narrative. Behind the well-designed pulp-ish cover of "Ridin' High, Livin' Free," rebels rule, Barger's book calls out, like drag pipes tearing through town, custom painted gas tanks a glint in your girlfriend's eye. Here's the raw, street-wise tone Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett made famous, from tattoos and tears to biceps and the poetry of the search, American style, like Route 66 it never ends. Anecdotal ironies abound, the mystique, the myth, the clubhouse fish tales, stories of life, the other side of life, just trying to get though life, hang on to your life, get out and ride to save your life¯a little sympathy is ok, but don't complain. Don't be afraid to pick up this book, mainstream middle class sensibilities need to be stomped. Professors, assign it for your Literature of the Deviant class. These tales are for and about those who can still think for themselves. And if you like documentary photography, some of these photos helped create the archetype. Ride high, live free, the American code. Helmets off to Barger and the Zimmermans. Thanks for the refresher course. Now I want to crank up my Road King, tear across the states and rip pages from this book in hopes they find windshields.

Disappointed:
Was expecting to read something interesting about the self-proclaimed "legend," but it was a collection of stories whose truth was always questioned, EVEN BY THE BOOK ITSELF. The foreword warned that not all the stories were true. Then, after a more-interesting story, the next story sharted with "Now this story is true, I swear it..." Lame. There are much more interesting motorcycle stories (and better writing) on the 'Net. This book was filled with swear words thrown in the oddest places, there was no flow between the stories, the characters were confusing, maybe they needed the money and hurried the book to market, I dunno. The Zimmermans' first book on Sonny was much better, in spite of Sonny coming across as narcissistic as he did.

A great, fun book to read...Well recommended!:
What a blast! Some of the stories are a little long in the tooth, but, like the preface says, who cares??? As long as they're entertaining, which most of them are. A few are outright boring, but the gems more than make up for them. Nice short stories, so you can leave it and pick it up as you wish. Well recommended!