Literary Afternoon: The Punk Rock Queen of the Jews by Rossi

Description

Chef Rossi, also known as Rossi, is the owner and executive chef of The Raging Skillet in New York City. This is Rossi’s wild, coming-of-age story. She was taught only to aspire to marry a nice Jewish boy and to be a good kosher Jewish girl. At sixteen she flowered into a rebellious punk-rock rule-breaker who ran away to seek adventure. Her freedom was cut short when her parents kidnapped her and dumped her with a Chasidic rabbi—a “cult buster” known for “reforming” wayward Jewish girls. Rossi spent the next couple of years in a repressive, misogynistic culture, 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. Rossi’s memoir is about healing and love. About dealing with pain caused by family, religion, and trauma. About learning to love ourselves, finding community, and opening ourselves up to love. It is also about forgiveness, of ourselves and others, however that might look. Rossi is the author of The Punk Rock Queen of the Jews (She Writes Press, April 23, 2024). She has been published in outlets including The Daily News, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and McSweeney’s. Her first memoir, The Raging Skillet: The True Life Story of Chef Rossi, was published by The Feminist Press to rave reviews.