Little New York Bastard

Meet M. Dylan Raskin — “MDR” to friends. At 22, he’s the opposite of hip: a working-class college dropout who lives with his mother in Queens — “Flushing-Stinking-Queens,” to be precise. It’s not that he doesn’t like New York, exactly, it’s just that lately he’s felt more and more at odds with everything — his family, his generation, his hometown, even himself. One day he gets fed up and decides to take his freedom on the road, setting off for Chicago in a quixotic attempt to turn his life around. Little New York Bastard is the story of an outsider for the ages, a mixed-up kid who knows what he wants in life but has no idea how to get it. Raskin’s anger is palpable and his wounds are unabashedly raw, and readers will appreciate the immediacy and honesty of his story. Equal parts road story, coming-of-age memoir, and existential manifesto — this debut is in the tradition of cult classics like Youth in Revolt and The Fuck Up.