Description
“Samantha Durbin is an exciting new voice. She shares an engaging, rave-fueled tribute to growing up in the ’90s, and the teenage angst which accompanies it.”
—Kat Odell, author of Unicorn Food and Day Drinking
“Can you get high from reading a book? You’ll swear Raver Girl is laced with something author Samantha Durbin snorted or swallowed as a teen in the ’90s rave scene when you dive into this mind-altering memoir where the details and dialogue feel vivid and authentic.”
—PopSugar
“Finally, a story from a young woman’s point of view on the ins and outs of drug, rave, and psychedelic culture—without falling into the traps of stigma or stereotypes. Here’s the often untold story of teenage experimentation, learning how and how not to use drugs for fun, connection, and self-exploration.”
—Michelle Janikian, author of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion
“Raver Girl takes you on a hedonistic roller coaster ride of teen angst and discovery whilst navigating you through the bastion of the last major international youth culture explosion: rave. If you were there, it’s a memory-inducing maelstrom; if you weren’t, you’re going to wish you were . . .”
—Chelsea-Louise Berlin, OG raver, artist, and author of Rave Art
“High-energy prose shines bright in this stylish memoir. Raver Girl beacons you to the dance floor of infamous warehouse parties in the ’90s. I loved this confessional—Durbin doesn’t hold back in a world of music that you must listen to and must read.”
—Michelle Zaffino, author of Librarian Detective
“Dust off your JNCOs and glowsticks! If you weren’t a Bay Area raver during the ’90s, reading this book is the closest you’ll get. And if you were at these parties, you probably forgot all the incredible details that Durbin packed into this thrilling book. Crank up the bass and get ready to relive some magic.”
—Liam O’Donoghue, host/producer of the podcast East Bay Yesterday
“Psychedelic, twisting, and never less than real, Raver Girl is a remarkable work of auto-documentary in which Durbin fearlessly reconstructs the highs and lows of her singular adolescence at the epicenter of ’90s Bay Area rave culture. I read this book in one ravenous sitting, wholly under the influence of its addictive voice. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more engrossed, shocked, or transported, I turned the page and found myself in yet another new world. With vulnerability, compassion, and a wicked sense of possibility, Durbin has crafted a true-life bildungsroman that is a trip like none other.”
—Lisa Locascio, author of Open Me
“Durbin balances her portrait of the gritty scene of teen sex, drugs, and house music—before helicopter parents, iPhones, and YouTube cordoned following generations into danger-free zones—with the sweetness of a traditional coming-of-age story. A wild ride.”
—Barbara Herman, author Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume
“A raucous memoir of teen life in the Bay Area during the 1990s, when rave parties—and the various drugs that went with them—were all the rage. In one flashback, the narrator’s father is mentioned as having taken LSD with Grateful Dead soundman Owsley Stanley, who was busted by federal authorities at his house in Orinda in 1967.”
—Diablo Magazine
