Ringolevio

Emmett Grogan

By the time Emmett Grogan was 21, he had been halfway around the world, had dealings with the Mafia, the IRA, been in prison, been addicted to heroin (which eventually killed him) and many other things. His autobiography is a rollicking tale, every chapter is enjoyable, and there is a kind of voyeurism in watching this anti-hero traverse situations that we probably wouldn't be comfortable in ourselves.

He is not someone to emulate, but you cannot help but admire him in parts of the book. Most of the book I enjoyed, but where it went beyond that and had a profound influence on me, was when he arrives on the corner of Haight Ashbury in San Francisco during the height of the sixties. He sets up a free shop, where he goes to great effort to acquire all sorts of things including food and simply gives them away. To me, this was like a shifting of the known laws of the known universe, that people could be motivated by wishing to help other people rather than only by self-interest. This has had a profound effect on my life, my thinking and my opposition to the current capitalist ethic that rules our society.

Anyway, this became something of a cult book amongst my friends, one of my friends said it was her favourite book at the time, but for some reason, people I have hung out with since haven't taken to the book in the same way. Perhaps you had to have lived in a certain mind-frame to empathise with Emmett, perhaps me and the friends I grew up with shared experiences that resonate with this book, experiences that others might not understand.

Whatever is the case we loved this book and I recommend it particularly if you are someone in their early twenties, who would like to expand their mind in unforeseen ways.

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