NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NEWSDAY.
"[A] true page-turner...Grab it." --Los Angeles Times
"A unique take on the cabbie experience...an honest portrayal of what it's like to juggle the modern dilemma of experiencing the world while still paying the rent, and learning who we are in our late twenties while also looking toward the future." --NYLON
"Plaut does a good job capturing the seedy romance of the taxicab...Her likable yet smart-aleck tone keeps HACK engaging." --Time Out New York
"Enlightening and entertaining...The author captures the grit and humor of the city itself while humanizing a profession that manages to be both largely disregarded and reviled." --Library Journal
"Plaut depicts her checkered, un-maidenly career with innate craft, frequently employing a hackie's pungent vocabulary." --Kirkus Reviews
"[This] cabbie knows a thing or two--and how to tell a story. Sit back and enjoy the ride." --The New York Observer
“I had always thought about driving a cab, just thought it’d be interesting and different, a good way to make money. But it always seemed like a fleeting whim, a funny idea, something I would never actually do.”
In her late twenties and after a series of unsatisfying office jobs, Melissa Plaut decided she was going to stop worrying about what to do with the rest of her life and focus on what she was going to do next. Her first adventure: become a taxi driver. Undeterred by the fact that 99 percent of cabbies in the city were men, she went to taxi school, got her hack license, and hit the streets of Manhattan and the outlying boroughs.
Hack traces Plaut’s first two years behind the wheel of a yellow cab traveling the 6,400 miles of New York City streets. She shares the highs, the lows, the shortcuts, and the trade secrets of the profession. Between figuring out where and when to take a bathroom break and trying to avoid run-ins with the NYPD, Plaut became an honorary member of a diverse brotherhood that included Harvey, the cross-dressing cabbie; the dispatcher affectionately called “Paul the crazy Romanian”; and Lenny, the garage owner rumored to be the real-life prototype for TV’s Louie De Palma of Taxi.
With wicked wit and arresting insight, Melissa Plaut reveals the crazy parade of humanity that passed through her cab – including struggling actors, federal judges, bartenders, strippers, and drug dealers – while showing how this grueling work provided her with empowerment and a greater sense of self. Hack introduces an irresistible new voice that is much like New York itself—vivid, gritty, profane, lyrical, and ineffably hip.
Hi Melissa~ Thanks for the add. I followed your blog a while back and just recently ran into it again and remembered how much I enjoyed it! The bookstore I was in today didn't have a copy of your book so I bought it online.. I'm SO looking forward to reading it! :)
Hey Melissa...are you still driving? Haven't seen you on the blog since June. Just wondering if I should bring my book next week! We'll be there on Thursday! Come join us at the Mesa Grill! 7ish!
Happy Early Birthday to a fellow cabbie...although I think I am retired from the business for good...in a sick way, I sometimes miss it....instead, I have chosen my abuse medicine in another form: the restaurant business...
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