title: Reckless: My Life as a Pretender
author:  Chrissie Hynde 
description: Praise for <i>Reckless</i>:<br><br>&ldquo;Chrissie Hynde&rsquo;s autobiography,&#160;<i>Reckless,&#160;</i>out-rocks them all. You can read her book and wax nostalgic about band culture in the late &rsquo;60s and early &rsquo;70s. Or you can promptly check yourself into rehab. She wouldn&rsquo;t care; as she writes in the prologue, 'I regret half of this story and the other half is the sound you heard.' .... Rock on, Chrissie.&rdquo;<br> <b><i>&mdash;</i>Sibbie O'Sullivan<i>, The Washington Post</i></b><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;Chrissie Hynde serves up a hearty and satisfying meal in <i>Reckless</i>, writing with the sort of candor and humor rarely found in books by her male counterparts&hellip;. In the end, it&rsquo;s understandable that Hynde has some regrets, but it&rsquo;s also heartening that bad girls sometimes finish first.&rdquo;<br> <b>&mdash;Mark Shanahan,&#160;<i>The Boston Globe</i></b><br> &#160;<br> "Restless and emphatic... a tell-all memoir (and) given all Ms. Hynde has to tell, it&rsquo;s sharp, posturing, moving, exposing, evasive and at times obtuse."<br> <b>&mdash;Lavinia Greenlaw, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i></b><br> &#160;<br> "<i>Reckless</i> is the literary equivalent of a long set of bangs, obscuring a heavily shaded pair of eyes. As a portrait of an era, it's fascinating."<br> <b>&mdash;Julia Feslenthal,&#160;Vogue.com</b><br><br>"'Chaos and disorder were to be ongoing themes for me with a mouth that flapped like a rag nailed to a post in a windstorm,' Hynde writes. That mouth, literally and figuratively, is what has made Hynde famous. It's the hole out of which that beautiful burr of a voice comes. And if she still has a tendency to shoot her mouth off recklessly, well, that's Chrissie. Maybe <i>Reckless </i>should come with a trigger warning: Caution: Violent scenes, lousy judgments, internalized misogyny and great rock 'n' roll ahead."<br><b>&mdash;Evelyn McDonnell, <i>Los Angeles Times</i></b><br><br> "A sensitive and rowdy coming-of-age-story."<br> <b>&mdash;Dwight Garner, <i>The New York Times</i></b><br> &#160;<br> &ldquo;Frank and witty&hellip; Hynde&rsquo;s story contains no shortage of eye-popping hi-jinx and hilarious missteps which, together, give the reader a stunningly clear idea of the character at hand.&#160; Hynde's writing style might also be described as classically masculine. It's hard-boiled enough to suit Sam Spade, and&#160;her book snaps with wit.&rdquo;<br> <b><i>&mdash;</i>Jim Farber<i>, New York Daily News</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;Rich and ragged .... The memoir is certainly candid; you would expect nothing less of the songwriter who laid down lines like 'I just feel pity when you lie, contempt when you cry.' .... [Hynde]&#160;writes just like she lives, and just like she makes music. She does it her way, which is an inimitable multiplicity of things: impulsive, untamed, ragged, proud, a little sad around the edges. This is her story.&rdquo;<br> <b><i>&mdash;</i>Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Daily Beast.com<br><br> </b>&ldquo;If you think this rocker chick is special, so special, you&rsquo;ll want to read this book.&rdquo;<br> <b><i>&mdash;</i>Billy Heller,&#160;<i>New York Post</i></b><br> &#160;<br> "Fitfully entertaining, surprisingly well-written, <i>Reckless</i> is worth a read."<br> <b>&mdash;Laura Malt Schneiderman, <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i></b>
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00200.jpeg)
  
  Copyright © 2015 by Chrissie Hynde
  
  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division
  of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
  
  Simultaneously published in hardcover in Great Britain by Ebury Press, a
  divsion of Penguin Random House Ltd., London.
  
  [www.doubleday.com](http://www.doubleday.com)
  
  DOUBLEDAY and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered
  trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
  
  Cover photograph © Derek Ridgers
  
  Cover design by Michael Windsor
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  Hynde, Chrissie, author.
  
  Reckless : my life as a Pretender / by Chrissie Hynde.
  
  pages cm
  
  ISBN 978-0-385-54061-2 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-385-54062-9 (eBook)
  
  1\. Hynde, Chrissie. 2. Pretenders (Musical group) 3. Rock musicians—United
  
  States—Biography. I. Title.
  
  ML420.H9976A3 2015
  
  782.42166092—dc23
  
  [B] 2015027449
  
  eBook ISBN 9780385540629
  
  v4.1
  
  a
  
   _To Natalie and Yasmin_
  
   _“Life teaches you how to live it, i