The compelling, edgy, compassionate, laugh-out-loud memoir from Kari Ferrell, formerly known as the "Hipster Grifter"
Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the "bad crowd" in an effort to fit in. Soon, she graduated from petty crimes to more serious grifts, stealing money from unsuspecting targets and eventually hitting Utah's Most Wanted List. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves to New York City, slips into the indie-sleaze scene where she games her way to a job at Vice News, picks up men and their wallets at clandestine bars, and becomes known as the "Hipster Grifter," a moniker that she would never escape.
As the media--in true early aughts form--begins to sensationalize and fetishize her story and thousands followed along online, she hides from cops in a grungy Brooklyn apartment, eventually goes to jail where she survives prison riots and makes friends with her fellow inmates, struggles in a trailer park after her release , and in search of her roots, returns to Korea for the first time since birth.
In turns rollicking and irreverent, warm and compassionate, Kari's is a heartfelt memoir of redemption and reconciliation, as she eventually dedicates her life to activism, social justice, reform, and setting the record straight. You'll Never Believe Me tells Kari's story for the first time, introducing a fresh, hilarious new voice to the literary stage, and offering readers a nostalgic, uplifting, and, at times, unbelievable book that grapples with truth, why we lie, and what it means when our pasts don't paint the whole picture.
