Devotion
Ratings12
Average rating3.9
"In lyric essays, a story, poems, and photographs, Smith illuminates the whirl of chance and choice that stokes a writer's imagination, recounting her fascination on the eve of a trip to Paris with Simone Weil and an evocative, accidentally discovered film about Stalin's mass deportation of Estonians. In France, a gravestone, a televised figure-skating competition, a meal, and a garden all converge in what becomes Devotion, [a] ... fairy tale about a young, displaced Estonian skater and a solitary dealer in rare objects and arms. This ... fable about creativity and obsession, possession and freedom is followed by a meditation on how a work of art is, for other artists, a call to action"--Booklist, 08/01/2017.
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5 released booksWhy I Write
Why I Write is a 5-book series first released in 2017 with contributions by Patti Smith, Karl Ove Knausgård, and Karl Ove Knausgaard.
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An unusual triptych: a story—an unsettling one of loneliness and obsession—bracketed by an enigmatic prelude and a coda. The prelude stands alone as an essay on creativity and the pursuit of ideals; but many of the references in it are incomprehensible without having first read the story. This is, I believe, deliberate: Smith tantalizes us with snippets of her inspiration, we then see what her mind has wrought with those, and then, having finished, we shut the book, ponder a few moments, and start it again at the beginning. Be sure to allocate time for two readings: you will appreciate it.
Patti's writing always captivates me, and her ability to tell a story is unparalleled. A portion of this is a fictional tale as opposed to her usual non-fiction and I was blown away. Why doesn't she write more fiction!?
This book is apparently part of a series where authors answer the question, Why Do I Write? I don't really care about that question, and probably wouldn't have picked it up if I knew. Part journal entry, part fiction, and part memoir-ish story, it just wasn't for me.
