Just Kids

I really wanted to love this book, but surprisingly, it didn't click with me. I feel bad for saying this about a memoir but I felt so bored—but it might have something to do with me not being from the Western world so I didn't really know or care for most of the references and namedrops (and they made up 40% of the book). It took me 12 days to get through this because I was falling asleep all the time. Ending chapter made up for it though

It's very exciting to follow the path of an artist even if it is filled with lots of misery and people with addiction problems and there are a ton of names mentioned in most of the pages. There were so many people here I did not know, maybe I will bother sometime to check them all. It was exciting to hear some of the names that I do know.

Was a vibe to read the ending as the new year ended ☠️☠️

I feel a bit ashamed that I did not know that such a non-conformist icon existed decades before I was born. The world did not get that much cooler, huh, or maybe I still am missing artists, names who would speak my language in the contemporary world, I have seen some, but I am always hungry for more. There are so many I am missing.

It is very inspiring to hear how much Patti gave up to do her art and to follow it. Living for art seems so reckless yet desirable and for a lot of us not a choice, but a way of life. I follow art, I am too unstable to settle and would get bored too easily any other way.

She is so iconic for elevating her favourite poets the way she did.

I didn't know much about either Patti Smith or Robert Maplethorpe except the sort of murky rumors that always surround celebrity, and most of that tawdry. I did know, first hand, the sixties, and that time has always captivated me. As much as I try to stay away from celebrity bios, I just kept hearing praise and more praise for this book, and I finally succumbed and read it.

I'm happy to say that Patti Smith is a good writer, and I'm happy to tell you that this is a story filled with all the details of the sixties that will take you right back to that place and time. It's not a particularly cheery story; Patti and Robert subsisted on little for a long time and many of the tawdry rumors were genuine. But their story offers hope to all the wanna-be artists in the world. Neither Patti nor Robert had much in the way of a formal education in art. Instead, they were immersed in art and artists, and that finally helped them become the groundbreakers they eventually became.

Oh wowwwww. I have to be honest and say that I did not super know who Patti Smith was? Like, I'd heard the name, and I knew Just Kids won the National Book Award, but I didn't really know... well, anything that was written about in this book. I was constantly going back and forth between Just Kids and Wikipedia to see who all the various figures of the Chelsea Hotel were.

Anyway so, I say that just to make it clear that this 5-star rating is not coming from a place of Patti Smith's #1 fandom. It's just a phenomenal book about ~art~ and ~friendship~ and ~love~ and ~finding a place for yourself in the world.~

~~~*~

Read it and then join me in doing nothing but listening to Patti Smith on Spotify okay???

I also think that this could have teen appeal, especially for ~artistic types,~ but there is a lot of talk about drugs (though much of it as an observer, not a user) and description of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography so... be aware.

The allure and romance of two young hippies, wannabe artists, starving, struggling, united in their adoration of all things mystical, falling in love, forging a bond to help each other develop their creative voices, to support each other through artistic explorations, money struggles, sexual awakenings, their demons. All enveloped by the desire to become famous while staying true to their art and themselves.

Set in the wild days of rock'n'roll at the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies. The setting is New York and the infamous Chelsea Hotel. The cast are Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard, Bob Neuwirth, Jim Carroll, Candy Darling, Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin, Allen Ginsberg...

Their partnership, sexual and platonic, was definitely made for the books. I excessively googled images of them while reading this.