Just Kids: Review
Just Kids by Patti Smith
When I picked up "Just Kids" , I didn't really know very much about Patti Smith. I do know she is a bit of a punk revolutionary with a poet's heart - think Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. Her lyrics are strong and painful and gorgeous. She has an unmistakable voice and sound.
Just Kids is the story of the friendship of Patti and artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, in New York in the '60s and '70's. Littered with popular culture references to some of the most influential musicians, artists poets and events of the time - 'Happy Xmas. War is Over' billboard by John Lennon, the passing of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Edie Sedgwick, and Andy Warhol and the Chelsea hotel and its infamous history - Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, Jim Carroll, Sam Sheperd. Words interweave the story of artist and muse, love and loss and the growth and eventual success of both Patti and Mapplethrope, each in their own right.
This book is beautifully written - each detail, each lyric, each photograph leaps off the page in the telling. Patti's detailed accounts of conversations, clothing, people, art and location is enthralling and, for those of us too young to experience the amazing culture of the time, it offers us glimpses into a world that cannot be reproduced.
I could wax poetic about this book all day, but I will not. In short - pick up this book. I highly recommend it.
When I picked up "Just Kids" , I didn't really know very much about Patti Smith. I do know she is a bit of a punk revolutionary with a poet's heart - think Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. Her lyrics are strong and painful and gorgeous. She has an unmistakable voice and sound.
Just Kids is the story of the friendship of Patti and artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, in New York in the '60s and '70's. Littered with popular culture references to some of the most influential musicians, artists poets and events of the time - 'Happy Xmas. War is Over' billboard by John Lennon, the passing of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Edie Sedgwick, and Andy Warhol and the Chelsea hotel and its infamous history - Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, Jim Carroll, Sam Sheperd. Words interweave the story of artist and muse, love and loss and the growth and eventual success of both Patti and Mapplethrope, each in their own right.
This book is beautifully written - each detail, each lyric, each photograph leaps off the page in the telling. Patti's detailed accounts of conversations, clothing, people, art and location is enthralling and, for those of us too young to experience the amazing culture of the time, it offers us glimpses into a world that cannot be reproduced.
I could wax poetic about this book all day, but I will not. In short - pick up this book. I highly recommend it.
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