Just Kids

This might be my all-time favorite memoir. Every time I sit down to write, I tend to read a few pages of it to absorb the rhythm of Patti Smith’s unadorned, lyrical writing.

Like Taylor Swift, Patti Smith is a music icon, a poet, and a genius wordsmith. For me, this book totally captured the radiant nostalgia of a bygone era and a romantic love that evolves into something more permanent and transcendent.

Patti Smith’s memoir of her time moving to New York City in the 70s is the barometer by which all music memoirs should be measured. Heartfelt and nostalgic, her story of a youthful awakening to the world and building friendships, and creating art is one that will resonate with readers. The word “masterpiece” is thrown around a lot, but this is truly a masterpiece of the genre.

Or Just Kidding as friends like to call it, is a classic, a fast read, and a romanticized and fantasized rewrite of a unique and incredible love affair. 

It inspired me to write my own book. More straightforward than her 1975 groundbreaking record Horses but with the same ability to make you cry and laugh out loud at the same time.

Scribner’s Bookstore, the Chelsea Hotel, Max’s Kansas City, CBGB’s, Times Square. Smith’s memoir tells the story of her aching hunger to become an artist, her deep relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and life in New York in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the city was filled with artists, dreamers, hustlers, and romantics of all sorts. Mapplethorpe lived on the block I write about during the last years of his life, and I returned to this book often, both for Smith’s descriptions of the city and for her eloquent prose, so evocative of another time and place.  

Patti Smith manages to capture the purity, sacrifice, and unfettered excitement of those nascent times when you’re still becoming who you want to be, and the sweetness, power, and longevity of true friendship forged in art – as well as drawing a thrillingly gritty, vivid portrait of New York City just as it became the place we all still wish it was. 

You do not have to be a fan of her music to be captivated by Patti’s beautifully written account of her fascinating life living in the fabled Chelsea Hotel in New York City in the seventies, shacked up with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, of all people. Their relationship and fledgling creative careers intertwine with other artists and future celebrities, making this a document of a unique, influential artistic community.

I know everyone has raved about this but really it’s amazing.

This book by Patti Smith describes her years living in New York with her friend, partner, mentor, and sometimes lover Robert Maplethorpe. Although to me this book’s best parts speak about being a poor artist and making art, Patti Smith is one of my musical heroes. 

I loved learning about what New York was like in the 1970s. Patti is a true artist in every aspect. She and Robert lived life to the fullest although they had no money and oftentimes were homeless.

The book is poetic, raw, and… show more.

Patti Smith’s pale scowl and dark music always scared me a little. Then I picked up this book on a personal dare. It changed everything. Lyrical and touching, this memoir delves into Greenwich Village circa the ‘60s to the late ‘70s and chronicles Smith’s relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Mostly it reveals the heart of a kind, creative artist. Smith will win you over.