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emabled's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
i never read non fiction. i picked this book up purely because a single person said it was good. instinct drove me to read it and i'm very glad i did.
what a beautiful book. a love letter to art, and even more so a literal love letter from patti to robert. their story is rich and encompassing. you feel the need to pay attention while reading, you feel the eminence of robert and patti's significance.
i will say that the countless names, of famous musicians, poets, photographers, producers, etc. was what took me out of the story a bit. i am not well read in hollywood or adjacent culture, especially not that of the 60s-90s, so this had me very confused. there was, most of the time, apt description of these celebrities so i would have enough context to continue, but sometimes it was like i was expected to know these names and histories.
anyway, the prose was gorgeous. patti smith has poetry in her veins. her storytelling is captivating and gorgeous simultaneously, her love for others and theirs for hers so present in her recollections. i did just talk negatively about the constant name dropping, but i will say that it also creates a lovely metaphor: we are who we meet. we are mosaics of everyone we interact with. patti depicts that like a true artist.
what a beautiful book. a love letter to art, and even more so a literal love letter from patti to robert. their story is rich and encompassing. you feel the need to pay attention while reading, you feel the eminence of robert and patti's significance.
i will say that the countless names, of famous musicians, poets, photographers, producers, etc. was what took me out of the story a bit. i am not well read in hollywood or adjacent culture, especially not that of the 60s-90s, so this had me very confused. there was, most of the time, apt description of these celebrities so i would have enough context to continue, but sometimes it was like i was expected to know these names and histories.
anyway, the prose was gorgeous. patti smith has poetry in her veins. her storytelling is captivating and gorgeous simultaneously, her love for others and theirs for hers so present in her recollections. i did just talk negatively about the constant name dropping, but i will say that it also creates a lovely metaphor: we are who we meet. we are mosaics of everyone we interact with. patti depicts that like a true artist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Medical content, Drug use, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror
Minor: Addiction
brianareads's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content and Pandemic/Epidemic
tellmemore's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Terminal illness and Medical content
Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy
emtay's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
"Why can't I write something that would awake the dead?" (279)
This may not be Smith's endeavor in Just Kids, having accepted that the immortality of art does not extend to its creators. She instead embarks on a Homeric elegy to her dearest friend and lover Robert Mapplethorpe as well as the New York City of their formative artistic years. However, I experienced a personal rebirth. I am renewed in my artistic aspirations, inspired by Smith's succinct candor towards embracing her weaknesses, inspirations, and varied experiences as a young woman. I identified with her and found the hindsight with which she speaks aspirational. When she falls into "trouble" as a teenager:
"I had relieved the boy of responsibility... It is impossibke to exaggerate the sudden calm I felt. An overwhleming sense of mission eclipsed my fears" (18)
or when contracting a venereal disease from her dearest friend. She is loving and loyal. Creatively subversive while adhering to binaries of good and evil, life and death, God and sin.
The only weakness is in the myriad of unexplained allusions to people in the scene, at some point, there are too many people whose eclectic influence on her life and not enough page. You have to accept the unknowing.
I am reminded of me and Jack. Of a love so deep I am not afraid of losing it. And when the love was young and ripe, I see me and Wes.
The only weakness is in the myriad of unexplained allusions to people in the scene, at some point, there are too many people whose eclectic influence on her life and not enough page. You have to accept the unknowing.
I am reminded of me and Jack. Of a love so deep I am not afraid of losing it. And when the love was young and ripe, I see me and Wes.
"I was there for these moments, but was so young and preoccupied with my own thoughts that I hardly recognized them as moments" (159).
This is in part my plague. I love my own thoughts to the point of idolization, may this never stop me from living. May I walk alongside them, knowing they are there as a constant companion.
"It seemed being an actor was like being a soldier: you had to sacrifice yourself to the greater good. You had to believe in the cause. I just couldn't surrender myself enough to be an actor" (165).
This is why I have always maintained that the actor does not create the art, they are the conduit. The brush. The paint. They must be a little stupid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Drug use, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Suicide
andrewhatesham's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Medical content, Death, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Blood, Death of parent, Suicide, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Racism, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Homophobia
lindseyhall44's review against another edition
emotional
5.0
To read Just Kids is more than anything to feel. Sadness, inspiration, love, grief. Through the intimate lense of 70’s New York, I have not only garnered information on the incredible lives of Patti Smith and Robert
Mapplethorpe, but discovered something of myself in the process. Through this review I will try to put all of these emotions into words and give this book the justice it deserves.
Just Kids reflects on the profound relationship between the aforementioned artists: Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. While their friendship is a key focus of the memoir, Patti Smith discovers her own path to art, which will take many forms over the course of her lifetime. It is a privilege to be accepted into her world- for however so briefly- and meander through the memories of a legend.
The beauty of art displayed within the book-romanticized by myself as a wannabe writer- is what almost instantly drew to the story. However, it is Smith’s ability to articulate the complexities of love and human kind which makes Just Kids a new favorite.
Mapplethorpe, but discovered something of myself in the process. Through this review I will try to put all of these emotions into words and give this book the justice it deserves.
Just Kids reflects on the profound relationship between the aforementioned artists: Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. While their friendship is a key focus of the memoir, Patti Smith discovers her own path to art, which will take many forms over the course of her lifetime. It is a privilege to be accepted into her world- for however so briefly- and meander through the memories of a legend.
The beauty of art displayed within the book-romanticized by myself as a wannabe writer- is what almost instantly drew to the story. However, it is Smith’s ability to articulate the complexities of love and human kind which makes Just Kids a new favorite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, and Drug use
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, and Cultural appropriation
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