Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Just Kids by Patti Smith

22 reviews

angiegiannis's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Such a beautifully written book, would highly recommend. I bawled my eyes out reading the last section.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief and Death

garbagebarge69's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Classism and Grief

hcnorris's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Infidelity, and Death

Minor: Sexual content and Addiction

ilovebooks1967's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I LOVE THIS BOOK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Abortion

Moderate: Drug use

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Medical content, Drug use, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror

Minor: Addiction

pernillelsk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Terminal illness, and Drug use

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

amelody's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Death

michaelion's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative medium-paced

3.5

The title is so perfect. They were just kids! Living life! Going wherever the wind took them! Having fun! Living laughing loving! It's heart breaking and so sweet at the same time!

I don't know these people so I don't know why it was in my TBR for so long, but if I was a stan I probably would've given it a higher rating. And many of the photos were very lovely. They met by accident and it was a once in a lifetime love story! And they were just kids!!! Rolls credits!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Drug use

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Outing, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

page_28's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A gift

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Suicide

thmei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy

for the addiction & drug use tags: she & especially robert use drugs casually, mostly hallucinogens and later weed, and if i remember correctly they befriend some alcoholics but nothing particularly distressing or graphic is described, it’s just frequently mentioned. they have some bad trips but mostly lots of fun and creativity. for the pregnancy tag:

patti is briefly pregnant at 19 towards the beginning of the book and describes being treated badly during labor and the bittersweet sadness of giving up a child. she is also pregnant again as a married adult during the last chapter.

nothing is graphic at all. for the grief and death tags: robert’s death

from aids, as well as the death of his partner sam wagstaff,

is the primary focus of the last two chapters. you know from the prologue that he will die. these chapters are quite short and i personally didn’t find them overwhelming, but they are sad and the hopefulness at the beginning of this ordeal is very sad to the reader, who knows what will inevitably happen. it’s also quite easy to predict what will occur given the events of the book and any knowledge of the era, even with no knowledge of patti smith’s life. it is still extremely upsetting.