Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Just Kids

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.

"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.

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jodielk93's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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illicitrature's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring lighthearted sad slow-paced

2.75

somewhere around 2.75 or 3⭐️

i saw someone said that in order for someone to read a memoir, there are two things to consider, i forgot the other thing they mentioned, but the other one truly describes why i pick this up: for curiosity, to catch something that piques my interest. though i would like to say that this is somehow a hit or miss…

this is written in a form where it is very easy to read: it is direct to the point— as well as it isn’t. somehow, it felt like a chore reading this because there were lots of names mentioned, and there were a lot of things that felt repetitive.

(would expound my thoughts regarding this book on my booksta review)

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andrewhatesham's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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urfavpunk's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.5

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rzh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

ohh this was just gorgeous. paints a beautiful, evocative picture of the new york scene in the chelsea in the 60s and 70s: i love reading books set/talking about this time period as it seems like such a far off country now. patti smith really transports you there. i love books with deep descriptions of physical detritus, of belongings and collections which make up a person's surroundings in different stages of their life, and this is one of those: patti and robert are both real magpies (as they were both visual artists this make sense) and the description of their art and belongings really builds a picture of their homes and studios over the years. i've seen a couple of reviews talking about how this book doesn't have much of a plot and whilst this is true, it is a memoir, not a novel, so it doesn't have a plot as much as life doesn't have a plot. a beautiful ode to robert mapplethorpe and a really touching insight to the beautiful relationship between him and patti smith. loved it and would definitely read again !!! 4.75 stars

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