A review by emilyinherhead
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.0

I could feel the gravitational pull of home, which when I’m home too long becomes the gravitational pull of somewhere else.

Patti Smith has a beautiful way of writing that is both mundane and dream-like. She describes what she’s doing and where she’s going in the physical world, but as she goes, she is making references, drawing connections, and remembering and learning from the past. To sum her up in a phrase, I’d call her a philosophical tumbleweed. Always observing.

Her book M Train is one of my very favorites, and while it may take Year of the Monkey some time to grow on me to that degree, I did immediately love the way Smith tidily encapsulates a calendar year. The added epilogue to an epilogue, which addresses the approaching coronavirus pandemic, is also excellent.

Yet I keep thinking that something wonderful is about to happen. Maybe tomorrow. A tomorrow following a whole succession of tomorrows.