Book Review: Just Kids is a wonderful memoir, and I don't even like memoirs (but it also has a great title, so ...). Patti Smith, former music reviewer, poet, and punk rock princess, shows she's also a qualified writer in relating her early life up to the time she was first crowned rock royalty. A seasoned and wiser self engages the reader in her tales of scrabbling to survive (including selling serendipitously found rare books) while sinking into the chaos that was the seedier side of New York and developing the magical creativity that guided her unique contribution to rock music. She was a visual artist, a lover of music, a book lover, in love with Robert Mapplethorpe, so much was going on there in the Chelsea Hotel and elsewhere, as she began her career in fits and starts, living poor, that gradually coalesced into something that would last. Ostensibly Just Kids focuses on Smith reminiscing about her unique friendship with Mapplethorpe (and many odd, interesting, and to-be-famous others), but there is much else of value here. This is a great book for anyone interested in a role model for burgeoning creativity in all its forms, poetry, art, music, life. Smith's was (and is, I'm sure) a creative life, and she constantly worked hard to infuse her life with creation and magic. Watching her first tentative steps and slow growth, her dedication to the artist's life, is inspiring. Just Kids is valuable and riveting for anyone interested in the avant-garde, making your own way, finding the creativity within you. Personally, I liked it more than M Street, her subsequent, but quite different, memoir. A wonderful and useful book. [5★]
No comments:
Post a Comment