Just Kids

this is literally the most fun you can have while reading a book that is, generously, 40% names. to be fair, they're some good names! this is open and edgy and poetic and one of a kind. if it felt like reading the caption of a photo in a magazine, it was at least a cool magazine. and a good photo. bot......more

Hi Ho, the artistic life. I had very divergent feelings about Just Kids, Patti Smith's National-Book-Award-winning memoir about her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe. There were times that I felt moved by the beauty of her writing, and others in which I found her to be nothing more than another spo......more

This book is remarkably easy to parody. Here, I'll try: "I was crossing Tompkins Square Park when I ran into a young man wearing a gabardine vest. He smiled at me and called me "Sister." It was a young George Carlin. Robert hated him because he frequently had flakes of rye bread in his beard, but I l......more

I admire this woman. She writes a deft, deeply felt prose. She has a peerless memory. She remembers gestures, apparel worn thirty years ago, favorite objects, facial expressions, stretches of dialog. She can reanimate for us moments of deep emotional complexity. This was clearly a labor of love. The......more