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Just Kids

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 38,765 ratings · 4,726 reviews

In Just Kids, Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the ChelseaHotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality t...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published January 19th 2010 by Ecco (first published 2010)

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Mar 29, 2011 Eddie Watkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

I never thought much about Patti Smith. The images I saw of her never attracted me, and what I knew of her Rimbaud fixation turned me off. I always had a problem with the Beat and Punk appropriation of Rimbaud as more a figure of rebellion than a sophisticated poet. For me poetry is a phenomenon of the page, not an outfit you wear down the street. I also never got into Punk Rock. Going to college in the fall of 1983 I had probably only heard of The Sex Pistols, though I had never listened to the...more I never thought much about Patti Smith. The images I saw of her never attracted me, and what I knew of her Rimbaud fixation turned me off. I always had a problem with the Beat and Punk appropriation of Rimbaud as more a figure of rebellion than a sophisticated poet. For me poetry is a phenomenon of the page, not an outfit you wear down the street. I also never got into Punk Rock. Going to college in the fall of 1983 I had probably only heard of The Sex Pistols, though I had never listened to them. Then when I got to college I was immersed in it, without my choosing to be. I loved some of it but just never pursued it as an interest or as a lifestyle, it was just the soundtrack to my experiences. At the time I was more into focused listening of Prince (and King Crimson and The Talking Heads) than Black Flag and The Dead Kennedys. And somehow, even during college, I managed to never listen to Horses... until a couple years ago. But what a great album! and I would say about it what I would say about other Punk I've gotten into since - such as Television and The Minutemen - that it is nothing other than simply great Rock & Roll. So I grew curious about Patti Smith and then this book came out and I snatched it up. It's a sweet and gritty account of her growing into maturity and how it coincided with her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. There's a wise naturalness in how she grew into the woman we now know. There was ambition, but only on her own terms, and there was no striving to be part of a scene outside of herself (& Robert), though she ended up in one fascinating scene after another as the grimy and vibrant New York art/bohemian landscape tumultuously morphed into the previously unknown seemingly by the hour in the late 1960's and early 1970's. She portrays these scenes as the outsider she always felt she was, yet they're portrayed head-on, not through a scrim of self-consciousness or psychic distance: she was in the thick of it, even acting as a nurturing figure to many, yet she was also strangely apart from it. Throughout there's a focus on her intimate relationships and how their effects radiated out into the situations she was involved in, which gives the feeling of a real groundedness regardless of how crazy things were. But whoever she was with - Jim Carroll, Sam Shepard, a guy from Blue Oyster Cult - Mapplethorpe sill permeated her consciousness. In many ways they were alike, but in even more important ways they were very different, and part of the fascination of this book is pondering the duality they set up - Robert alienated from his family and erasing his past to find the future while Patti was always firmly bedded in her past and in her family, Robert's wild drug use and Patti's basically straight life, Patti's Victorian sloppiness and Robert's decadent minimalism, and of course the sexual complications. This book is not only entertaining but lovely and wise too.(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 B0nnie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

♪Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel...♫

Just Kids makes me feel so damn left out. If only I had been able to show up at the Chelsea in the early 1970s. I coulda been a contender, I could have lived for art. Oh yes, I would have been very naïve just like Patti had been at first. I totally get that. I don’t think I could have been as brave tho'. Art is a harsh mistress.

Suddenly [Robert] looked up and said, “Patti, did art get us?”

I looked away, not really wanting to think about it. “I don’t...more

54 likes · like · see review

view all 11 comments

Steve aka Sckenda B0nnie wrote: "The song is somewhat a fail."
That one particular line to which you refer aside...the song (for me) conveys trying to come to terms with...more
updated May 16, 2012 07:52am

B0nnie Steve, interesting thoughts and I agree with your analysis. Crashing is always welcome and appreciated, btw. What I loved about Just Kids is that it e...more
May 16, 2012 10:18am

Jun 20, 2012 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: muse-ik, reviews, read-2010, reviews-5-stars

Looking For You (I Was)

I can see why some reviews detect white-washing or sugar-coating in "Just Kids", but I wanted desperately to believe the story Patti Smith was telling about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Glitter in Their Eyes

Patti admits to her naivete, but I don't think she was trying to hide stuff from her kids or anything.

Nor do I think she closed off her emotions about her past.

Ultimately, the book is a love story, only the love extended over a long period, and sometimes it...more

67 likes · like · see review

Feb 08, 2010 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir, four-star-nonfiction

Smith writes with a poet's clear imagery and an economy of words all too rare in the memoir genre.
Before Robert Mapplethorpe died, Patti Smith promised him that she would one day write the story of their years in New York City. Now, twenty years after his death, she has made good on that promise.

This is the story of a beautiful, complex, demanding and ever-evolving friendship between two young, hopeful, actively unconventional creatives. They alternated in the role of muse to each other as the...more

43 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2011 Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book will be added to "The Art Spirit" as an essential volume on my writer's "behind the desk" bookshelf, the story of two baby artists and how they grew. There's an oddly innocent tone to this all--for instance, the sexual relationship between the two of them is never really discussed, only accepted--when Patti gets the clap, we understand it's from him, but this is not a kiss and tell memoir. It's an opportunity to walk a mile in Patti Smith's head, in a less coded and more factual way th...more

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Mar 14, 2011 Kim Katusha added it

Shelves: 2011, favorites

I like how honest her writing is – might sound a bit strange but there you go. I feel like Patti Smith wrote about things I’m struggling with as well. I recognise thoughts, feelings. it’s wonderful to realise you’re not alone. it’s also wonderful to finally read words that describe the way you feel, when you were never able to find these words yourself.

in some way, this book is for everyone. every human being can be an artist. it’s wonderful how these two people were able to help each other in...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Velvetink rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography-memoir, music-musicians-singers-etc, read-2010

Did anyone think Patti was "whitewashing" her past in this?

"longing. that desire. that tapeworm.a word
I hadn't learned".... (Seventh Heaven- "Longing")

I really longed to LOVE "Just Kids", to go the whole hog with 5 stars. I had waited long enough to get hold of a copy & eventually when my library got it in some jerk kept it overdue 3 whole months and I was checking with them every 2nd day like a teenager. "Is it back yet". I wore out my welcome buying up discarded books and lurking near the...more Did anyone think Patti was "whitewashing" her past in this?

"longing. that desire. that tapeworm.a word
I hadn't learned".... (Seventh Heaven- "Longing")

I really longed to LOVE "Just Kids", to go the whole hog with 5 stars. I had waited long enough to get hold of a copy & eventually when my library got it in some jerk kept it overdue 3 whole months and I was checking with them every 2nd day like a teenager. "Is it back yet". I wore out my welcome buying up discarded books and lurking near the door hoping to nab the overdue offender in their tracks. LOL. Now I'm confused, discombobulated..who is Patti Smith..where is the Patti Smith I thought I knew.. I've ended up only just liking it with 3 stars & my heart has sunk. Another idol demasked or re-masked again. It makes me feel little mean hearted since Patti was my adolescent heroine. Although truth be told on reflection I didn't know zip about her private past, only shadowy images of her with Robert Mapplethorpe. Mainly I knew her voice and her records, those I played over and over. Her poems in my original 1972 copy of "Seventh Heaven" was something sacred to me, some holy grail of truth if I could only decode the essence of, I could be like she, or something...such is the stuff of puberty or perhaps I had blinkers on then most likely.

Maybe I have a wrong take on this but I feel she's sugar coated her early life with Mapplethorpe. I can't believe she was so naive. In the thick of all the action in NY, at Max's & the Warhol crew. Friends all around doing drugs and she being 23-4 didn't know anything about drugs. Oh come on. At that time I was 14-15 and knew more about the street than she purports to have known. My upbringing not that different or richer or poorer than hers. But she bangs on about how poor her and Robert were in the 70's in the book and I can't really come to grips with her take on things. She's all the "SERIOUS ARTIST" and in the world but not of it.?? WTF. Totally dispels any illusions she was all "sex drugs and rock and roll". I feel like she's writing this view of herself..."the goody two shoes naff poet", for some other person.....her family or children perhaps. Maybe.....

The early chapters alternate between her childhood and Roberts. The mid-secton is where I have trouble(as described above). She goes into fairly explicit details about Roberts homosexual adventures and loves, his art/porn and creativity issues and final relationship and death from AIDS. She talks about her trip to Paris and Baudrillard's grave, and she was distanced like I've never felt her distanced in her music or poems. Is that Baudrillard's Simulacra? Something's slightly skewed here because I just didn't feel her passion in "Just Kids" - EXCEPT when she was talking about Mapplethorpe's art and death - I didn't get a sense of connection when she talked about her marriage either, it's censored and distanced also.. I think in truth it's not about her it's about Robert. The book is littered with wonderful images of Robert and of her (taken by him). It's more his obituary. It's sad. Sadder than I can say. (less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

To be completely truthful, I have never experienced any of Patti Smith's work; I was aware of her, of course - that photo of her in the white shirt (taken by Robert Mapplethorpe) did leave an indelible mark on my memory - but I think I just filed her away in my "too cool for me" vault and never gave her a thought beyond that. The same applies to Mapplethorpe really; I knew of him, his work, the controversies it inspired, but had no inkling of the man. To learn that Smith and Mapplethorpe were lo...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Del Zimmerman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Before reading this book, I honestly didn't know much about Patti Smith or her music, nor did I have much more knowledge about the artistry of Robert Mapplethorpe.

In this treasure, Patti recounts her chance meeting of Robert as soon as she arrived in New York in the late 1960s. In less than 300 pages, she composes a beautiful love letter to the man who would immediately become her best friend, muse, protector, lover and, in many ways, soulmate.

In the memories she shares, readers get an intimate...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Miranda (M.E.) Brumbaugh rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, leisure, books-read-2012, biographical

OK once I got past her very eloquent writing style, which is a bit off putting, and I could see that her poetic influences, aka Rimbaud, had such a strong presence in her writing, I fell in love with the story. I found Patti Smith's story to be heart wrenching and delicate, thrilling in its connections to the 1970s (the Chelsea Hotel, CBGBs, her encounters with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol). Once I started reading it, I began listening to her music again, this time with reverence to t...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Mindy McAdams rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, by-women

I rarely read biographies or autobiographical books, but when I heard a review on NPR of this memoir by rock 'n' roll poet Patti Smith, I knew I had to read it. I played her early albums until they suffered vinyl degradation, pops and static. The book is not so much about her as it is about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (b. 1946, d. 1989). I wasn't aware of their close affiliation before I heard the NPR story, and it immediately sparked my interest.

Mapplethorpe was an in...more

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Oct 10, 2011 ~Geektastic~ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir-biography, coming-of-age, art, reviewed, 2011

The runaway artist is a typical phase of adolescence, and the true measurement of one’s devotion to a creative life is the ability to sustain the kind of drive that can keep you going through the hunger, cold, loneliness and (perhaps worst of all) the disillusionment of adulthood. Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe had this drive in spades, although the route they used to reach their final goals can be seen as both fortuitous and questionable. The last thing an artist wants to be is a “sell out...more The runaway artist is a typical phase of adolescence, and the true measurement of one’s devotion to a creative life is the ability to sustain the kind of drive that can keep you going through the hunger, cold, loneliness and (perhaps worst of all) the disillusionment of adulthood. Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe had this drive in spades, although the route they used to reach their final goals can be seen as both fortuitous and questionable. The last thing an artist wants to be is a “sell out,” but then again, how do you get to make a living from art if you don’t meet the right people at the right time and make a name for yourself? Where is the line drawn between security and freedom? How much of one do you have to give up for the other?

Just Kids doesn’t necessarily answer any of these questions, at least not directly, but I kept thinking about them as I was reading. Although it is a memoir, I read Just Kids for the same reason I read fiction: I wanted to experience something out of my reach, to use my imagination to enter a world that is not only closed to me, but in many ways may never have existed at all. Sorry to sound so enigmatic; what I mean is, though Patti Smith takes you on a trip to the early 70’s in New York, it is her 70s, her New York, and she is often rather oblique in her self-examination, and excessively generous in her descriptions of others. No one ever seems to do anything wrong, and even when they do, that’s ok because it’s all about freedom and art. Never mind sexually transmitted diseases or treading on anyone’s toes, it’s all about the elusive fame and fortune hovering just an exhibition away.

I like Patti Smith, though coming into this book I knew very little about her. I knew she had been friends with Robert Mapplethorpe (who I knew a bit more about, thanks to my own time in art school), and that she was a proto-punk songwriter who had been one of Mapplethorpe’s original photography subjects. Her style is clear if a bit overwrought at times, and her devotion to Mapplethorpe while he struggled with his sexual identity, and later with AIDS, is very touching. I think the book is at its best when it describes the little moments of intense friendship between the two, and at its weakest when Smith finds it necessary to attribute so much of their success to fate and signs. Yes, there are often moments in life that seem fortuitous or somehow preordained, but Smith is a bit heavy with the symbolic meaning of little things.

I really did like this book a great deal, as it allowed me to experience the kind of life I used to fantasize about when I was younger (and still think about now). To learn about the times or even Smith and Mapplethorpe themselves doesn’t really seem to be the point of this memoir; rather it is a memorial to a beloved friend and a tiny capsule capturing an intense and influential relationship between two great artists during a wildly exhilarating time in New York City, when Andy Warhol and Pop were on the way out, and Robert Mapplethorpe and punk rock were taking over. Good times.
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Aug 11, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

just got the kindle preview. could be annoying or great.

* * * * * *

Finished this last night. Of Mapplethorpe and Smith's relationship, I'll only say that I found it sweet and sad. Other things interested me about this book more.

I have to agree with Yahaira, it was both annoying and great. The starving artist / wannabe might be a phase lots of kids and young people went through before they turned into responsible adults, but it is one I skipped entirely, so yeah, while I found some of the writin...more just got the kindle preview. could be annoying or great.

* * * * * *

Finished this last night. Of Mapplethorpe and Smith's relationship, I'll only say that I found it sweet and sad. Other things interested me about this book more.

I have to agree with Yahaira, it was both annoying and great. The starving artist / wannabe might be a phase lots of kids and young people went through before they turned into responsible adults, but it is one I skipped entirely, so yeah, while I found some of the writing and the subjects irritating, I thought this was a fascinating portal into the successful incubation of a couple of artists who may or may not have been remarkably talented, but were undeniably successful. Like No Direction Home, the documentary about Bob Dylan, Just Kids left me thinking that maybe the most important factor in this kind of artistic / commercial success is being in the right place at the right time. It's not that I think Dylan or Smith or Mapplethorpe were not talented, but I'm just not convinced that in their natural state, outside of that environment, any of them possessed much more genius than anyone else--or at least not as much genius as is attributed to each of them today. Other contributing factors: the related factor of meeting the right people, and time, lots of time for ideas to incubate, which means not really having a job or the overwhelming (and middle-class) sense of obligation and responsibility that drives some of us to feel that we have to eat or have a roof over our heads.

It did surprise me how materialistic (and I don't mean that in the yuppie sense) Smith was - a total magpie. It was also interesting how much she recalled and wrote about what she or Mapplethorpe wore. Both she and Mapplethorpe reminded me a lot of those characters in Sartre's writings who were meant to be foils for existentialism: people obsessed with creating "situations," seeing life as one big performance. Now, existentialism is one phase I *did* go through. Maybe it's the wannabe phase for hyper-rational, hyper-analytical kids like me. In a way, it pushed me to become a teacher after college, to want to *do* something in the world. As much as I've always wished I had the talent to be an artist, it's possible that I never could have been one anyway, for having the wrong philosophy.(less)

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Sep 28, 2012 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Such a great read! Loved learning more about Smith and Mapplethorpe and their growth as artists. Lots of interesting bits and pieces about various NYC art and music scenesters, too. One of those books you need to keep a notebook handy while reading so you can dig deeper into the various mentions of influences, books, music, etc. A beautiful, touching story.

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Jul 02, 2012 Mandy Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This week’s headline? “They’re just kids.”

Why this book? National Book Award

Which book format? found on Kindle

Primary reading environment? The Steeping Room

Any preconceived notions? I had none…

Identify most with? “exhausted baby snake”

Three little words? “Love his work.”

Goes well with? “French confection connection”

Recommend this to? “gifted hustling children”

Several years ago, I set my MySpace profile picture to a photograph my boyfriend had taken of me. I’m getting ready to go out at night,...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: art

We all hunger for the partnership that contains love and inspiration. Patti recounts the precious moments with Mapplethorpe in their artistic voyage. She finds little anger in his sexual explorations once their monogamy ended. Gracefully, she keeps her prose away from salaciousness and opts more for the beauty of their spirit. By the time, Robert suffers from AIDS, you are shattered too. Patti's honesty and recollections capture their love and moments in NYC long gone.

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Mar 01, 2012 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: auto-biography

In 1967, when she was nineteen Patti got pregnant. She left college and quit her factory job and after giving birth gave the baby up for adoption. When she came home, she decided to move to New York to start a new life. She wanted to be a painter and poet and though she had no job she knew a few friends who were students in Brooklyn. She ended up sleeping on their floors or some times rough on the streets. Then, running away from a date, she met Robert Mapplethorpe. The book is their story. How...more In 1967, when she was nineteen Patti got pregnant. She left college and quit her factory job and after giving birth gave the baby up for adoption. When she came home, she decided to move to New York to start a new life. She wanted to be a painter and poet and though she had no job she knew a few friends who were students in Brooklyn. She ended up sleeping on their floors or some times rough on the streets. Then, running away from a date, she met Robert Mapplethorpe. The book is their story. How they became lovers, then friends and then muses to each other.

I loved this book so much. The writing is beautiful and poetic and somehow craft-like, sewing in little motifs that Patti and Robert talk about. The sequences of Patti and Roberts meeting is romantic and the ending so deeply touching that it made me very tearful! Throughout the book they both have a single minded commitment to their art and support each other in their artistic endeavours. They ended up living in the Chelsea Hotel and meeting a lot of the famous people of the era. The friends, lovers, mentors and hero's Patti discusses are all remembered with warm open hearted kindness so that it never feels like she is name dropping for the sake of it. And her love, and romantic, maybe somewhat rose tinted view, of the down and out New York of the sixties and seventies - the garrets, the alternative bars the dirty lofts and the fleabag motels - comes through on every page. There is a definite and interesting overlap with 'City Boy' which takes place in New York of the same period, but Edmund White moved in very different circles, his book featured more literary types and also the Stonewall riots and the gay liberation movement. Where as Patti and Robert – who's work is so confrontational in its sexuality, seem outside of this. Patti's world revolved more around the beats, Warhol factory outsiders and rock and rollers, but most of all it is about her enduring friendship with Robert and how it shaped her life.
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Aug 06, 2012 Carrie Costa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just finished Patti Smith’s Robert Mapplethorpe memoir. Grateful for a much better appreciation of who he was and how those influences led him to create the kind of images he did. Strikingly unapologetic no matter the subject matter, something to admire particularly when you realize that was just how he viewed things, it was never with the intent to shock anyone. Interesting that he was a reluctant photographer and even then only hindered by the cost associated with the materials.

Her writing is...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Lilly G rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a poetic window into the era, into love without expectations, into how we find our voice in art and the right art form for us, into growing up together. I like this book the more I think about it; it was an enjoyable and inspiring read, definitely unlike anything you've read. This is a duo I didn't know (as most didn't?) so heavily influenced each other, and this is a lovely tribute to introduce you into their unique pairing.

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Dec 21, 2010 Nick rated it 2 of 5 stars

There are some moments of real poignancy here and some very deft turns of phrase, but I was also just bored stiff for most of it. Clearly Smith has led a really interesting life, but she's just not a great writer. The great bulk of the book was a long series of "Then this happened. Then that happened. Then Robert did this. Then I did that." And while there is a lot of reflection about art, there is very little on the subject of her relationship with Mapplethorpe, supposedly the purpose of writin...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Erik rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction-for-a-fiction-guy, biography

It is difficult for me to think of an artist who illuminates pure positive affect in the way that Patti Smith does. For someone who always had a special place in his heart for Patti's "Horses" record, I can safely say there are moments where her music and her words have taken my mind and my heart to places I would have never imagined. For me, the record has a similar effect to Allen Ginsberg's, "Howl," and Walt Whitman's, "Song of Myself." The passion, the energy, the blood-racing anticipation b...more It is difficult for me to think of an artist who illuminates pure positive affect in the way that Patti Smith does. For someone who always had a special place in his heart for Patti's "Horses" record, I can safely say there are moments where her music and her words have taken my mind and my heart to places I would have never imagined. For me, the record has a similar effect to Allen Ginsberg's, "Howl," and Walt Whitman's, "Song of Myself." The passion, the energy, the blood-racing anticipation between her vocal crescendos... It is absolutely on fire. However, I have found that "Horses" is a rather polarizing record. People who are into rock and roll either like it or hate it. I love it. My brain chemistry gets perfectly locked into Patti's grooves, and I'm happy to know that I can revisit this amazing album throughout my life anytime I feel the need.

When "Just Kids" came out, I realized that it had been quite some time since I had last thought of Patti Smith. My reading habits have changed a lot throughout the years, and I'm generally not a fan of biographies. However, I knew I would enjoy this one. I was simply waiting for the right time to read it. One of the many things that fascinates me about Patti Smith is that she was simply a naive and innocent child full of so much wonderful curiosity, a perpetual outsider who had no misgivings over the fact that life would be an uphill battle. Unlike many artists whose early lives were subject to torment and desperation, Patti came from a humble and loving home. Patti was not abused by her family, (she actually spoke very tenderly of her parents and siblings), nor did she express any excessive disdain towards those she encountered during her early struggles, (not even towards her factory coworkers who dehumanized her; thus providing the impetus for her song, "Piss Factory," nor the prying and judgmental eyes during her teenage pregnancy.) And even though she arrived in New York homeless and hungry and would generally fare no better until the latter end of the '70s, Patti's enthusiasm and diligence completely outshined her hardships.

Patti was in love with life. She was intoxicated with the freedom that came with being a young artist in a city of the world; finding inspiration and friendship during the unlikeliest moments, and holding onto these moments until they became the core of her being. One of the things I adore most about Patti Smith is her ability to live simultaneously inside her own head, completely losing herself within a sanctimonious inner world of books, dead poets, and philosophers, while also living very much in the moment. All of her encounters with '60s rockers like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Grace Slick, along with her introductions to future celebrity artists, like Jim Carroll, Sam Shepard, and Tom Verlaine among many others, excited her, energized her, and gave her a great sense of fortune. She never took any of these encounters for granted and she continues to keep these people close to her heart to this day. Patti also never denied nor shied away from the influence of those who came before her, (particularly Jim Morrison and Arthur Rimbaud). I particularly enjoyed the passage in the book where she visited both of these young men's graves in Paris.

The only thing I haven't mentioned yet is Patti's friendship to Robert Mapplethorpe. What a sweet, sweet thing. Their bond was beyond friendship, beyond physical love. These two were soulmates in the classic sense. Robert and Patti completed one another, challenged one another, and guided one another throughout every course in their lives. Even her descriptions of their simplest outings and everyday musings came across as life-changing journeys. She pulls this off without being overly dramatic or grandiose because the love these two had for one another was complete, endless, and beautiful, and it was perfectly captured in this book.

I was a little surprised that Patti didn't delve more into the lives of her bandmates, her children, or her husband, the late, great Fred "Sonic" Smith. But then again, as she firmly stated, this was she and Robert's story, and she promised him that one day she would write it and share it with the world. That's precisely what she has done, and I'm very thankful for her doing so. This book was a glorious experience for me. (less)

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May 13, 2012 emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

I didn't just hate this book. I cherished my hatred for this book. Luxuriated in it. Drank deeply of my hatred.

I didn't just find the writing clunky, I found it odd, troubled by an overfamiliar relationship with the passive voice (lots of things "could be seen"), verbs (no one ever god damn says anything; they discourse, spiel, spin, regale, blah blah blah), and prepositions (why say "on" when you can add a syllable to get "upon"? why use the mundane "because" when you can replace it with "for"...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am not fan of Robert Mapplethorpe, to say that out front and bluntly. However, I do like Patti Smith, for the most part, and wanted a better insight into her own development. She seems to have lucked out in having approached the rock n roll scene rather indirectly- backing into it, as it were, from art and poetry. Perhaps that is what makes her head and shoulders a better performer than most of her generation of punk rockers- the greater majority of whom became popular not on the basis of any...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By the multi-talented Patti Smith, musician, artist, writer, and 70's icon, this fairly short autobiography is the story of Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe, when they first met in NYC-- struggling, starving and desperate for fame (in Robert's case). They lived together for some time until parting ways as Robert was drawn more and more to the rapidly growing homosexual culture spreading like crazy in New York and San Francisco at the time. Being of this generation, I found it fascinating, not to me...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Liana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

She was a humble jack in the kingdom of New York's bygone era. Patti Smith--a free spirit alight in New York's golden years of pure art, unadulterated creation and madness. I truly adore this book.

It is utterly awe-inspiring to realize how many of these lives intertwined with hers. And it is utterly sobering to realize how many of those lives have led to demise and have turned to legends. She rubbed elbows with so many famous or infamous artists and personalities of the time that one needs a soc...more She was a humble jack in the kingdom of New York's bygone era. Patti Smith--a free spirit alight in New York's golden years of pure art, unadulterated creation and madness. I truly adore this book.

It is utterly awe-inspiring to realize how many of these lives intertwined with hers. And it is utterly sobering to realize how many of those lives have led to demise and have turned to legends. She rubbed elbows with so many famous or infamous artists and personalities of the time that one needs a social dictionary to envision all the characters in her book. ...it made me so jealous!

By the time I was born, the tapestry of stars so vibrant in her book had already been terribly faded. Many of these luminaries are lost now, numbers still dwindling, a terribly fragile generation of Beats, folk artists, rock stars, painters, party people, et al. It kills me that I'll never see the same establishments she saw, either demolished or changed beyond recognition, most of which will remain unknown to the collective memory of my generation. But since her narrative and attention to detail was so clear, I was there in a way. Just Kids is a beautiful treasury of two young artists' New York adventures. Different from Woody Allen's New York, from Rockefeller's New York, from Carrie Bradshaw's New York, from Warhol's New York, from Fievel's New York, lol.

In a few of my favorite passages, she would discourse on the hippie things she did, listening to hippie music, having hippie jobs, making hippie food (couscous with anchovies and raisins, lettuce soup), hippie chores (mopping the floor with boiled eucalyptus), hippie clothes (which I envy), punk seeds all the while taking root. All of this was fun and interesting to read and endeared me to her more.

And then there was her tender friendship with Robert. If only I could write of my own friends so well.

Hers is the kind of cool not acquired by studying a pose but by making a deep connection and understanding of what artistry is--by knowing it inherently as if it was second nature to know the history of all these places, all these people, all this art. It is a cool that cannot be taught.

This book deserves its award. It is as much a national treasure as it is a poignant, deeply affecting memoir. Really, really well done. (less)

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Feb 16, 2011 David Cerda rated it 4 of 5 stars

A lovely book about youth, hope, the meaning of love and being an artist. Patti Smith writes beautifully and certainly paid her dues but manages to put a positive spin on hunger, head lice and desperate situations. She romanticizes the underground NY art scene when it sometimes it just sounds disgusting. She must have really wanted it and I have to admire that. Sometimes it got a little too artsy fartsy for my taste but it was written in her voice and I believe it. There seemed to be things she...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Lavinia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, journals-biographies-memoirs, in-en

I've known about the book for a long time, but was never really interested in reading it. Then a while ago I stumbled upon one of Patti's mesmerizing photos and I just knew I had to read it.

I must be honest and say that besides "Because the night" (which is one of my all time favourite songs), I wasn't very much familiar with her music, let alone her poetry, art or private life. That's probably why I googled something every five pages or so: artists, musicians, poems, Robert's art, Patty's album...more

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Dec 18, 2010 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'll start by saying initially, I had no desire to read this book. I know who Patti Smith is, and amongst my substantial record collection, yes I did say record, there is not a single Patti Smith! A good friend highly recommended it to me and handed me her copy. That said, I am so glad she did. Patti Smith writes like a poet (which she is) and captured me from page one. She shares her story of her love/friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe with a raw, honest sensitivity. Her experiences and the p...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 26, 2011 Marco Manicardi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recentemente ho letto che un giorno della fine degli anni sessanta, o dell'inizio dei settanta, Patti Smith, squattrinatissima, era in un ristorante automatico, di quelli che metti dentro le monetine in una macchinetta e ti esce il panino o il piatto di pasta o la coscia di pollo, insomma, quello che vuoi tra quello che c'è, dipende dal bottone che premi. Lei, Patti, era lì che metteva i soliti settantacinque cents per il solito panino, schiaccia il bottone e niente, non viene fuori alcun panino...more

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May 27, 2011 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i absolutely loved this book. it's a story you've heard a million times: a young artist moves to new york city, prevails over destitution and finds inspiration and comfort amongst eccentric (and quite often pretentious) kindred souls... including and especially but not necessarily limited to one mr robert mapplethorpe. or maybe you don't know this particular story... but i felt as though i knew the story before it unfolded on the page. the chelsea hotel. the summer of love. max's kansas city and...more

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About Patti Smith

Patti Smith (born Patricia Lee Smith on December 30, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and poet. She was influential in the birth of the punk rock with her 1975 debut album Horses.
Called "Godmother of Punk" she integrated the beat poetry performance style with garage rock. Her allusions introduced 19th century French poetry to American teens, while her "unladylike" language defied the disco...more

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Patti Smith, Complete: Lyrics, reflections, and notes for the future

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“So my last image was as the first. A sleeping youth cloaked in light, who opened his eyes with a smile of recognition for someone who had never been a stranger.” — 44 people liked it

“I imagined myself as Frida to Diego, both muse and maker. I dreamed of meeting an artist to love and support and work with side by side.” — 41 people liked it

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