My rating:

add to my books

Just Kids

by Patti Smith

4.12 · rating details · 17,657 ratings · 3,171 reviews

Smith's evocative, honest, and moving coming-of-age story reveals her extraordinary relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Part romance, part elegy, "Just Kids" is about friendship in the truest sense, and the artist's calling.

Hardcover, 279 pages

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

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of 2010

62nd out of 902 books — 1,979 voters

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

ONE DAY Best Summer Reads

149th out of 1,752 books — 6,397 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 36,346)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 29, 2011

Eddie Watkins rated it

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...moreI 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)

like 72 likes

· see review

Feb 08, 2010

Jeanette rated it

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 mus...more

like 27 likes

· see review

Jan 07, 2012

Ian Graye rated it

· 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 l...more

like 24 likes

· see review

Feb 11, 2011

Janet rated it

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 ...more

like 28 likes

· see review

Jan 12, 2012

Velvetink rated it

· 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...moreDid 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)

like 14 likes

· see review

Oct 10, 2011

Amber ~Geektastic~ rated it

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 ou...moreThe 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.
(less)

like 7 likes

· see review

Aug 11, 2011

Jessica rated it

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 a...morejust 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)

like 7 likes

· see review

Jan 07, 2012

Sean rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, music, memoir

Patti Smith's wistful account of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe is a pretty nice book despite it's tendency to bore in a meandering and oblique middle section. While I have my suspicions that a lot is glossed over throughout*, the book remains pleasing and extremely readable. Check it out if you need something relaxing, even if you're not interested in her music.

* Am I the only one that thinks she merely pays lip service to her lover's homosexuality and hustling? Isn't this ...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Dec 21, 2010

Nick rated it

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 ...more

like 30 likes

· see review

Aug 28, 2011

Erik rated it

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...moreIt 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)

like 4 likes

· see review

Jan 18, 2012

Mark rated it

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

like 2 likes

· see review

Feb 04, 2011

Karen rated it

· 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

like 4 likes

· see review

Feb 21, 2011

Liana rated it

· 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...moreShe 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)

like 6 likes

· see review

Feb 16, 2011

David Cerda rated it

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

like 6 likes

· see review

Jan 08, 2011

Lavinia rated it

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, Rober...more

like 8 likes

· see review

Dec 18, 2010

Linda rated it

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...more

like 4 likes

· see review

Apr 01, 2010

q rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, biography, lent

I'm neither a fan of Patti Smith nor of Robert Mapplethorpe and I had no idea they'd even known each other until I ran across this. I bought her memoir of their relationship hoping for a picture of bohemian life in Manhattan in the 60s and 70s (and hoping it wouldn't involve too much Warhol). I got that and a lot more.

The first section, about her childhood, has a very stilted style. By the time she reaches 19 and it's time to go to the city, I didn't think I could stomach much mor...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Feb 26, 2011

Marco Manicardi rated it

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

like 1 like

· see review

May 27, 2011

Grace rated it

· 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 ci...more

like 1 like

· see review

May 25, 2011

Fasterpussycat Moore rated it

I read so many memoirs, I'd almost forgotten how extraordinary the genre can be in the right hands. Smith's are the right hands.

Smith and Mapplethorpe were beautiful and poor and in love, tangled up in each other's art and arms, full of bravado and questioning and each with an unwavering faith in the other. On the brink, on the edge. Reading about it is marvelous, every page lush with language, it sometimes reads like a travelogue of NYC in the late '60s/early '70s. With run-ins and ...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Mar 14, 2011

Kim Katusha rated it

Shelves: i-own, 2011

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 ea...more

like 1 like

· see review

Aug 06, 2011

Larry Hoffer added it

Wow. What a fantastically written and compelling book.

True confession time: I honestly didn't know much about Patti Smith, save her song "Because the Night," and I didn't know much about the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, except for the controversy much of his work generated. I also had no idea that Smith and Mapplethorpe had a more than 20-year friendship that inspired both of their artistic careers to flourish. But I had heard wonderful things about Smith's memoir, Just Kids (it recent...more

· see review

Feb 21, 2012

Sarah rated it

Shelves: memoir, music, art, photography, new-york, coming-of-age

This is a truly captivating memoir by punk musician and poet, Patti Smith. Both Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe both find themselves living in New York City in the late 1960’s. They develop an intense friendship, based on their mutual pursuit of artistic endeavors and exploring their spirits. The political and sexual climate of this counterculture period encourages them to create art and influence one another’s work. But they find themselves close to starving, and they depend on one another f...more

· see review

Feb 19, 2012

Christine rated it

I knew nothing about Patti Smith or Robert Mapplethorpe going into this book and thought this was a compelling story. I am always intrigued by emerging famous people/famous people hanging out with one another -- you get a lot of that, through Patti and Robert's social life. That's interesting thing #1. Interesting thing #2 is Zeitgeist (i.e. gritty artist life in 1970's NYC) and how people craft it and describe it. I of course do not know how much Smith romanticized her time, but I was hooked on...more

· see review

Feb 18, 2012

Lily So-too rated it

I love this book. It broke me free of a choke chain tied to the apartment building in which I grew up and now the whole block is breaking up in my mind and heart, bricks everywhere, floating off into farther and farther reaches of outer space, all suffused with the brightness of its dispersal. I am learning from this book, how to smash the walls that I imagined to be my limits. It is a lovely account of the common but often untrusted phenomenon of people making a place for each other in this ...moreI love this book. It broke me free of a choke chain tied to the apartment building in which I grew up and now the whole block is breaking up in my mind and heart, bricks everywhere, floating off into farther and farther reaches of outer space, all suffused with the brightness of its dispersal. I am learning from this book, how to smash the walls that I imagined to be my limits. It is a lovely account of the common but often untrusted phenomenon of people making a place for each other in this world while also making a place for themselves. I feel much more satisfied to be a person and a person who makes art after reading Patti Smith's generous and generative words.

Her honesty and vulnerability would be worth reading, even if the story of her love with Robert Mapplethorpe and others wasn't so incredible. The story would be worth reading, even if the words weren't so breathtakingly composed. The beautiful tiny phrases about celestial bodies would be worth reading, even if she didn't care so much about the humanity of social justice. Her care for humanity would be worth reading, even if she didn't lend critical insight into the process of making art out of and into one's life. Her insight into being an artist would be worth reading even if she didn't tell the story so fucking well that as a reader, I had to go back and pull together all of the clues several times, reminding myself of what the sleeping boy meant, what the lightning bolt was about, why people kept buying her food, how she found people as they gave themselves to her, rather than as society would have told her to find them. There are so many parts of this book that are wonderful that when they are combined, I'm pretty sure they cast a luminous glow into whatever eyes may be so lucky as to glance upon the light and the shadow of the words and photos printed therein.

I can imagine only one thing about this book that people might not like and it is the indulgence of egoic urges, at least occasionally. For someone like me though, who has struggled even to have an ego, i find these indulgences to be a relief. It speaks to me of the warm animal who each of us inhabit, that animal who sometimes should cry out, might need to bite someone, or may need to build an elaborate nest or at least costume to make visible the blood that is animating its frame. (less)

· see review

Jan 25, 2012

Isaac Davila rated it

What a great read. I highly recommend this book to not only fans of Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorpe but also to those who love a good memoir. Each chapter creates a different mood, time and setting. The art, music and politics of 70's NYC are captured here with great beauty. I always knew Patti Smith loved her French poets like Rimbaud and Baudelaire and It shows in her writing (without once seeming pretentious or showy). My favorite parts of the book reflect a young Smith and Mapplethorpe ...more

· see review

Jan 24, 2012

Tara rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, ebook, memoir

I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't chosen for my book club, and I went into it not really knowing who Patti Smith or Robert Mapplethorpe really were (aside from vaguely knowing what they did).

The tone of this book is really strange. It's both sleepy and childlike. In a sense, it makes it easier to read, as it sort of meanders along with no apparent direction. Mostly, though, it only served to distance me from the material. The tone was so casual and distant, that I too felt I coul...more

· see review

Jan 19, 2012

Melissa rated it

I enjoyed reading this book, and I'm glad I did, but I have to admit that when I heard Patti Smith interviewed about this book on Fresh Air, it touched me just as much, if not more, than the actual book did.

I love the way the first couple chapters go. The tone of the book works so well with the innocence of her early years. But, as time goes by and she's interacting with more and more underground and not-so-underground celebrities the book has less poetry and more of the feeling of a...more

· see review

Jan 05, 2012

Judy rated it

I've owned this book for months and for some reason kept moving it to the bottom of the to-read stack. Finally, this week I threw it into a bag of books that I was taking on vacation. Wow, what a great read. No wonder this book kept showing up on the "best of" lists for 2010 and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction that year. A chance encounter between two young people who moved to New York City to follow their art led to a life long friendship. Patti Smith and Robert Mapple...more

· see review

Jan 03, 2012

Mark Van Hollebeke rated it

Recommends it for: Emily Black

Recommended to Mark by: Chelsea Van Rask

Beautifully written and worthy of the National Book Award, Patti Smith's prose in Just Kids is elegant without feeling affected (or unnatural), making the act of reading this story a true pleasure. Additionally, the book possesses a nicely structured narrative arc with most of the story taking place before either Smith or Mapplethorpe are widely-recognized names. The title comes from an anecdote Smith tells of a walk she and Mapplethorpe take thru Washington Square in which both of them are pa...more

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 1211 1212 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
A Novel Idea: a N...: autographed giveaway	1	6	Oct 05, 2011 08:02am
Constant Reader: "Just Kids" by Patti Smith	4	26	Aug 19, 2011 01:49pm
Just Kids	2	94	Jun 17, 2011 04:31am
Queereaders: JUST KIDS	2	20	Jul 21, 2010 08:35pm

combine
Other Editions (22)

More editions...

Videos About This Book

Add a comment

Genres

Non Fiction

353 users

Autobiography > Memoir

342 users

Music

218 users

Biography

176 users

Art

71 users

Biography > Autobiography

70 users

Book Club

68 users

Biography Memoir

39 users

Poetry

35 users

History

24 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

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" ...more

More about Patti Smith...

Books by Patti Smith

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

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Just Kids

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Just Kids

“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.” — 27 people liked it

“When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say."

"Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise."

"What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?"

"You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another."

In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.” — 15 people liked it

More quotes…

Groups That Shelved Just Kids

genre X

119 members

last activity Feb 18, 2012 10:26pm

shelf: currently-reading

Exceptional Books

1270 members

last activity 4 hours, 8 min ago

shelf: read

A Novel Idea: a NYC Bookclub

357 members

last activity Jan 18, 2012 08:48pm

shelf: read

title link	preview: Just Kids
avg rating	preview: Just Kids Goodreads rating: 4.12 (17657 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341879.Just_Kids?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1259762407m/341879.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341879.Just_Kids?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Just Kids by Patti Smith[/url]

Just Kids

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website