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2.5 stars
Most of this book is basically a series of lists, told and re-told and then told again, in great detail:
1. The people they met
2. The food they ate
3. The clothes they wore
4. The places they lived
5. The things they owned
6. The progression of their art, and how they were influenced by each other and by other people.
The first five categories are of little interest to me; this caused huge swathes of the book to feel very tedious. (“Usually he got the hot dog and I got the sauerkraut, but thi ...more
Most of this book is basically a series of lists, told and re-told and then told again, in great detail:
1. The people they met
2. The food they ate
3. The clothes they wore
4. The places they lived
5. The things they owned
6. The progression of their art, and how they were influenced by each other and by other people.
The first five categories are of little interest to me; this caused huge swathes of the book to feel very tedious. (“Usually he got the hot dog and I got the sauerkraut, but thi ...more
I originally read Wild Horses a few years ago, also by Patti Smith, as a book club selection. No one in the group actually liked it and many didn't finish it because it wasn't their kind of book. So with some trepidation, I decided to read JUST KIDS because "everyone said it's so much better".
Well, not to me. It was a very depressing and sad life for Mapplethorpe and Smith. As much as they were a couple, they really weren't after some time. That's all I'll say about that so I don't give somethin ...more
Well, not to me. It was a very depressing and sad life for Mapplethorpe and Smith. As much as they were a couple, they really weren't after some time. That's all I'll say about that so I don't give somethin ...more
Reading this would have been inspiration enough. Listening to Patti narrate it was inspirational overload.
This was a really great book. I was hesitant at first to like the book due to what seemed like a contradiction right on the first page. However, as soon as I get into reading Patti Smith's voice I began to really enjoy it. Just Kids is more than just an excellent portrait of two artists and their journey - it is also a great view of the early punk era and artists surviving in a difficult New York scene.
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Idk much about Patti and Robert but it was lovely reading about leads who were compelled to create art that they were willing to starve. I liked the photographs too since I didn't have to imagine the descriptions but sometimes I wished they were in color.
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The audio version is amazing. Just the perfect memoir.
Just Kids is an honest and open depiction of Patti Smith's early days in New York, trying to make it as an artist and working with her friend, partner, lover and soul mate Robert Mapplethorpe. They were obviously hanging out with people that also became famous later (or already were) but the name dropping never feels gratuitous and everyone else in the story is really a background piece as the main narrative is a clear and gripping chronicle of their friendship and what they meant to each other.
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Life in New York seems so much more adventurous in the 70s, wish I could have been a part of it!
May 02, 2010
Ching-In
marked it as to-read
Jun 01, 2011
Rachel
rated it
liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
autobiography
Jun 08, 2011
erin
marked it as to-read
Jul 10, 2011
Paula
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Dec 16, 2011
Tania
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Dec 01, 2012
Vicky
marked it as to-read
Aug 09, 2014
Seulky
marked it as to-read
May 08, 2022
Grace
is currently reading it
Aug 22, 2022
Kara
marked it as to-read
Jan 21, 2024
EmJay
marked it as to-read
