Why did I read this book?
Two of my most cherished friends in London recently recommended this book to me. I had no clue who Patti Smith was, but they raved so much about it, that I bought it. They were right, “it’s pure poetry”. The book captured me instantly, her words moved me until the end, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single page.
“Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
What is the book about?
This book is the story of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s intense and unique friendship. Two young souls that find each other in New York City while trying to become artists.
Patti Smith is a musician, poet, songwriter and artist, and Robert Mapplethorpe was a passionate and ambitious photographer. Their story, mainly takes place in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Why should you read it?
A moving story: A true story set not so long ago, describing how two people’s souls walked alongside each other for a long yet brief time. A story about friendship, love, youth, life and loss that will inevitably make you FEEL.
A poet’s tribute to her friend: An easy yet exciting read. Patti Smith is a poet, no joke. Her writing is enjoyable and beautiful; their story, even more.
A unique context: The book is also full of surprising details and unexpected facts, including the author’s casual encounters with Janis Joplin and Salvador Dalí. You will be able to imagine and almost savour the art and music scene in NYC at the time.
Links to buy the book
Favourite Quotes
“He wasn’t certain whether he was a good or bad person. Whether he was altruistic. Whether he was demonic. But he was certain of one thing. He was an artist. And for that he would never apologize.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“No one expected me. Everything awaited me.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“He gave it to me without hesitation and I understood that in this small space of time we had mutually surrendered our loneliness and replaced it with trust.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Robert trusted in the law of empathy, by which he could, by his will, transfer himself into an object or a work of art, and thus influence the outer world. He did not feel redeemed by the work he did. He did not seek redemption. He sought to see what others did not, the projection of his imagination.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“He too had a path to pursue and would have no choice but to leave me behind. We learned we wanted too much. We could only give from the perspective of who we were and what we had. Apart, we were able to see with even greater clarity that we didn’t want to be without each other.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Laughter. An essential ingredient for survival.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“With little capital we had to be extremely inventive. Robert was a master at transforming the insignificant into the divine.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Somehow I was accepted, though I never really fit in.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Who can know the heart of youth but youth itself?”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“I recognized the silences as signs. We had been through this before. Though we didn’t speak about it, I slowly prepared myself for the changes that would surely come.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“I was there for these moments, but so young and preoccupied with my own thoughts that I hardly recognized them as moments.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“I was both scattered and stymied, surrounded by unfinished songs and abandoned poems. I would go as far as I could and hit a wall, my own imagined limitations. And then I met a fellow who gave me his secret, and it was pretty simple. When you hit a wall, just kick it in.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Perhaps it was the carelessness of youth but I was not completely cognizant of how our irresponsible ways could affect others.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“It’s like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“I learned from him that often contradiction is the clearest way to truth.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)
“Once again I found myself contemplating what I should be doing to do something of worth. Everything I came up with seemed irreverent or irrelevant.”
-Patti Smith (Just Kids)