Due to being laid up in bed for a few days I had an opportunity to read Patti Smith's wonderfully evocative account of her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe who sadly died from an AIDS related illness in 1989. A chance meeting between the two in 1967 led to romance and a lifelong friendship. The backdrop to the book is the New York of The Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City,Coney Island, Brooklyn and Warhol's Factory. Just Kids adds something new to the many books that have been written about this era, this is written from the heart and soul of Patti Smith and is mainly about two kids who made a pact to always look out and care for the other no matter what...two lives completely intertwined...
Being an outsider as a child it was probably inevitable that Patti Smith would end up in New York...their is no sentimentality in Smith's descriptions of their early days when they struggled to even eat...the writings on the Chelsea and Max's are wonderful accounts of a time and place littered with many iconic names from a very creative time in New York's history...
Would either of them achieved the success they did without the other is open to debate but what shines through most clearly from the book is that Smith has written a very honest and moving account of their lifelong relationship...who would have thought that Patti Smith would be such a gentle and sensitive narrator...one of the many high points of the book is how far removed this is from celebrity culture...and all the better for it
Book can be bought here ....
As promised ive set aside sometime to sit down and have a damn good read... v eclectic mix loving the memory nudges mate.. Ian
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