Reviews

i loved "just kids" but this book made me want to engage in hand-to-hand combat with patti smith. she writes about 2016 from the lens of grief beginning the year with the brain death (and eventual actual death) of her close friend, moving onto a narrative about another close friend who is rapidly deteriorating from parkinsons, and finally ties it all into the november election. throughout the novel she interweaves a little bit of social commentary revolving around donald trump's campain (mostly through a weird dialogue between her and a man whose actual existence is a little ambiguous) and the entire book is meant to be a reflection of the beginning of the trump era, as she uses her grief and mourning of her friends as a metaphor for the grief and mourning she feels for the loss of the world pre-trump. something about a rich, famous, white woman grieving the world before the trump administration feels so out of touch and almost a little bit ironic. it feels like she believes he kind of just came into power out of nowhere, when it was social and political event hundreds of years in the making, heightened by the fear and nationalism bred by the events of 9/11. in this book, i got the impression that patti was desperately holding onto her identity as the poor person she was in "just kids" despite her upwards of 4 decades of rock-starism and wealth.

yelil's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.75

toastyyslut's review against another edition

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5.0

just so clear and honest and not self-conscious at all. a little eery to be reading this while another presidential election looms but i did it to myself. i thought this was gonna drag but i kinda flew through it. need to collect more patti smith. and listen to horses in full.

gosiaklich's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.75

thereading_giant's review against another edition

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5.0

I can’t help but rate everything Patti Smith touches 5 stars. Let’s be clear, I often times find myself lost in the sea of her writing but I think she would enjoy knowing that. Her words hold so many meanings and are like one big fever dream. I want to walk in her world.

storiesofsilva's review against another edition

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4.0

I feel like I could read Patti Smith's writing endlessly, without tiring.

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