Just Kids

Just Kids: the National Book Award-winning memoir

Entertainment , Music, Composers, Musicians & Groups, Non-Fiction
Paperback Published on: 04/01/2011
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Bookseller Reviews

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Just Kids
Just Kids
A beautiful memoir of two kindred spirits, Smith and Mapplethorpe, and their intense and loving friendship. Even if you have never heard of them, it’s a wo... READ MORE
Jane Pattiselanno
Just Kids
Beautiful, passionate and poetic
One of the most beautiful books I've read... I wish I discovered it much sooner. Patti Smith invites us into her life growing up an artist in New York. I... READ MORE
Katie Taylor
Just Kids
All time favourite read
Just Kids is a love story that spans a lifelong friendship. It's spiritual and poetic lens of struggling Art and Rock in 1970s/1960s New York transports yo... READ MORE
Ellie Tomecek

Synopsis

A prelude to fame, Just Kids recounts the friendship of two young artists - Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe - whose passion fueled their lifelong pursuit of art. In 1967, a chance meeting between two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that would carry each to international success never dreamed of.

The backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, Scribner's Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol's Factory and the whole city resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc.

It was a heightened time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to always care for one another.

Scrappy, romantic, committed to making art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence during the hungry years--the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup.

Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions, those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.

  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • ISBN: 9780747568766
  • Number of pages: 320
  • Weight: 262g
  • Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 20 mm

Customer Reviews

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Just Kids
a book to discover Patti the artist
Biographical books rarely start better than this: intimate and honest; moving and involving; poetic in rhythm and content. Chapter one, Monday's Children,... READ MORE
David
Just Kids
Excellent
Beautiful, encapturing, honest about kindred spirits. Leaving home and your parents , their rules, finding your way, finding life and love, about art and m... READ MORE
kerrielp
Just Kids
Passionate, poetic and pure
Passionate, poetic and pure! Patti Smith's memoir of her time at the Chelsea Hotel, New York in the Sixties is the only coming-of-age story that has enti... READ MORE
Cameron at Lewes
Just Kids
Beautifully real.
Paddy Smith gives a real account of the struggles in New York without romanticising. How she falls in love with a Robert. Their pure and strong connection... READ MORE
Kate smith
Just Kids
love it
amazing book
Martina Di Corato
Just Kids
Just Kids, a poetic and raw capture on love, friendship and art.
Smiths memoir is honest, pure, filled with love, lost and passion for expressing one another’s identity through art. I felt transformed after reading this ... READ MORE
Katie-Marie
Just Kids
Unconditional love
The books filled with unconventional love at times, unconventional love and a friendship stronger than life. As someone only Familia with Patti Smith song... READ MORE
Qetesh17