Just Kids

By Patti Smith

Genre: Rock

 Just Kids is an incredibly moving story about the relationship between poet/rock singer Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The love and support between these two persons flows through Patti's poetic words. While they lived in the tumultuous art scene of New York in the sixties and seventies this is never a tell-all book or a sensational gossip book like so many of the other memoirs of this period. The author promised Mapplethorpe before he died that she would tell their story and does exactly that. In fact, the only time the book bogs down is in the section that tells of their separation and her ascend into the rock music world. Smith appears to be rushing, eager to get on with the real story of her love and compassion for Mapplethorpe. When she returns to him, he is dying of AIDS. The passion and longing that permeated this memoir is again evident. If someone asked me if I knew of a book that could vividly and honestly depict the complex pains and joys of an human relationship, I would gladly hand them this book.

Background CD: Patti Smith - Horses