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Nicholas's Reviews > Just Kids
Just Kids
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by
There are some moments of real poignancy here and some very deft turns of phrase, but I was also just bored stiff for most of it. Clearly Smith has led a really interesting life, but she's just not a great writer. The great bulk of the book was a long series of "Then this happened. Then that happened. Then Robert did this. Then I did that." And while there is a lot of reflection about art, there is very little on the subject of her relationship with Mapplethorpe, supposedly the purpose of writing the book. How and why did she stick with him -- as a lover -- through his gay hustling? What did she feel about this? She is by turns squeamish about his homosexuality and also fully accepting of everything he does. There's nothing inherently wrong with either reaction but I'd like to hear a little more about them.
Bottom line: had this not been Patti Smith writing about Robert Mapplethorpe, and had I not been in a book group where we were discussing the book, I wouldn't have kept reading past the 50th page.
Bottom line: had this not been Patti Smith writing about Robert Mapplethorpe, and had I not been in a book group where we were discussing the book, I wouldn't have kept reading past the 50th page.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 19, 2010
–
Finished Reading
December 21, 2010
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-50 of 55 (55 new)
Hello!! How are you? It has been ages. Alas, I did not love Just Kids, but neither, it seems, did you. The book group I read it in had a few real fans but most were not so enthused. Why so much love for PS? Just because she's PS, we all thought...
xox
nick.
Great review! I'm in the middle of the book and feel the exact same way.
I wish I could say it got better, but that would be a lie...
I am feeling exactly the same way. And I really wanted to love it. Dull writing from a supposedly talented poet? How could she take such a great story and make it so drab? It feels like what it is, a story written from the distance of many years.
I wrote my review before reading yours. Now I know why my review went "she did this, then she did that." After 250 pages of it, I'm starting to talk that why.
How different we felt about this book! I was scolded as a gay man for not knowing who either Patti or Robert were. After much scolding I picked up the book, and could not put it down. I felt her style really put me into the time period, and helped me to know both of them intimately as humans. At times there was definitely a lot of random name-dropping, but it really helped me see how entertainment life used to be: artists hanging out, sharing ideas, doing art for the sake of art, building community. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and cried my EYES out at the end with Robert's death. I felt that part could've been more developed and in detail, but it really wasn't all about his illness, it was about their whole lives. I thought she did a phenomenal job on memoir. Sad you didn't love it!
I do wish that I loved it as much as other people -- yourself included -- did. Their lives were definitely fascinating; on that count, no disagreement. Her telling of those lives bored me to tears, alas.
I'm almost finished reading Just Kids and am in agreement. Not only didn't I find it particularly interesting, at times I found it boring & repetitious. I saw Patti Smith on The Charley Rose Show & was intrigued. Alas, "Just Kidswas " ]Just so-so."
The storytelling aspect is lacking, here. Cultural context notwithstanding, this was a plodding read. I was hoping for a song...
Well put! I really did want to like it as well...
Patti Smith is a good writer, good enough to receive the National Book Award, I feel that she completed a phenomenal task at articulating her relationship with Robert, not just anyone can do that, nor at the very least write a book attempting so. There was a lot of name dropping, but it feels appropriate with the surroundings being New York.
Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't think she deserved the National Book Award, which itself is obviously chosen by other readers with whose taste and cultural politics any of us can disagree. I think she won the award because she was Patti Smith, not because she wrote a good book. I found the book to be little more than a monotonous listing of what happened and a real disappointment. The thing that I wanted her to do and that you claim she did -- articulate her relationship with Mapplethorpe -- is precisely what I found to be the greatest failing of the book.
I completely agree with your review - what could have been a fascinating story was rendered dull in the telling. I got about halfway through before I realized it wasn't going to get better, and by then I figured I might as well finish it off...
I think we're developing a movement here... Not only was this not a good book, but its author and subject material make that fact even more disappointing than would be the case with any other bad book.
Great review!! I just finished reading this for book club and did not particularly care for it. I know many in my group will disagree with me when we discuss it. Glad I am not the only one. Patti's writing was boring and full of name dropping. I wanted to feel more emotion, but that did not come through until the last chapter.
Be strong, Barb! My book group was actually pretty evenly divided. We had some lovers of the book and a bunch like me who were really disappointed.
I couldn't have said it better. I was so very disappointed in this book! The prose was so flat, I felt I didn't know either Patti or Robert by the end of the book, and didn't particularly care. I actually looked them both up in Wikipedia to fill in the many blanks and found it much more readable and illuminating. Go figure.
You know you're in trouble when you're using Wikipedia (successfully!) to fill in the blanks in a memoir. Sorry to hear that you found it as dull as I did...
'Dull' is about the right word. I hesitated over giving it just the one star before deciding on my own two rating. She refers so often to her "irreverence" and yet the book is written in a tone of turbo-charged seriousness which chokes the life out of it.
Great point: the disconnect between her self-proclaimed irreverence and the tone of the book is pretty noteworthy in and of itself.
I've got to agree with the minority view here (Jeffrey & Mark). I thought she succeeded in giving readers a very intimate look at her time with Robert, and although the ending was rushed, that was OK w/ me. The book, as others have said, was about their love affair. It might have helped that I not only read the book, but I listened to the first several chapters on CD, w/ PS narrating herself. That gave me a voice to put with the words I was reading. And it also helped that I'm exactly Patti's age and spent a lot of time in NYC between 1967 & 1976, the exact yrs she focused on.
You may be in the minority on this little comment thread, but I think you are well within the majority overall; most people seem to love the book! I am curious about what it was like to have heard her read it instead of reading it myself. But I still think that it was just not very well written. A fascinating life she led, to be sure, but not one all that well told in my estimation.
I normally don't like to put down books or say I don't like it until I've read it through and can be confident in my opinion, especially when it's gotten great reviews. By page 90 or so I have up, I was just bored and putting myself through that for no reason. I feel better after reading your review for confirmation that I didn't miss out on anything greater.
Well, it's definitely not going to change, so if you're bored now, I wholeheartedly support your decision to put it away. There's far too much good to read to waste time on the bad!
half way through it but i agree. so bored I am forcing myself to keep going
I was never into PS back in the 80s and after hearing her passionate voice on a you tube interview about art recently I started my own investigation. Just Kids started on the right road, she managed to set the stage, yet the pages that followed seemed to be first ' drafty'. I kept waiting for the flesh to attach itself to her relationship with Robert. I didn't understand the point of writing this book. By its end I was no more the wiser on what the attraction or dynamic was really about. I even wanted her to be honest about withholding that from the reader! Patti offered no real commitment to the work other than the published physicality she had promised Robert. I felt sad that his story was so partially touched upon. I would have loved to have been a roving spirit in the lobby of the Chelsea eavesdropping on what Patti could not fully express. I wanted depths instead I got magazine article. Finally I believe her own self importance actually got in the way of telling the truth of this very complicated relationship. I wanted to dial the hotline to all she name dropped and ask " Come on give me the juice! "
Completely agree with this review. She strikes me as the Forrest Gump of her era. A woman who is mildly talented, strongly devoted, and in all the right places at the right time. That is what the take home message was for me.
Completely agree with this review. She strikes me as the Forrest Gump of her era. A woman who is mildly talented, strongly devoted, and in all the right places at the right time. That is what the take home message was for me.
I have to say I agree. Am about half way through, and it is terribly dull.
I felt exactly the same way, until it occurred to me that their experiences were so incredible, and their lives in the midst of t
oops, premature post. I was trying to say that because their lives unfolded in a time and place of legends (NYC of the late 60s/early 70s) the writing did not need to be more intense, descriptive, "better" than it is. what they experienced was intense but of course they were babes - I feel now a simple telling of it was appropriate and probably deliberate.
Jody wrote: "oops, premature post. I was trying to say that because their lives unfolded in a time and place of legends (NYC of the late 60s/early 70s) the writing did not need to be more intense, descriptive, ..." I agree that the telling was simple, Jody, but for me it was more than simple: it was workmanlike and dull. It was without much finesse or artistry. To me there is a difference and Smith just did not impress me.
Eirena wrote: "I was never into PS back in the 80s and after hearing her passionate voice on a you tube interview about art recently I started my own investigation. Just Kids started on the right road, she manag..." Somehow I didn't see this comment till just now, Eirena, but I agree! I felt like it was a very superficial and withholding treatment, especially of her relationship with Mapplethorpe. Well put.
It was a good thing for me to
Seeing all the accolades this book is getting, I almost felt guilty for not liking it as much I wanted to, so I am glad at least that I am not the only one who thought it was a tad boring.
i felt exactly the same way!
Haha... i agree. There are some beautiful passages in it.
Good point about the, "Why did she stick with him while he hustled?" I loved the book but there were definite points that could have been addressed so that there was more depth to the book.
Loved it in the beginning, but now I'm battling every page. Nearly there, but I think I'll give up. So many books to read, so little time.
Agreed � powerful story and I’m a fan of Patti but this book could have been better written.
I agree and disagree -- I found at times, especially in the middle, that it was a bit challenging to get through. But I remember exactly where I was when I finished it and exactly how I felt. Maybe the journey of reading it in the summertime at my favorite coffee shops and parks in my last year of college is why I love it so much. But I truly thought it was a beautiful and humble story, very poetically written!
Wow. Yes I totally agree with you Nicolas. I found that we didn’t get to know much about Smith and her complex feelings towards Robert. I found the name dropping excessive, sometimes it just felt like it was just for the sake of it. Like, just to say ‘I was here with these people�. It took me so long to finish because I dreaded the thought of reading it. It had been recommended to me loads. The ending however was so lovely, so earnest and sad and warming all at once. Very memorable.
Omolara wrote: "Wow. Yes I totally agree with you Nicolas. I found that we didn’t get to know much about Smith and her complex feelings towards Robert. I found the name dropping excessive, sometimes it just felt l..." No review I've written has received more comments than this one, largely because the book is so hyped, I think. Your comments are also spot-on.
I agree, fulllyyy!!
Love --
mattilda