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emily's Reviews > Just Kids
Just Kids
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I didn't just hate this book. I cherished my hatred for this book. Luxuriated in it. Drank deeply of my hatred.
I didn't just find the writing clunky, I found it odd, troubled by an overfamiliar relationship with the passive voice (lots of things "could be seen"), verbs (no one ever god damn says anything; they discourse, spiel, spin, regale, blah blah blah), and prepositions (why say "on" when you can add a syllable to get "upon"? why use the mundane "because" when you can replace it with "for" and sound like a Victorian lady novelist?). You know in the beginning of the movie "Labyrinth," when Jennifer Connelly is reading out loud from that book about the Goblin King? It sounds like that.
I didn't just find Patti Smith kind of strange and off-putting in the way she explains that other people who were not as cool as she may have. I found her (or her portrayal of herself, which is not the same thing) actively frustrating. I'm not sure if she intended, as a writer, for her and Mapplethorpe's pursuit of fame to sound so damn groupie-ish. Lots of tracking down someone who is famous and following him around.
I didn't just find the writing clunky, I found it odd, troubled by an overfamiliar relationship with the passive voice (lots of things "could be seen"), verbs (no one ever god damn says anything; they discourse, spiel, spin, regale, blah blah blah), and prepositions (why say "on" when you can add a syllable to get "upon"? why use the mundane "because" when you can replace it with "for" and sound like a Victorian lady novelist?). You know in the beginning of the movie "Labyrinth," when Jennifer Connelly is reading out loud from that book about the Goblin King? It sounds like that.
I didn't just find Patti Smith kind of strange and off-putting in the way she explains that other people who were not as cool as she may have. I found her (or her portrayal of herself, which is not the same thing) actively frustrating. I'm not sure if she intended, as a writer, for her and Mapplethorpe's pursuit of fame to sound so damn groupie-ish. Lots of tracking down someone who is famous and following him around.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
May 11, 2012
– Shelved
May 11, 2012
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Finished Reading
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message 1:
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Suzanne
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May 14, 2012 02:02PM
You made me have to laugh out loud. For you are a luxuriating hoot.
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I had a lot of trouble with the text as well - for someone who's a poet, I found Patti Smith's language uneven. And I totally noticed the "discoursing" - ha!
I found the extremely detailed descriptions of the materials used in their "art" to be pretentious and boring. Also my toes hurt from all the name dropping.
Nice review Emily. Like you, I was taken aback by the shameless networking and social-climbing.
Still, this remains one of my favorite reviews ever.
This is fantastic! While I didn't luxuriate in my hatred during the reading itself (I was too surprised and irritated), Just Kids remains one of my favorite books to complain about, even long after finishing it...
Haha, yes! What I remember most from this book was her love of saying "hadn't" in place of "didn't have" -- i.e. "we hadn't much much money, but we were happy," etc. Yes, it seemed like "Victorian lady novelist" was the tone she was going for.
The Jennifer Connelly analogy...gold.
I noticed all of the same things (especially the overly formal/"scholarly" diction) but despite it, saw the raw humanity and beauty made up for it. Appreciate the perspective and founded criticism as something that bugged me too thoughout the book. But, I also felt like it was an honest recount, and her language choices were a product of where she's coming from (generational and educationally) rather than a phony affectation. In any case, I never found myself dismissing her or her story altogether because of the sometimes difficult-to-relate-to style.
I luxuriate in my astonishment at your self-aggrandizing inanity. You should try writing a book sometime, so that armchair critics could cherish their hatred of your narcissism. ;)
Alissa wrote: "I luxuriate in my astonishment at your self-aggrandizing inanity. You should try writing a book sometime, so that armchair critics could cherish their hatred of your narcissism. ;)"Well that's just silly, Alissa. We all need to think that every book that exists is good just because someone wrote it?
Emily, what made you want to read this book in the first place? Your hatred is puzzling me...
I agree, some of the writing was a bit redundant.
So you don't like pretentious artists, and yet you picked up a book from the Pretentious Art section of your local bookstore, written by Patti "Unapologetically Pretentious since 1946" Smith, entitled "My Unapologetically Pretentious Life and I Don't Care If You Don't Like It," with a disclaimer saying, "Warning! Only for fans of extreme pretentiousness!" and expected what, exactly? Life's too short to read books you hate.
