From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
I really thought I was going to like this more than I did. I can't quite explain what it is about her prose that so awful, but I find Smith's writing self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing. It's profoundly irritating to hear an artist talk about her work as if it were some kind of magical gift. Smith was very hard-working and also very lucky; sometimes she acknowledges her luck, but too often she insists on her specialness; it's a perspective that I find disingenuous. She met many famous people an
...more
Beautiful, heartbreaking and inspiring. Patti Smith's poetic remembrance of a friendship that spanned 20 years is an elegy not just for Robert Mapplethorpe, but for a movement. I'm glad my room mates were gone when I finished this because I was crying. A lot.
...more
A good book will often lead you to discover new things, and awaken your curiosity. This one certainly did. While I don't care for most of Patti Smith's music or Mapplethorpe's S&M photography, I found their relationship as artists fascinating. I can't believe the zeal that kept them alive through many years of poverty. I am so glad that I never have lived such gritty lives as they but am stimulated by Smith's writing and devotion to Mapplethorpe.
...more
I enjoyed this book. At first, I was worried that I didn't appreciate Patti Smith's tone and language--it was very flowery. Then, I got into the story and took it for what it was-a hippy/poet's story of her love for a photographer in the 60s and 70s. Hearing about the people she came into contact with and how they lived their lives was part of the charm of this book. Occasionally I guffawed at her word choice and life choices (I thought she was too precious and too 'artsy' at times) but once I a
...more
Just beautiful. Yes, I cried, too.
This is not a memoir. This is a love letter: to Robert Maplethorpe, to the bohemian New York of the 1970's, but above all to art. Patti is completely unselfconscious and deeply personal, and it makes the story that much more engaging and compelling. She and Robert remain true to themselves and nothing more than they are, all the way through to the end. That on its own is admirable, and when combined with what they accomplished is truly amazing.
...more
I am stingy with that 5th star but this book took me apart. I loved the relationship and it made me question my own passion for, well, just about anything. Would I have had the guts to live like this and the faith that I had something to say, or add?
Look at me, crying on the subway.
Aug 17, 2011
James Vickers
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
loveisabook,
queer
Nov 14, 2011
Sophie
marked it as to-read
Dec 15, 2012
Shannon
marked it as to-read
Feb 08, 2013
Evelyn Pryce
marked it as to-read
Oct 03, 2015
Anna West
marked it as to-read
