Will I love Just Kids?

Patti Smith’s book beautifully chronicles her intense and formative friendship with the groundbreaking artist Robert Mapplethorpe as they navigated the vibrant and often gritty art scene of late 1960s and 1970s New York City.

Theirs wasn’t a fairytale romance, but a complex, evolving bond between two flawed yet undeniably brilliant creatives. Reading about their struggles, their artistic pursuits within the legendary Chelsea Hotel, and the wider New York City scene evoked a strong sense of nostalgia for me, a time and place I've always found artistically inspiring.

The exploration of their creative partnership, the push and pull between them as… show more.

The book is a personal story by poet, singer, and songwriter Patti Smith about her deep and long relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Not only are both of their lives fascinating to me, but I am deeply in love with their bodies of work. The relationship is similar to some of the musician-photographer relationships I have had, where the mutual creative thinking is inspiring.

I got lost in the detailed universe of young people growing by a bread-crumb trail, one small creative act at a time, into the famous artists they are known as today. Whether it’s hopping on a bus to New York City, setting up a studio practice in a shabby apartment, to honing a voice in particular media, be it photography or music, this chronicles idiosyncratic choices, creative exploration, and the coalescing of kindred communities.

In a unique time and place, a certain status quo was traded for a microcosm that allowed kids who trusted each other and their own curiosities… show more.

I fell in love with Patti in 1978. As a radio DJ and station music director, I broadcast "Because the Night" and "Space Monkey." I put her album "Easter" on the WARC FM playlist. I dropped the needle and danced about our dilapidated second floor summer apartment. Ah, spiritual NY punk, a reason for hope.

Smith promised artist Robert Mapplethorpe on his deathbed that she would write a memoir about them. At once honest, gritty, and spiritual—like both her and Robert's art—Just Kids is a must read if you have faith that your soul has no… show more.

I loved this book because Patti Smith paints a true portrait of a young woman burning with passion to become a poet and artist. The book shows the struggles of committing to a life with no assurances in a city teeming with aspiring artists and writers.

What I love the most is showing the years it took, the alliances she made, the risks she took, the hunger she felt, and the desperate circumstances she faced and overcame. When her lucky break came, I was rooting for her! She had paid her dues, and she rose to the occasion when a… show more.

Patti Smith writes like a poet who accidentally wandered into a rock concert and decided to stay. Her memoir is both a nostalgic love letter to a gritty, pre-gentrified New York City and a tender tribute to her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe.

What’s captivating is the way she captures the magic of artistic struggle—when life is simultaneously poverty-stricken and creatively rich. It's a reminder that the road to self-discovery is paved with both heartbreak and small, everyday miracles, all written with Smith’s signature blend of grit and grace.

I love this poetic elegy that Patti has written for her dear friend, lover, and comrade—artist and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. It takes place in an exciting time and place—1969/1970s New York City. The city is just like I remember it; scum on the streets, hookers, pimps, rampant crime, triple-X movie theatres. But there is nowhere else these two innocent bohemians would rather be. 

I have the updated paperback edition, which includes a magical story about a young writer who read the book. Her mother had acquired Mapplethorpe’s old writing desk at auction. I return to this book often when I… show more.

I love Patti Smith’s writing. It’s honest and beautiful. I love how she brings the beauty of her songwriting, the attention to language and sound, to her prose writing. And never to the diminishment of the story; in fact, most people might not even notice it, which is even more artful.

The beauty of Smith’s language simply makes the dream of the story more vivid. You enter a world reading this book. Or better yet, you time-travel and soul-jump into Patti Smith’s life with Robert Maplethorpe. But beyond the beauty of the writing is the humanity, the compassion and intelligence… show more.

I consumed this book like a favorite meal after a fast. Patti Smith writes about the creative and destructive demimonde of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City from an insider’s perspective and with a unique poetic flair. This autographical account of the art and music (and drug) scene surrounding the iconic Chelsea Hotel is both keenly insightful and achingly personal.

Peppered with unavoidable historical depth about gender and sexuality, Just Kids reveals the glory and misery of creative pursuit in a changing urban context. Smith brings the same lyrical passion to the book that she’s bestowed upon her… show more.

I loved this book because it vividly illustrates how place can shape great art. I was familiar with the work of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe before reading this beautifully-written memoir, but I was unaware of how their deeply-intertwined lives—including their loft homes—influenced their photography, poetry, and music.

My favorite parts are Smith’s descriptions of renovating their shared loft across from the famous Chelsea Hotel and, later, of their work to make Mapplethorpe’s Lower Manhattan loft space habitable. These sections capture how artists found beauty in New York’s neglected industrial buildings, demonstrating how the process of renovating a home and… show more.