Book review: ‘Just Kids’ by Patti Smith

Just Kids

I first read Just Kids, having heard Patti Smith read extracts from it at a superb concern in St Albans in 2013.

The book is her memoir of her early days as a struggling artist, and her relationship with fellow artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Some big names have walk-on parts, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Allen Ginsberg (who mistakes Smith for a boy).

Patti Smith is a marvellous writer. Just Kids wonderfully conveys the New York arts scene in the late Sixties and early Seventies. The Illustrated Edition also contains some great images.

Highly recommended.

Note: I will receive a small referral fee if you buy this book via one of the above links.

Richard Carter

A fat, bearded chap with a Charles Darwin fixation.

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