Patti Smith had a life like no other. Troubled childhood as a kid dealing with disease and a not so stable household shaped her up to be strong and independent. She has no apparent vocation, but she liked to write poetry. Deciding to pursue her dream of being a poet, she decides to go to New York City, the city that never sleeps. Her adventure had no planning ahead and she had no place to stay, nor did she have money. She was homeless for quite some time, sleeping in different parks, public bathrooms, and sometimes fellow artists that offered her to stay at their apartments. Smith could not hold a job for longer than a week, and being a waitress was not even an option for her. She was a reading fanatic, so she started working at a couple bookstores to make some money to at least buy food and some art supplies. It was then when she met a shy, talented hippie named Robert Mapplethrope. He was a painter and had the clear goal on his mind to become like Andy Warhol, his idol. Together, Patti and Robert decided to move in and pursue their respective artistic dreams. Robert was a frequent drug user, smoking marihuana on the daily and using LSD (or acid) to create his art pieces. Along their troublesome lives that consisted on barely having anything to eat and struggling to reach their breakthrough point, Robert had serious problems questioning his sexuality. Leaving Smith and the Big Apple behind, he travels to San Francisco to find inspiration for his art and perhaps the answer to his questionable sexuality. Some time after her comes back with even more questions and gonorrhea from being sexually active with other men. From then, their relationship had ups and downs, (from this point on there will be spoilers) and their artistic careers finally start to blossom. Robert starts finding his passion and point of expertise, nudity, and Patti begins to reach out to more people with her poetry, to the point of becoming the lead singer for her own band. Their lives would change completely, finally becoming successful, meeting celebrities like Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan just to name a few. They finally became wealthy and Robert finally had everything he could possibly want except health. The last chapter of the book is dedicated to honor Robert's death. He was diagnosed with AIDS and died a few months after. At this point Patti and Robert were not together, but they were very close friends.
Overall I think this memoir is incredibly well written with a lot of detail and passion. I am amazed as to how detailed Pattie's memories are of what happened all throughout her life. There are points though, where her plethora of detail becomes slightly obnoxious and almost unnecessary. I did not think that I would like this book, but once I got into it, Smith's crazy life adventures and the crazy places she went and all the people she met, it was hard for me to stop. I read this book in the span of three days in about 8 hours, so it was a pretty fast read for me. It would be helpful to have some background knowledge of what was going on at the time the book was written and if you like the art, music and culture involved with it too. I would most definitely recommended to anyone trying to read a great memoir.
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