The sign became very quiet. the palms ceased to bend, and a sweet silence enveloped the hill.
Patti Smith, Year of the Monkey, p. 23
When I was reading this, every now and then I’d stop to take a photo of a passage like this one and post it to my Instagram stories. At one stage, my Dad sent me a private message: “Cheer up”.
It’s hard to describe what this book is about so I’m going to borrow some inspiration from the book’s blurb and Goodreads: ‘Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs–including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. For Smith–inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing–the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America’.
Just Kids by Patti Smith is one of my favourite memoirs of all time so in my eyes she can really do no wrong. And I really liked this book. It’s strange and confusing and half the time I wasn’t sure if what I was reading was real or a dream. The text is interspersed by photos, poetry and even sketches but Smith takes you on a journey, and you’re happy to just go along for the ride.
The part that has stayed with me the most is where she writes about death and grief when spending time with a friend who is dying. Her words are so beautifully stitched together that you almost whisper the lines on the page, “Everybody dies […] But I’m alright with it. I’ve lived my life the way I wanted“.
This book won’t be for everyone but I think everyone should try it. And if it’s not for you, then please go find Just Kids. I guarantee you’ll love it.
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