Just Kids
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Narrated by:
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Patti Smith
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Written by:
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Patti Smith
About this listen
National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2010
It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.
Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to 42nd Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous - the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years.
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late 60s and 70s and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.
©2010 Patti Smith (P)2011 Patti SmithYou may also enjoy...
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What the critics say
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What listeners say about Just Kids
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jason fischer
- 2020-05-12
Thanks
Thank you so much for sharing yours and Robert's lives with us. I was a huge Mapplethorpe fan and now I'm an equal Patti Smith fan.
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- Kim Grahame
- 2020-01-28
Great book!
I am a big Patti Smith fan to start with but to hear her narrate her time in the 70's and her life with Robert Maplethorpe was so intriguing and interesting to hear. I want to listen to it again so I get any details I may have missed!
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- Carly M
- 2019-07-30
Beautiful
Absolutely beautiful & melancholy & poetic & heart breaking. I was raised on rock and roll and art and the beat gen authors. To hear her relationship and interaction to this world paints such a vivid and intimate picture.
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- Kimberley McDonald
- 2018-09-13
Love Patty
Love that Patty is the narrator! The NY city history alone is fascinating. Can’t wait to get into her other books #Audible1
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- thisismeg
- 2021-07-21
Best Bedtime/Daytime/Lifetime Book Ever
Just Kids swept me away, made me feel like I was sitting around the fire listening to an unimaginable yarn, filled with all the things that make life really meaningful. A beautiful story of friendship.
I was not a fan and had no more than a working knowledge of Horses. I am a now a convert, forever admirer and appreciator of all art by Robert and Patti. One of the best books of all time-a truly delicious dish. Thank you Patti!
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- Lyndsey
- 2020-08-15
Privileged to have a glance
As someone who has also been blessed by an extraordinary friend they would go on to lose, I knew I would enjoy this read. Smith is an incredible writer and I feel lucky to have listened to her tell this story.
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- Jeremy Regier
- 2023-02-04
A Beautiful, creative experience
hearing her read her story and her poems and one of her early songs was breathtaking :)
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- Ms.Bliss
- 2024-01-24
Absolutely fantastic
I adore Patti Smith so reading this awesome story about an important part of her life was a treat, interesting and sad all at once. She is a very talented writer and I loved her narration of it. Thanks for everything Patti!
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- Rachael Thorleifson
- 2020-05-07
A beautiful and entrancing story
I loved listening to this story. Hearing Patti Smith herself tell it was so moving. The story is incredibly touching and captures a time in history while telling a timeless story.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-10-10
A love story
An engrossing love story of two beautiful friends who inhabited and changed the world of art and music at a prolific and crazy time.
Patti with her Jersey dialect pulls you effortlessly into her and Robert’s story, peppered with poets, artists, and musicians of a magical time.
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