"Her best days as a punk rock priestess may be behind her, but even at age 70, Patti Smith is still a working-class hero asking questions about life, love, and dreams.... She delivers wry observations of contemporary life, hers and the nation's. Her observations, imagery, and iconic non-rhyming poetry can best be appreciated when delivered by the artist herself. The memoir is a little bit of a lot of things, all tied up in a stream-of-consciousness trip across the country and across her own life as she enters her septuagenarian years." (AudioFile Magazine)

"Smith began writing Year of the Monkey on New Year’s Day 2016, a transformative year for the artist that brought aging, the loss of friends, and overall disillusionment. Juxtaposed with this personal narrative are Smith's descriptions of western landscapes she visited.... Fact and fiction increasingly blur, a combination made surreal by Smith's obsession with details that keep popping up in various locations.... A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith’s signature poetic flair." (Christian Allaire, Vogue)

"In this slim, hallucinatory volume, Smith roves the country in real time, visiting favorite haunts, hitching rides with strangers, contemplating the fuzzy border between waking and dreaming, and mourning the results of the 2016 presidential election. But just as a sense of gloom begins to settle, the sun peeks through the clouds. For while 'there is nothing in heaven like the suffering of real life...,' she writes, 'I still keep thinking something wonderful is about to happen.'" (The Oprah Magazine)

"Smith’s grace and erudite philosophy is a welcome balm in these times.... Her latest memoir is an introspective look at her year of solo wandering - she documents that year’s massive political and social change her own lyrical way. The American canon is littered with 'road trip memoirs,' but if there’s a voice we’d want to add to that genre, it would be Smith." (Town & Country)