My Amazon review of Just Kids (Rated 5): Exhilarating and Heartbreaking – Patti Smith’s dual portrait of the twining and twinning between herself and Robert Maplethorpe is at once exhilarating and heartbreaking. Exhilarating because of its energetic insights into how creative ideas take material form; heartbreaking because one laments the talented artists who remain unsung and, in this story, those whose songs the AIDS epidemic silenced too soon. Smith has written a treatise on art and love, how soul mates spur each other’s creativity and caring. She paints a detailed portrait of an era, late 1960s and 1970s NYC, years of grunge and glitter, and the germination of hybrid art forms. Readers will emerge with an understanding of the importance of belief in oneself and in those we love to develop and share their talent, and to achieve the recognition we and they are worthy of. So shed a tear for Robert’s death, then pick up a brush, pen, or microphone like Patti.
