"Just Kids," is a memoir from one of our favorite rocker chicks, Patti Smith, who is really a sensitive, poetic, old hippie of a soul. It chronicles her early life, her intimate relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, and her evolution as an artist in New York City during the late 60's and into the 70's. What struck me most about this book was Patti's intensely human and humble voice-- I related to her spirit so much and felt like I was talking to an old friend the whole time I was reading the book. Patti captured New York as it moved from the 60's to the 70's, and the amazing thing is that I could visualize and hear it all in the way she writes about it, full of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and humanity. She writes about living on the streets, living in the Chelsea Hotel, her encounters with Janis Joplin, and the Andy Warhol scene. The most beautiful element of this story is her life with Mapplethorpe, and how they grew up together, supporting each other as artists. Truly, I think this is the best friendship I've ever read on the written page, and it brought me to tears at the end. I feel like I know Patti and Robert now, and I even see New York in a different way after reading this book.
