Just Kids

I didn't know much about either Patti Smith or Robert Maplethorpe except the sort of murky rumors that always surround celebrity, and most of that tawdry. I did know, first hand, the sixties, and that time has always captivated me. As much as I try to stay away from celebrity bios, I just kept hearing praise and more praise for this book, and I finally succumbed and read it.

I'm happy to say that Patti Smith is a good writer, and I'm happy to tell you that this is a story filled with all the details of the sixties that will take you right back to that place and time. It's not a particularly cheery story; Patti and Robert subsisted on little for a long time and many of the tawdry rumors were genuine. But their story offers hope to all the wanna-be artists in the world. Neither Patti nor Robert had much in the way of a formal education in art. Instead, they were immersed in art and artists, and that finally helped them become the groundbreakers they eventually became.