2022: It's a miracle that Patti Smith has survived as long as she did.

Okay, so this is a personal pet peeve of mine - I really don't enjoy stories about people who just "showed up" and magically, they became successful. This is not to say that I don't think Smith was a talented painter, poet, or singer. But the entire first half of this book is essentially "look at how insane it was that we didn't die!" and that just turned me off. The fact that Smith "made it" is purely dumb luck (according to the stories in this memoir).

This book is a wonderful discussion of a friendship, and the love that Patti and Robert had for each other is palpable on every page. At the same time, they were so naive! How did they make it, just by casually running into other famous people in the right place at the right time!? Another review called this book "an acquired taste" and I have to wholeheartedly agree.

Another big thing that irked me about this book was Smith's reluctance to explain who ANYONE was. And maybe to anyone who was alive in the 1970's, explanations would have been unnecessary. But I really feel like I only recognized Bruce Springsteen's & Andy Warhol's names, and I had to google SO MANY other people. It felt like Smith was just name-dropping along the way, and I was never really sure whether someone was a veritable influence, or just a passing glance along the way.

Maybe the big takeaway here is that the rock and roll lifestyle is just not for me. I knew that, and this book confirmed that.