lou's library

You know how everyone and their mother loves Just Kids by Patti Smith? When I read it a few years ago, I didn’t get the hype. I feel like I have to whisper this because I was raised by a man who adores Patti Smith and I can feel his disappointment from miles away. So, when my Dad gifted me Bread of Angels for Christmas, I both wanted to like it and really wasn’t sure I was going to.

The book basically is the closest thing Patti Smith has released to a comprehensive autobiography (in contrast: Just Kids focused on a very specific time in her life in New York with Robert Mapplethorpe). And I think it was this more coherent approach that really worked wonders for me, because I really enjoyed Bread of Angels (pretty sure my Dad jumped in the air with joy when I told him). I felt myself completely drawn to her descriptions of her upbringing and how she crafted an artist’s life for herself from scratch.

The book focuses more heavily on her childhood and twenties than on the later decades of her life. I found this both good and frustrating, because I found her depictions of family life fascinating, but I thought she could have fleshed out her later years a bit more. There really are quite big time jumps to the point where it sometimes felt hard to keep track.

That being said, I really am not the right person to assess how much of what she writes is new information and what was already known. She only briefly brushes her NYC time because she dedicated an entire book on it with Just Kids, but other than that, I didn’t know a lot about her life, so it was basically all news to me.

However, I don’t think this book is only worth reading if you’re not an expert on Patti Smith. Her writing is so lyrical, open and honest that it’s an absolute joy to read. Plus, Patti Smith has led such a moving and unusual life that it is absolutely worth reading about it in her own voice. I found her refreshingly strange and tender and I totally understand why my Dad (and many, many other people his age) thinks she’s the greatest. You don’t need to know her music or everything about her cultural impact to be able to grasp this.

I think anyone who adores beautiful writing, enjoys reading about someone else’s life with an unusual perspective on life or is interested in 70’s culture would love Bread of Angels. It’s an unusual memoir by an artist who carved out her own way and had to experience a lot of grief and loss and yet never lost her passion for life. There’s a lot of wisdom in these pages and I’m grateful Patti Smith gave us this treasure.