The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 12 January 2016
by Patti Smith
There's something oddly magical, if you pay attention, in everyday life, something best captured by a poet. It's even better when you're joined by a literary adventurer, aware of grief, loss, beauty and possibility. Patti Smith's memoir is full of everyday occurrences, cups of coffee at her favorite cafe 'Ino, writing, catching up with her favorite television police procedurals (she did make a guest appearance on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and at one point, takes advantage of an airline delay to spend an entire day in a hotel room catching up on British mystery shows), and simply remembering the significant people and events of her life while also dreaming of new possibilities. Both Smith's husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, and brother, Todd, died within a few weeks of each other, both of them too young, an excruciating duet of loss that she revisits in this book. She now reflects on trips she made with her husband, like a literary journey to South America, to retrieve gravel from a prison with the intent of bringing it to Jean Genet, a task she can complete only decades later. There is an odd secret society to which she is invited, centered on the life of a tragic explorer of Greenland. At one of their meetings, she gets the opportunity to meet chess recluse Bobby Fischer. This is the kind of odd opportunity that seems to come regularly to her.
The book is moody and meditative, immersed in the thick fluid of time. There is solitude, tinged with - but not overwhelmed by - loneliness. Smith (who received the 2010 National Book Award for Just Kids) portays episodes of deep connection with the simple tasks of daily life. A friend opens a coffee shop in Rockaway and she falls in love with the boardwalk there, going so far as to buy a small cottage near the beach. Then, along comes superstorm Sandy to remind her of what happens to the best laid plans of poets and theives. And, in fits of literary romanticism, Smith visits literary gravesites from Japan to North Africa to England. It sounds like a bit of a mish-mash of events and places, but the book is beautifully and poetically woven. One may find oneself transported to her moody reflection on the world and her life. The small moments, the little everyday things to which we can all relate, these are the things that enliven the book, make it accessible, that make the reader feel he or she is being taken along on the journey. Highly recommended.
Also by Patti Smith: [Just Kids]