Patti Smith

"A memoir about the year 2016 in which dreams and reality are interwoven"--Provided by publisher.

Year of the Monkey

Floating between dream and reality, a memoir of a journey facing grief and nostalgia. Was a perfect read for ferry commutes and after naps. Made me wonder a lot about how dreams talk to us, how we have it in ourselves to imagine and dream when we're awake as well, how waking up reminds us of the grief we carry yet we still carry hope alongside as well. Mesmerized by Patti Smith's writing.

deniz

Jasmine Ghartey

" 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬-𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙞𝙣, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝘽𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙝𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙤𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮." 

year of the monkey is a rumination about loss, which is very prevalent in patti's writing, but also about the symbolism behind the actual “year of the monkey” in relation to the 2016 presidential elections. 

I've said this before but I am once again saying that I will read anything patti writes. most of the was honestly talking about nothing in particular. just coffee shops, meeting strangers, and her very intricate way of describing nature and life happenings around her. then you get into her dealing with her late husbands illness worsening, losing one of her old friends, and the shift that most people felt after the 2016 elections. 

I finished this one in a day and I still can't get over how patti smith has me reading nothing specific yet still being so focused and entranced with whatever she's writing about. 

i'm collecting her work like infinity stones at this point, I think m train is next.

Sammi Bray

Mia Caven

Ugh. Another beautiful bloody book. When I ranked these before I gave it like 4 stars, m train 4.5 and obviously just kids was 5. But reflecting more… they’re all 4.5 because just kids is like 10000/5 stars. They’re all so beautiful. The year of monkey was heart felt. Modern. Poetic still. A sign of the times. A masterpiece. Patti smith is our greatest poet and writer this planet has ever met. I will never say those words about anyone else ever again. She is a wonder.

Caitlin Bohannon

At times this books feels more like a magical realist dream we are walking through with Smith, but it is all grounded into the very real events of 2016 - both for herself and for all of us. It was a year of profound loss, particularly the loss of hope in so many ways, but she finds connections in those who are experiencing these things along with her, though throughout the book are many long moments of solitude.

This memoir is occasionally a little all over the place in the way that all diaries are when they are written while we're still in those moments and without having many years with which to crush the truth into a neater package, and it doesn't quite live up to her other memoirs in a lot of ways, but I feel that every reader can relate to the feelings of grief and being unmoored by loss that are chronicled here. 

This book was won as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

Lauren Wightman

Strong in the beginning but seemed to lose the thread as it continued.

Katie Chua

a dreamy book, in the sense of the word that everything seems to be a dream. made me want to walk around with only a dead phone, cash, a pen and notebook, and a film camera

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year. Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey." For Smith--inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing--the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

Fraser Simons

So, I don’t know anything about Smith. I really liked the voice and diction chosen, imbuing the recounting of her year with a phantasmagorical quality. Some of it is substantively compelling, other times it gets by on the lyrical musicality and imagery. Paired with Polaroids in the folds, I found it a quick and worthwhile read, but I can’t say it ever exceeded the expectations established from the outset. Consistency is nothing to sneeze at, though.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids Selected as Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph, i paper, Metro and Harper's Bazaar 'Magical' GUARDIAN 'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith's signature poetic flair' VOGUE 'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times 'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith's third memoir' BBC 'Her willingness to look closely at life's closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POST, 'The 10 books to read in September' Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, “Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey.” For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

The New York Times bestseller

Kooky

Entranced by every word of this book. I found myself often stumbling upon the realization that Patti had somewhere, in the previous few words, drifted off into a dream. The entanglement of fiction and reality was so well executed that you can read multiple lines before realizing the planes had shifted. Beautiful book by a gifted soul. 

S.F.Moreira

Patti has her way with words, she plays with them and gives us the pleasure, or not, of accompanying her journey during the Year of the Monkey (2016/2017). She made us feel little we were always on the verge of both dreaming and living, how can one know when is doing either of them?

In the middle of the book, Patti talks about the time she was in Lisbon. Very briefly she examines Pessoa's favorite books, and how they are more of a reflection of his true self than any writing that he may have done.

She shows perfectly how this year in her life, becomes an year of reckoning with all the changes that life presents: with loss, aging, unexpected traveling and even the shift in US politics. I loved that she includes Polaroid pictures of every critical moment, and yet some of those would seem completely random to an outsider.


Cédric Yorke

Susan Forsythe

smilla

Jasmine 

ame 

Zeynep Yağmur Bulut

Cedric Yorke

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids Selected as Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph, i paper, Metro and Harper's Bazaar'Magical' GUARDIAN 'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith's signature poetic flair' VOGUE 'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith's third memoir' BBC 'Her willingness to look closely at life's closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POST, 'The 10 books to read in September'Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey." For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

Year of the Monkey

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