It’s a muggy, summer day in New York City. The year is 1969. The girl puts on her slouchy black t-shirt. Her chest adorned with her shell necklace Robert Mapplethrope made her. She heads across the hall to find Robert. They get their photo taken by Norman Seef. The girl is Patti Smith.

The artist. The poet. The rock and roll superstar. Patti Smith has done it all. She is the embodiment of artistic expression. Raw. Uncommercialised. She captions her Instagram photos in prose. She sings poetry. 

In 2010, she wrote her first memoir, fulfilling a promise made almost thirty years before. It is devoted to her artist. The man she was a muse to for twenty years. Her soulmate. Her person. Although her relationship to Robert Mapplethrope was an ever-changing one, it was always there. The two made a promise to always be there. Robert being “the little blue star” to guide Patti home. They were each other’s true North. They forever found solace within one another.

Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids is a riveting, detailed account of the pair’s relationship. It follows them from living in their friend’s lice-infested attic to Patti’s stardom, recording in the Electric Lady, and to Robert’s success within the art world, black tie dinner parties and exotic art collections. It ends with the promise of the memoir. And Robert’s death.

Patti Smith is an extraordinary writer. She tells stories in a way that incorporates you into her life. You share her visions. You share her dreams. You share her hopes and fears. As the book details her and Robert’s rise to stardom you feel as if you are a part of every step, even when it gets a little confusing. There are quite a few niche moments throughout the book, but the overarching whole more than makes up for it. 

Smith eloquently covers her relationship. Artist and muse. Muse and artist. They each are supported by one another throughout all the trials and tribulations that come with the profession of starving artist. Patti was Robert’s muse. She was his second most photographed subject, only after himself. He took the debut photo of her first produced album, Horses. The connection between the two can be shown throughout this entire book. From the photos scattered throughout the pages and, even in their worst times, from the endearing way Patti speaks of Robert.

This book not only follows the two’s relationship, it follows Patti’s journey into the musical world. It details her brief meeting with Jimi Hendrix just before his death and the creation of her band. It details her meeting and collaboration with Lenny Kaye, who would become her longtime musical companion, and the creation of the rest of her band. Her nineteen year old pianist, Richard Sohl. Her perfect drummer, Jay Dee Daugherty. And her Cheklozlovakian guitarist, Ivan Kral.

The book concludes with Patti calling Robert as he is bedridden with AIDS. She comforts him as he tries to comfort her. They are together, just as the beginning. He will forever be her little blue star, even when he is gone. The next morning, Patti is informed by Robert’s brother that her soulmate has died. It was the end of an era. 1988.

This promise of a last book was everything Patti believes Robert would have wanted. It detailed their adventures to Coney Island freak shows and their times at the Chelsea Hotel, surrounded by the most famous literary contributors of the 20th Century. This book was a look into the past. It was a thorough dive into the complexity of human relationships. It was a beautiful book that everybody should read. It allows one to view how relationships can change but will always be there. It is a prime example of the journey through life and how the people you meet can alter it dramatically.