Year of the Monkey
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 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.
Review
A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith's signature poetic flair ― Vogue
A moving account of the emotional stumbles, physical and intellectual wanderings and deep losses Smith experienced in her 70th year ― Independent
Some rock stars shut themselves away from life, but Smith's engagement with the world only deepens, as this dreamy memoir shows ― Daily Telegraph
Extraordinary . A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream . It's a drifter's book, in time, space and the imagination ― Sunday Times
A picaresque voyage through her dreams and life as she faced 70, dealing with flashes of "sorrow's vertigo" as she remembers all the loves and rock contemporaries who are gone, with a kaleidoscope of references from "Mr. Robot" to Marcus Aurelius to Martin Beck mysteries to Maria Callas's Medea -- Maureen Dowd ― International New York Times
A profoundly beautiful book, poetic in its prose and metaphysical in its meaning, it's quite a stunning read ― Financial Times
The narrating voice is the voice of Smith's music, twisting between the incantations of a priestess and laconic poetry . There is plenty of wonderful in this small, sly, mystic book ― Spectator
A beatnik Alice in Wonderland, measured out in black coffee and Polaroids, it's full of quiet puzzles, small epiphanies, more little clues how to live ― Q Magazine
Arresting . Diverting and often unexpected, fresh and diverting ― Literary Review
A profoundly lyrical, digressive mapping of her fame-and-family decades . This third memoir finds Smith unhomed, at times almost unhinged, as she does her utmost to ward off those Beaten Generation blues ― Mojo
Elegiac . A strikingly intimate portrait of a woman growing older and missing those who are no longer with us but remaining wide awake to the world and hopeful for its future ― Sunday Express
A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith's third memoir ― BBC
Poet and performer Smith's latest memoir zooms in tight ... Her willingness to look closely at life's closing chapters makes for a magical book ― Washington Post, 'The 10 books to read in September'
Lovely ... a slim volume [with a] minor-key melancholy ― Entertainment Weekly
Patti Smith's brilliant new memoir about love, loss and growing older . I'm already captivated by her poetic prose ― Daily Mirror
Smith's grace and erudite philosophy is a welcome balm in these times ― Town & Country
Smith's reflections on a wrenching yet grace-filled year are elegiac, vital, and magical. . Smith's large, loyal following will seek out this spellbinding memoir, just as they embraced Just Kids (2010) and M Train (2015) ― Booklist
Luminous ... Smith casts a mesmerizing spell with exquisite prose ― Publishers Weekly
This is the modern-day Patti Smith: older, wiser, seeing the world, and reporting it all back to us in only the way she can. You can't read this and not feel inspired after you put it down ― Inside Hook
An incantatory, ambulatory travelogue ― New Statesman
Captivating ... Redemptive ― Kirkus
She weaves the threads of her thoughts and past relationships together, creating a dreamy memoir on the passage of time and our changing world ― Wanderlust
One of the great diarists of her, or any other time, with an exquisite voice which manages to somehow transform even the most ordinary event into something otherworldly . An enchanting hitchhike through 2016 . Every occurrence sears into the reader's psyche in vivid detail . Time spent in the company of Patti is always a pleasure ― Classic Pop
A rock-star prophetess . Meditative, messy, poignant, deeply personal, allusive, occasionally bombastic and, crucially, still defiant, Year of the Monkey is a mercurial fusion of the mundane and visionary that only an unconquerable spirit like Patti Smith could write ― Herald
About the Author
Podrobnosti
| Autor |
Patti Smith |
|---|---|
| Vydavatel |
Bloomsbury |
| Jazyk | anglicky |
| Vazba | měkká |
| Počet stran | 224 |
| Formát | 13,3 × 19,8 cm |
| EAN | 9781526614766 |
| Rok vydání | 2020 |
| Edice |
Biografie, memoáry, osobnosti Hudba |
Autor
Patti Smith
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