Year of the Monkey - Patti Smith

 

Yeah, it's a continuance of my Patti Smith kick with another book that I found at a good price. In this one, Patti has just finished a run of concerts in San Francisco culminating on New Year's Eve 2015/2016 and ends up at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz to ruminate'n'reflect. Sandy Pearlman, who she's known since the early Blue Oyster Cult days, was supposed to be there to show her around, but he ended up in the hospital and would die a few months later. Her prose is lyrical and poetic, as is her wont, and a bit hallucinationary, as is also her wont, never quite knowing what part of the tale is "real" and what is dreamt. The Dream Inn predominates the story, regardless of where she ends up.

Her photos - she is quite good - accompany the text and give more visual representation to her ramblings. She moves around the country, sometimes simply on a whim, sometimes visiting friends and fellow writers, sometimes performing concerts or giving talks. Her lifestyle certainly elicits jealousy from those of us who have to earn our living stuck inside of a set of four walls. 

The tale moves around friends, acquaintances, strangers, traveling, life, death - especially death, which has touched her quite a bit - and even the horrifying election of 2016 and its consequences, as we move through the Year of the Monkey to the Year of the Rooster. Nothing is resolved, as things in life often are not, but the story comes to an end, reflecting on the beginning.

I've been a fan of Smith's since the 70's (she is in her 70's now, ironically) and I have enjoyed most of her work, some better than others, of course, but this is another good one. Certainly recommended for her fans and even newcomers would probably dig this one.