num_pages: 171
description: 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 Years concerts at San Franciscos 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 signsincluding 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 strangers words Anything is possible: after all its the Year of the Monkey. For Smithinveterately curious always exploring tracking thoughts writingthe year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in lifes 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 Smiths signature Polaroids Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work a touchstone for our turbulent times.
language: English
title: Year of the Monkey
publisher: Knopf