Patti Smith has the distinction of being the only poet I can stand! And look at what she did with Bruce Springsteen's Because the Night...in this sparse, lyrical, loving and moving memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe she manages to honour both Mapplethorpe and herself, yet she is unstinting in her critique, doesn't bow to convention and forgives on a scale that most of us can only imagine.
Her rendering of New York in the 80's is a delight and takes you places you can only dream about. There were parts of this book that were not an easy read, parts make you squeamish but it is the type of book that is so searingly honest that only tears will allow you to release the emotions that are invoked, tears of both anger and pity and topped with a dose of love especially for the doomed Robert and the now revered Patti. This book is in every Top Ten List so far and last week won the Non-Fiction category of The National Book Awards, an amazing achievement by a woman who for many years described herself as a Detroit Wife and Mother, she certainly knows the meaning of the words love and loss.
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