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Year of the Monkey

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Year of the Monkey

By: Patti Smith
Narrated by: Patti Smith
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Bloomsbury presents Year of the Monkey written and read by Patti Smith.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids
Selected as Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph, i paper, Metro and Harper's Bazaar

‘Magical’ GUARDIAN

'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence – expressed with Smith’s signature poetic flair' VOGUE

'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times

'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith’s third memoir' BBC

‘Her willingness to look closely at life’s closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POST, 'The 10 books to read in September'

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, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.©2019 Penguin Random House LLC Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity Witty
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Critic reviews

Both mundane and magical … Moves constantly between reverie and memory … Portents and symbols lurk in unexpected places, and everyday objects become freighted with meaning … A reflection both on mortality and of the times in which Smith finds herself, but rich in detail
A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith’s signature poetic flair
An engaging musing on mortality and defiance of age
A moving account of the emotional stumbles, physical and intellectual wanderings and deep losses Smith experienced in her 70th year
Some rock stars shut themselves away from life, but Smith’s engagement with the world only deepens, as this dreamy memoir shows
Extraordinary … A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream … It’s a drifter’s book, in time, space and the imagination
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)
A profoundly beautiful book, poetic in its prose and metaphysical in its meaning, it’s quite a stunning read
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
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
Arresting … Diverting and often unexpected, fresh and diverting
In the twilight of her career, punk’s original princess is reinventing herself as a memoirist of some distinction … It sings strong with her singular, itinerant, coffee-guzzling beat spirit. Essential reading for diehard fans (Claire Allfree)
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
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
A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith’s third memoir
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
Lovely ... a slim volume [with a] minor-key melancholy
Patti Smith’s brilliant new memoir about love, loss and growing older … I’m already captivated by her poetic prose
Smith’s grace and erudite philosophy is a welcome balm in these times
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)
All stars
Most relevant
I could listen to Patti Smith and her magic words for ever. A traveller’s memoir or thoughts and encounters over the course of a year. I loved it.

That Voice. Those Words.

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A beautiful book both mesmerising and thought provoking. Humour (dry) will bring a smile to your face. You won’t be disappointed

Mesmerising

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Wonderful memoir of a year in the life of a great poet/performer- part diary, part poetic stream of consciousness, part elegy to those who’ve gone before

Wonderful memoir of a year in the life of a great poet

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This is brilliant. I can't describe it. I can only recommend it, wholeheartedly.
I hink this is even better that m train and just kids, which are great but this is something else! A coral sea comes close, equally individual.
Patti Smith is a one-off, unique talent. As soon as I finnish any of her books, I want to start it again. Looking forward to Bread of Angels.

There are not words

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This short book tells the story of a year in the life of Patti Smith between the ages of 69 and 70 - the year of the Monkey in the astronomical calendar. Unlike most biographies, she talks little of her work as a musician and poet but talks a lot about coffee shops she visits, the people she meets on her road trips, the hotels where she stays and the inanimate objects such as signs that she has conversations with. There is an almost magical quality to the writing and hearing her speak is spell binding. She talks about her friend and inspiration Sandy Pearlman and her sadness at his demise and her feeling of loss for others who have left her life. There is an underlying feeling of spirituality in the writing that is hard to define, it has the feeling of Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan's Chronicles Volume One,. Ultimately it is the story of a drifter and a free spirit.

A year in the life of Patti Smith

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