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Year of the Monkey: The New York Times bestseller

£9.99

A profound, beautifully realised 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.

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Description

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids ‘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‘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, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

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Additional information

Weight 0.264 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 2.2 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

205

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

782.42166092 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K