" I think I missed a lot here. There were so many names and people who I think I was suppose to recognize that, well, I didn't. It made the story sound more like a series of name dropping references with the inevitable, and then we did this, and then this happened, and then we did that of an autobiographical piece. Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendricks, Andy Warhol all played cameo roles. For someone so deeply artistic I thought I would come away from the book with a sense of who Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were. It felt shroud in gauze. Her transition from poet to singer seemed glossed over. The love and shared artistic connection comes through. At the end, when Patti Smith articulates how she came to write this book - that it was written as a promise to Robert as he lay dying, that I understood. This book is Patti's reluctant telling of a love story that has a very solemn ending. That aching sadness and confusion of 'how did we get here?" meaning become famous artists illuminates and uncovers the story finally. "
— Linda, 1/30/2014