Smith’s rich, inventive language lures the reader down this nonformulaic path. It meanders between her interior life and her life in the world, connecting dreams, reflections and memories. Where “Just Kids,” her 2010 memoir, charted her path from childhood to celebrity, “M Train” does not move in a simple arc from one destination to another. With each sip her mind awakens and her ruminations deepen. Much of “M Train” takes place in different cafes, and the reader can map the effect of the substance on her imagination. One wakes her in the morning by throwing up on the edge of her pillow. She identifies unapologetically with the detectives on “The Killing” and “CSI: Miami.” I “adopt their ways,” she explains, “suffer their failures and consider their movements long after an episode ends, whether in real time or rerun.” Her cats are not cuddly and decorative but authentic. Like the rest of us ordinary folk, she endures the frustrations and banalities of everyday life - keeping despair at bay with TV crime shows, cats and caffeine. Her new memoir, “M Train,” can be seen as a plea to acknowledge her as one. Many people, especially those who came of age in the 1970s, view Patti Smith as an inimitable punk-rock poet with an edgy, unforgettable voice.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |