As photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was dying of AIDS, he asked Patti Smith directly to write the story of their relationship and shared artistic beginnings in 1960s and 70s New York, and this memoir is her fulfillment of that specific, real deathbed request - a documented origin that shapes the book's entire, deeply personal purpose.
Written to Fulfill a Specific Dying Request
Mapplethorpe's direct request that Smith write their shared story before he died from AIDS-related illness gives this memoir a genuine, documented purpose beyond typical autobiography - it's explicitly framed as fulfilling a specific promise to someone no longer alive to see it completed.
Two Broke Artists Supporting Each Other Before Either Achieved Fame
The memoir's early sections render Smith and Mapplethorpe's genuine poverty and mutual artistic support during their earliest years in New York - before either had any real recognition - with specific, grounded detail about the actual daily reality of struggling young artists rather than romanticized bohemian nostalgia.
The Chelsea Hotel as a Genuine Character in Its Own Right
The famous Chelsea Hotel, where Smith and Mapplethorpe lived among a genuinely remarkable community of artists and musicians during this period, is rendered with enough specific, lived detail that the building itself functions almost as a character shaping the memoir's events and encounters.
A Relationship That Evolves Beyond Simple Romantic Categories
Smith and Mapplethorpe's relationship shifts across the memoir from romantic partnership toward a different, equally intense form of deep platonic and artistic partnership, and the book renders this evolution with genuine honesty rather than forcing their bond into one simple relational category.
Specific Cultural Figures Rendered as Real, Grounded People
The memoir includes direct encounters with numerous significant cultural figures of the era, and Smith renders these encounters with specific, grounded detail rather than simple name-dropping, giving readers genuine texture of a particular cultural moment rather than celebrity anecdote.
Mapplethorpe's Own Artistic Development Given Genuine Attention
Beyond documenting her own path toward music, Smith gives real, sustained attention to Mapplethorpe's parallel development as a photographer, including his own struggles and eventual recognition, refusing to make the memoir purely about her own artistic trajectory.
Poverty and Hunger Rendered With Specific, Unglamorized Detail
The memoir doesn't romanticize the genuine hardship of its early sections - specific details about hunger, inadequate housing, and financial precarity are rendered honestly, grounding the era's artistic ferment in real, unglamorized material difficulty.
The Shadow of AIDS Present From the Book's Framing
Knowing from the memoir's own framing that Mapplethorpe would eventually die of AIDS-related illness casts a specific, quiet weight over even the book's earliest, most youthfully hopeful sections, without the book needing to dwell explicitly on his illness until its later pages.
An Ending That Honors a Specific Promise Kept
Without spoiling the specific final chapters, the memoir's conclusion delivers on its stated purpose - completing the story Mapplethorpe asked Smith to tell - with genuine, hard-won emotional weight earned by everything the book has documented before it.
Who Should Read This
Readers interested in a memoir with a genuine, documented purpose fulfilling a specific dying request, anyone drawn to grounded, unglamorized detail about young artists' actual poverty and mutual support, and readers who appreciate a relationship rendered honestly across its full evolution beyond simple romantic categories.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Written to fulfill a specific, documented deathbed request, giving the memoir genuine purposeful weight
- Renders early poverty and artistic struggle with specific, unglamorized detail rather than bohemian nostalgia
- Honestly tracks a relationship's evolution beyond simple romantic categorization
- Gives Mapplethorpe's own artistic development genuine, sustained attention alongside Smith's own path
Cons:
- The specific cultural references and figures of the era benefit from some additional historical context
- Knowing Mapplethorpe's eventual fate casts real, sustained weight over even the book's hopeful early sections
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the author write this memoir specifically?
Robert Mapplethorpe directly asked her to write their shared story as he was dying of AIDS-related illness, and the memoir fulfills that specific, documented request.
Is this primarily a romance memoir?
Their relationship evolves across the book from romantic partnership into a different, equally intense form of platonic and artistic partnership, rendered honestly rather than fitting one simple category.
Does the memoir focus only on the author's own career?
No - it gives genuine, sustained attention to Mapplethorpe's parallel development as a photographer alongside Smith's own path toward music.
Does the memoir romanticize poverty and struggle?
No - it renders specific, unglamorized detail about genuine hunger and financial precarity rather than bohemian nostalgia.
Final Verdict
Written to fulfill a specific promise to a dying friend, this memoir renders two struggling young artists' mutual support with genuine, unglamorized honesty - a documented act of remembrance that earns its emotional weight through real specificity.
Rating: 9.2/10