Year of the Monkey

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.